With countless streaming services available to you, how is Discovery Plus different? With the world of streaming platforms growing from strength to strength, it can be confusing for an average consumer to figure out which platform is worth getting the subscription to.
But there’s no need to be confused as long as we are here. In this article, we shall discuss the various aspects of the latest entrant in this category – Discovery Plus.
Discovery Plus is a new streaming platform that has a massive library comprising reality shows, non-fiction movies and documentaries, and much more. From shows like Flip or Flop, Gold Rush, and 90 Day Fiance, the platform hosts a bunch of exclusive and original content ready for consumption.
However, what you shouldn’t expect from this streaming service is the live broadcasting of the channels owned by Disney channels, like Food Network, HGTV, TLC, etc.
You can watch Discovery Plus in Canada and the USA and a couple of other countries. However, if you live in a country where the service is geo-restricted, you can bypass those restrictions and unblock content using a premium VPN. Anyway, let’s start with our list of 5 things that you should know about Discovery Plus before you take the plunge and sign up.
Cost of Discovery Plus
A very common and important question before you subscribe to any streaming service is related to its cost. So you should be elated to know that Discovery Plus is pretty feasible and it has two plans. If you go ahead with the ad-supported package, you will pay $4.99 a month and if you go for the plan that is ad-free, you will pay $6.99 per month.
In addition to this, students get a discounted offer where they can get an ad-supported subscription for only $2.99/mo.
At the moment, you can benefit from a 7-day free trial, but if you are a customer of Verizon, you will get six months of Discovery Plus along with an ad-free plan at no cost at all. Of course, you are not bound to any long-term contract, so cancellation of the subscription is available.
Subscription and Content
Discovery Plus has a library full of 2500 shows with 55000 episodes, if not more. In addition to this, the platform is adamant on bringing non-fiction content by gauging partnerships with NBCUniversal and A&E to get more reality shows on the service. 90 Day: The Single Life, Naked and Afraid of Love, Sling the Hamptons, and Ghost Hunters are some of the original shows the platform has added in this year.
In a few days, the platform will be featuring Magnolia Network and other content.
There’s No Live TV with Discovery Plus
One problem that many subscribers would be disappointed to hear is that they won’t have access to Live TV on this platform. If they want exclusive and original series and non-fiction shows, this platform is great. However, if they are expecting to watch a live telecast of the show in real-time, that wouldn’t be possible. For that, they would have to resolve traditional cable and satellite programs only.
Process of Discovery Plus Streaming
Discovery Plus is just like other streaming services you can watch anytime and anywhere you want. As long as you have an internet connection, you can consume content on any device of your preference. At the moment, Discovery Plus is compatible with smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, laptops, and smart TV. The list goes on and on with Roku, Google Chromecast, etc.
Apart from this, you can have five user-profiles and connect this platform to four devices simultaneously with one account. The overall experience and user reviews are positive. You can access and browse several shows without experiencing any buffering or interruption. In fact, there’s also a “For You” feature that recommends your content as per your history; the content is completely personalized and tailored to meet your needs.
The various categories that you may find and be interested in include Home, True Crime, Food, Relationships, etc. You can easily gauge the trending shows and add them to “My List” to watch them later. Another issue that you may find while using Discovery Plus is the inability to access content offline via downloading. However, the good news is that the network is adamant on making it an option in the future.
Pros and Cons of Discovery Plus
Like any other decision on earth, you must first consider the pros and cons list of Discovery Plus before you get its subscription. The benefit you may get after getting the subscription is access to tons of non-fiction and reality-based tv shows at affordable rates and plans (ad-free and ad-supported) but the cons include not having Live TV or any download option to watch the shows offline.
Furthermore, you may have a free trial period for 7 days but there is no free tier, so that is also a concern for some of us.
In Conclusion
Overall, Discovery Plus is a great addition to the world of streaming services. Although it has a couple of issues here and there, it offers a reasonable quality of content to people at an affordable cost. With much room to improve and improvise, the streaming platform has a bright future.