Discovery and Comcast have reached a deal to launch discovery+, the company’s new subscription streaming service, on Xfinity Flex, Comcast’s platform for broadband-only customers.
The companies also said that Discovery+ will start rolling out on X1 in the coming weeks. X1 and Flex customers will be able to access Discovery+ through the Xfinity Voice Remote or in the app section if they subscribe to the service – which is priced at $4.99 per month or $6.99 per month with no ads.
Food Network Kitchen and Motortrend, two more of Discovery’s direct-to-consumer streaming services, are also coming to X1 and Flex.
For Discovery, the deal with Comcast marks the first integration agreement for Discovery+ with a traditional MVPD. Last month, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said his company should still be able to find common ground and win-win partnerships with distributors but he admitted that there will be some “reallocation of values” between Discovery’s different products.
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“Clearly there is one big, new variable that’s in the mix now, so all of these discussions are one notch more complex than they used to be. But as we’ve said so many times, in the affiliate space, none of these deals have ever been super straightforward renewals,” said Wiedenfels. “But I feel very good about it and our partners are very excited. The ones we’ve partnered with for the Discovery+ rollout so far are very, very happy with the product.”
Discovery is expected to have 23 million global streaming subscribers – including 8 million in the U.S. – by the end of 2021, according to UBS analyst John Hodulik.
That’s significantly higher than the 11 million Discovery announced in February. At the time, the company said it expected to hit 12 million paid subscribers by the end of February. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said that most of the 7 million direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers that Discovery added since the end of the third quarter were Discovery+ customers in the U.S.