Discovery Planning a $6 Bundle of its Cable Channels Discovery is planning to soon unveil a $6 bundle of the company's cable channels. The company has been hinting at the launch of such a bundle for more than a year . According to the Wall Street Journal , the $6 price point should include 18 Discovery and Scripps networks (including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet), along with on-demand options. Discovery hopes to offer a product that appeals to cord cutters after it lost 5% of its US viewers during the last quarter alone, thanks largely to users that cut the cord and instead embrace streaming alternatives like Amazon, Hulu and/or Netflix.







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Most recommended from 46 comments

existenz

join:2014-02-12 11 recommendations existenz Member CuriosityStream better for $6 CuriosityStream - Higher quality nature/science/history content, less sensationalized, no ads, $4 for SD quality. Will Discovery streaming still have ads?



Remember when TLC actually had learning content like Beakman's World? Now it's sensationalized reality junk.

Economist

The economy, stupid

Premium Member

join:2015-07-10

united state ·AT&T FTTP

6 recommendations Economist Premium Member $6 now, then $8, then $10, then $12 People are also sick of the commercial load, spoiled by Netflix, Amazon and CF Hulu. 1 minute of commercials for every 2 minutes of programming is insane. Sometimes I am inundated with so many commercials that I forget what the F I am watching. People would find more value in linear programming if they were not paying $80 PLUS 30% of their time for it.

Vchat20

Landing is the REAL challenge

Premium Member

join:2003-09-16

Columbus, OH 4 recommendations Vchat20 Premium Member If it includes the Science Channel it may be worth that alone If it includes the Science Channel it may be worth that alone. Otherwise, forget about it. Currently WOW holds it in their highest cable tier. Not worth it when it is one of two or three channels worth watching in that tier if anything. I likely wouldn't bat an eye at $6/mo for SC alone however. Talk about ala carte! microphone

Premium Member

join:2009-04-29

Parkville, MD 3 recommendations microphone Premium Member That could be interesting I like Discovery Life which airs a lot of the medical shows that used to be on Discovery Health; while it appears to be in reruns, I like Mystery Diagnosis. On Animal Planet, I like watching the Monsters Inside Me. ID is a channel I really want to like but I like more case solving and less documentaries; shows that are more like Forensic Files and Cold Case Files and less like 48 hours. I really liked TLC when it was actually The Learning Channel instead of the Reality TV that it has mostly become. I do like Untold Stories of the E.R., however. And of course let's not forget the Science Channel. There is not much on the Discovery Channel itself that I watch anymore.

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 2 recommendations maartena Premium Member Saw this coming a mile away..... As companies are starting to realize that people are massively dropping cable and satellite, this is a pretty good way to bring your channels to the masses as a "al-la-carte" offering.



I might actually be interested in this, especially on the on-demand offerings.... I might sign up for a month and watch the shows I follow for that year, and then drop it again as part of my "subhopping" strategy.



I just cancelled my SlingTV. I signed up for 1 month only so I had access to NBCOlympics through the Roku App to watch Olympics coverage.... I actually watched MOST of the coverage for free through Canadian CBC, but the Canadian CBC announcer for figure skating..... was really annoying, and it was nice to see a bit of USA perspective.



And that is more or less what I have been doing:



The BASE: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime: $32 a month (4k version for Netflix and Commercial Free for Hulu).

The SUBHOPS: 1 month of Sling for Olympics, 1 month of CBS All Access for Star Trek, 1 month of HBO for Game of Thrones, 1 month of Starz for Outlander.....



I don't have to pay for a service all year long if I only follow a few shows. I will just get the service when the whole season is streaming, and then cancel again. And this service seems to be one that will fall in that category, provided they will have seasons of shows that we like.



THIS is the new a-la-carte. This right here is a-la-carte that people have been wanting, it is just not through cable or satellite.

camper

just visiting this planet

Premium Member

join:2010-03-21

Bethel, CT 2 recommendations camper Premium Member It will be interesting to see how streaming bundles evolve...





Will Discovery get enough subscribers to cover their costs? Discovery's recent acquisition of Scripps will help a lot in the streaming world. A lot of low-cost content that can be especially valuable globally where a lot of the Scripps content has not yet been seen.



How about ESPN? Will ESPN streaming be able to pull in enough revenue to cover the costs of those ridiculously over-priced pro-sport contracts they signed, or will ESPN continue to require the welfare of forced bundling in the linear cable world?



If I had to handicap this, I'd say that Discovery streaming has a good chance at succeeding, i.e., enough subscribers to be profitable. While ESPN streaming, may not be able to garner enough subscribers to be profitable because the subscription price may need to be too high to attract the volume of subscribers necessary.