Roku users are now able to subscribe to Discovery Plus through the Roku Channel’s Premium Subscriptions feature, the company announced on Tuesday. The streaming service has been available to watch on Roku from day one, but now there’s an option to manage your subscription to it from Roku’s hub.
When you subscribe, you can choose either the ad-free version of Discovery Plus or the ad-supported tier. Like with the standalone subscription (as in, the one not done through the Roku Channel), there’s a week-long free trial.
This is the first time Roku’s offering a premium subscription with an ad-supported tier. While the difference for Discovery Plus is only a few bucks ($4.99 versus $6.99 a month), it’s probably a good thing for Roku to get some practice with ad-based subscriptions. Pretty much all of the big players in streaming have added ads already (like Discovery’s new stablemate HBO Max), or have said they will (like Disney Plus and Netflix).
If Roku wants to add to the stable of services available through its channel, supporting multiple tiers is a good place to start. While Discovery Plus is a good get, if Roku wants to be the central hub for managing your streaming subscriptions, it’ll have to prove it can handle more services. Otherwise, it’ll just be another bucket you have to manage, alongside your individual Netflix, Disney Plus, and Prime Video subscriptions.