Does Discovery Plus Have Live TV?

The hotly anticipated Discovery Plus launched earlier this week, bringing with it a gargantuan catalog of familiar classics from across the Discovery Network’s fifteen channels. Everything from HGTV, The Food Network, A&E, BBC, Animal Planet, The Science Channel and much more are up, in their entirety, for your viewing pleasure. This means every episode of Mythbusters, Property Brothers, 90 Day Fiance, and other beloved shows can be watched totally on-demand.

Does Discovery Plus Have Live TV?

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Discovery Plus heralds a deluge of new content into the streaming space. Shows one traditionally associated with old-school cable packages can now be binged at the press of a button, with you in complete control — but what about the usual on-air broadcasts? Does a Discovery Plus subscription let you watch what’s airing or are the two iterations of Discovery walled off from one another?

Discovery Plus does not have live TV. At least not in the traditional sense. The new streaming service is it’s own entity and does not have an option for viewers to “tune in” to what’s playing on cable broadcasting. That said, you can watch any episode of any show airing (or that has aired) on the network on your own time, so you won’t be missing a thing.

In case you prefer the experience of switching on to whatever happens to be playing and jumping right in, we have good news for you: soon, Discovery Plus will be launching Discovery Plus Channels, streaming’s answer to traditional cable bundles. This will feature 24/7 feeds of your favorite shows, continuously airing without pause — i.e. endless marathons of Home Town, Worst Chefs in America, Fixer Upper, etc that you can drop in and drop out of at a moment’s notice.

Related: Discovery Plus on Verizon | Xfinity | DirecTV | Dish

So there stands, practically speaking, little reason to opt for the traditional cable version of the Discovery Network’s channel catalog if that’s all you’re looking for. Discovery Plus offers everything that ever aired on the network plus exclusive programming as part of their Discovery Plus Originals initiative for plans starting at $4.99 USD per month.

That means you have access to all of their biggest shows from any of their network, as well as new and upcoming series from familiar faces like Magnolia Table and Home Town: Ben’s Workshop that you’ll only ever be able to find on the streaming service.

What do make of the shift away from traditional cable packages? Excited about Discovery Plus Originals? Let us know what you think, and feel free to shoot any questions at us down below!

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