For over a year, Discovery has hinted that a global streaming service is coming. They confirmed that they would be launching their own streamer back in August, however, they have remained tight-lipped on the timing ever since.
That may be coming to an end, however, as company CEO David Zaslav revealed that they will be making announcements regarding the upcoming service in December. “We’re going to do an extensive discussion, with full disclosure in early December, which we’re super excited about,” he stated during the Discovery’s Q3 earnings call today.
“We’ll take you through every category—where we’re going, how we’re going, why we think we’re advantaged, how globally we think we can attack it, who’s helping us. The whole company has been focused on this, so in early December, we’ll come out with the whole package.”
During the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in September, Zaslav divulged a bit of information regarding the company’s strategy with the new service. According to Zaslav, Discovery has been eyeing Disney’s global expansion and they plan on launching their service as a global offering as well.
“Disney has done it. They’re starting to roll out globally and it’s quite impressive. One of the things that Bob [Iger] has done, I think, very successfully is when you look at Disney+ from a curation perspective, you see a group of superfans, whether it’s the Disney Kids product, Pixar, Star Wars, or Marvel people look at that and they go, ‘That’s what I love…’” he stated. “Outside the U.S., we have entertainment, local entertainment, local content, local sports. So I think we have a very differentiated global approach, but we think you need to have a lot of content, [and show] why people will love you and why they’ll need you.”
Late last year, Discovery launched Food Network Kitchen, in collaboration with Amazon. The service was made available through Amazon Alexa and Echo Show, Fire Tablets, Fire TV streaming media devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs. (It can also be found on Apple iOS and Android mobile devices.)
The Magnolia Network, their new joint venture with Chip and Joanna Gaines (which will have streaming component), is set to launch in 2021, along with a reboot of “Fixer Upper.” The original launch for the network was set for Oct. 4, 2020, but it has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.