Discovery’s DPlay grows in Europe

Discovery Communications is expanding its DPlay subscription VoD service into new European markets, as the US factual giant sweeps up more premium sports rights for its Eurosport business.

DNI president JB Perrette

DPlay, which was piloted in Norway last year, will offer factual programming such as Deadliest Catch, along with Eurosport’s live football and other sports.

The service, originally planned for the Nordic territories early this year, will now launch in Denmark, Sweden and Italy before the end of 2015.

Discovery Networks International (DNI) president JB Perrette said: “Building on our leadership in pay TV channels, which are still growing at a strong pace, we are also aggressively launching digital, direct-to-consumer products in key markets, with a goal of reaching one million subscribers by 2017.”

DPlay will carry content from DNI channels including Discovery Channel and TLC and will be available online and as an app on tablets and mobile. It will also feature content from Eurosport, after Discovery upped its stake in the sports channel to 51% in January last year.

Eurosport’s own OTT service, Eurosport Player, is already in 52 markets and a new version is launching June 10, ahead of Le Mans 24 Hours. The cross-over with DPlay is likely to grow as Discovery ups efforts to become a key player in the high-stakes world of sports rights acquisition.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced the DPlay expansion in Paris today at the French Open, the tennis tournament that Eurosport currently airs, where a string of new deals were also unveiled.

Eurosport will now gain exclusive rights deals including: Belgian coverage of Wimbledon; UEFA Europa League in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Singapore; Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1 in the Netherlands; the Rugby World Cup in Germany; and the US PGA Tour in Norway.

Other DNI businesses, including its Swedish broadcast operations, also have their own VoD propositions in the form of Kanal5Play, Kanal9Play and Kanal11Play.