Does discovery even need Warner Media? Discovery plus is absolutely going to become the place for reality television. It has become quite cliché for Services to try to call themselves the Netflix of fill in the blank. So let’s just not go there. Here’s what we will say. If you love reality TV and that includes the whole range of reality TV from home shows, cooking shows, competition shows, shows about people who are very unhealthy, shows about people who are very unhealthy to each other, renovations, personal makeovers, and just catty prima donnas there is only one service that makes any sense. Discovery+.
The reality genre had been ignored with all of the previous streaming services that have launched since Netflix. All of the cable replacement raced to become the premier place of sports, and other services wanted to be the place for horror, sci-fi those and sort of classic genres that defined the movie and TV business for decades.
But since MTV debuted The Real World and Road Rules, Reality TV has been building popularity. Its range is so wide that there’s programming in the genre and fans of it that wouldn’t even recognize each other on the other side of the scale. For instance, it’s quite possible that somebody could love watching a backyard makeover but hate watching women trash each other on private cameras. Yet Discovery+ ties all of that programming and everything in between into a nice neat bow with incredibly well organized categories that acknowledge each sub genre within the huge tent that is reality TV.
just Thursday streamer announced a major deal with NBC Universal that will bring another gigantic slate of programming to the service. Starting at the beginning of the month Discovery+ began to roll out NBC U programming but an avalanche is coming.
Programming premiere dates in the US are:
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“The Biggest Loser (Reboot)” – Season 1 (Friday, January 7)
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“Flipping Out” – Seasons 7-11 (Wednesday, January 12)
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“American Ninja Warrior” – Season 12 (Wednesday, January 12)
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“Top Chef Canada” – Seasons 6-7 (Wednesday, January 12)
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“The Real Housewives of Cheshire” – Seasons 1-10 (Saturday, January 15)
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“The Real Housewives of Johannesburg” – Seasons 1-2 (Wednesday, January 19)
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“The Real Housewives of Melbourne” – Seasons 1-2 (Wednesday, January 19)
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“WAGS Atlanta” – Season 1 (Saturday, January 22)
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“WAGS LA” – Seasons 1-3 (Saturday, January 22)
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“WAGS Miami” – Seasons 1-2 (Saturday, January 22)
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“The Biggest Loser” – Season 17 (Tuesday, January 25)
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“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” – Seasons 1-4 (Tuesday, January 25)
As discovery plus continues to fortify its self as the only obvious choice for millions of reality TV fans we look towards later this year when Discovery Will formally push for a merger between the company and Warner Media, which is being sold off by AT&T. There has been a lot of speculation that if this merger goes through that viewers to see a service that combines everything currently on HBO max with everything currently on Discovery+. But can Discovery even make that work? While the service did not have this sort of meteoric rise that Disney+ did, it appears on its way to becoming a top-five streaming service. And that is without anything from Warner. Considering that AT&T is looking to unload all of these properties to rid them selves of debt One truly has a wonder if adding them to a portfolio that looks to be completely cornering the market on reality TV will work out in the long run or would discovery later have to sell one or to someone else while producing highly profitable and cheap to make reality programming that real then cord cutters and even people who have cable already they just want to see all of the new stuff.
this is not to say that just because somebody loves discovery plus they would love HBO. I would assume that TV executives can see the numbers behind all of these services and at least have a Venn diagram that would indicate it would work but I can also be sure of this. Producing new shows for discovery+ costA hell of a lot less than producing a new show for HBO Max. Think of what it probably cost to produce everything on HGTV and Food Network compared to what it would cost for discovery to re-up a contract with the NBA on TNT. Is that really a world that they want to get into? It’s a company that built a brand around cooking shows ready to take on the DC Universe?
The spending habits of billionaires is hardly what keeps me up at night so as it plays out will be happy to just watch and comment on the sidelines. But one thing is for sure. Regardless of what happens with Warner Media, Discover+ is now way ahead of any other attempt to do what it is doing. With all of the most iconic brands in reality TV outside of the Bachelor franchise and Big Brother, Discovery+ will become a destination for millions. And as more people learn what it offers it has potential to work up subscriber numbers that rival the biggest names in streaming. And the thing is, that it can do so without having to spend billions on rights fees or original programming all while offering premium ad-supported tiers along side of more expensive ad free services.
I think universal will wish they had not done this.
