Corus announced as marketing partner for Canadian launch
NEW YORK — Discovery Inc. announced today its Discovery+ streaming service will launch in Canada on Tuesday, Oct. 19.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav first announced in August the streamer would be coming to Canada in the second half of the year, as Cartt.ca reported here.
With a focus on non-fiction content, Discovery+ features more than 200 new, exclusive original series across real-life genres such as true crime, home, relationships, food, paranormal and nature, as well as 60,000 episodes from Discovery’s portfolio of networks, including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Magnolia Network.
The service also offers subscribers access to the largest streaming collection of natural history content from the BBC, according to a press release.
More than 1,000 episodes of Discovery’s most popular series will be subtitled in French at launch, the press release says.
“We are thrilled to launch discovery+ in Canada, a country of devoted Discovery fans and home to many of the most beloved stars in our family,” said JB Perrette, president and CEO of Discovery streaming and international, in the press release.
“Discovery+ is one of one: the definitive real life streaming service, and we deliver the best streaming value to our fans. We know it will resonate with our loyal audience in Canada, as we continue to roll the service out to a number of key markets around the world throughout the rest of 2021.”
Discovery also announced an integrated marketing partnership with Corus Entertainment to support the streamer’s launch in Canada.
This builds on a long-standing relationship between the two organizations – Corus licences content rights from Discovery, which also has minority ownership in Corus brands including HGTV Canada and Food Network Canada.
“Capitalizing on the strength of Corus and Discovery’s long-standing joint venture, this partnership will introduce Canadians to discovery+ via Corus’ powerful megaphone of media assets including linear networks, radio, digital, and social platforms,” reads the press release.
“We are excited to build on over 20 years as joint venture partners with Discovery in Canada,” said Doug Murphy, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment, in the release.
“As the country’s leader in lifestyle content, Corus’ extensive suite of media assets provide broad scale and reach to audiences seeking to experience Discovery’s deep library of world class content wherever they are. With our expertise in driving discoverability and brand recognition, we look forward to supporting the growth of discovery+ in Canada.”
Discovery+ will cost Canadian subscribers $4.99 per month, with an ad-free version available for $6.99 per month. Each account will include up to five user profiles and four concurrent streams.
At launch, Discovery+ will be available on Amazon Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Google Android devices, Google TV and other Android TV OS devices, Google Chromecast, Microsoft Store on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S devices, the Roku platform, and Samsung smart TVs (2017 and newer models).
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Updated, Oct. 13:
Neither Corus nor Bell’s current brand or programming agreements with Discovery will be impacted by the arrival of Discovery+ in Canada. “There are no changes to Bell Media’s Discovery offering,” a Bell spokesperson told Cartt.ca via email. The spokesperson further said the company would continue to be “the exclusive home to smash-hit Canadian original series” including Highway Thru Hell and Mighty Trains.
