Discovery says international OTT could generate US$100m

David Zaslav

Discovery Communications is evaluating a direct-to-consumer move in the US, in light of its DPlay and Eurosport Play D2C initiatives in Europe, which could deliver as much as US$100 million (€90 million) in additional revenues if targets are reached.

“I think it’s early days, but we do have a lot of flexibility here in the US to make a move if we want to and we’re looking at it,” Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav told analysts after the company’s third quarter results announcement.

He added that the company has 200,000 international D2C subs already, and if it can hit its one million target that would deliver about US$100 million in additional annual revenues.

Discovery has been linked to a move for Channel 4, and Zaslav was also asked whether Discovery would make additional moves for free-to-air nets internationally. “Because we’re in 220 countries and we have, on average, ten channels, we have a fair amount of synergy. We’re always looking opportunistically, but we don’t need any additional assets,” he said.

“We do think that we’re probably the best buyer for a lot of assets because we have knowledge in the marketplace, we have infrastructure and we have synergy, but we don’t need anything,” he added.

His comments came as Discovery’s Q3 results were hit by currency effects in the third quarter. The cable giant turned in revenues of US$1.6 billion, down 1% year-on-year.