Support NeoGAF

[CDX]

From wikipedia:

CuriosityStream is an ad-free subscription video on demand service. It exclusively delivers documentaries and series about science, technology, history and nature​

http://curiositystream.com/

$2.99 a month - for SD - they have a higher priced plan if you want HD & 4K

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-curiositystream-20150318-story.html

The founder of the Discovery Channel, an early cable-TV hit, is turning to online streaming with a new subscription service called CuriosityStream.

John Hendricks started Discovery Channel in 1982, after watching HBO succeed in the 1970s. He made a fortune and left as chairman of parent company Discovery Communications last spring to pursue his new venture.

...

CuriosityStream is expected to feature a mix of content acquired from BBC, NHK and other producers as well as original programming. Aimed at the “curious” population, the programming should be understandable, Hendricks says, to everyone from 13-year-olds who enjoy building soda-bottle rockets to retirees looking for deep commentary on the latest scientific breakthroughs.

Because the cost of producing “factual content” is about one-fourth to one-sixth that of “dramatic content,” the service won’t need to show ads, Hendricks said. He expects about 400 titles to be added this year, including a signature original production called “Big Picture Earth.”

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/artic...scovery-channel-founder-enters-streaming-fray

“There are several forces that just cant be stopped. Viewers will migrate to platforms that give them more control,” Hendricks, who stepped down as chairman of Discovery Communications last year, told Capital. “If it is 8:13 at night and they want to watch a movie, they want to watch it instantly. And if it can be delivered without commercials, even better. That is what we are witnessing now, a third revolution in TV.”

That “third revolution” follows broadcast television and cable television, with each subsequent evolution getting more and more granular, letting consumers dictate to an even greater degree what they want to watch, and when and how they watch it.

Like Netflix, CuriosityStream will not have ads.

“It is a tough pill to swallow for all the services that are ad-supported,” Hendricks said. “As a consumer, I do it myself, and you as a consumer probably do it too. So while the cable world wished this didn't happen, it happened.”

...

“As most streaming services discover, and Netflix certainly discovered this, it is great to replay existing great content for people to enjoy, but if you invest in a ‘House of Cards’ that only you have, it is a big driver to your platform,” he said.

http://informitv.com/2015/01/18/curiositystream-from-discovery-founder/

Titles include Big Picture Earth, a 20 part series shot in 4K from the same producer as the Sunrise Earth series previously shown on Discovery, featuring natural scenes and ambient sound without narration.

CuriosityStream is also commissioning Deep Time History, a series tracing the great people and events of history, while also revealing the geologic and geographic underpinnings of these events and epochs.

Digits will deliver a comprehensive history of computers and the Internet, as well as consider the far distant possibilities of quantum computing, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

^ original series they are commissioning so far

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/artic...scovery-channel-founder-enters-streaming-fray

All of the service’s programming will be divided into four content buckets:

"Science"

"Technology"

"Civilization" (which will cover human history and current events, among other topics)

“Human Spirit” “Why climb mount everest? When did Alicia Keys find out that she wanted to be a recording artist?” Hendricks cited as examples.


The service has a three year plan to ramp up its programming.

Personally, as a cord-cutter, this is exactly the sort of content I wanted more of. I have been hoping Discovery, National Geographic, or someone else would launch a service like this.

It launched a few months ago, but I just found out about it now.

Even though it seems to be exactly what I wanted I'm hesitant to subscribe without a dedicated Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV app. They do have the website, and iOS and Android apps and are currently working on the Roku app. I guess apps for other services and videogame consoles will be made eventually.

Does anyone on GAF already subscribe? How is it?

 

[komplanen]

Anyone wanna bet how long it lasts before fake documentaries about mermaids and other shit find their place there? Like this shit.

 

[Husker86]

Never head of this, thanks. Started the trial, we'll see how I like it.

 

[hunnies28]

Might try this later. Seems interesting enough.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Anyone wanna bet how long it lasts before fake documentaries about mermaids and other shit find their place there? Like this shit.

I remember that an otherwise very intelligent girl I knew in high school took one of those mermaid documentaries at face value. It turns out that "documentary" in question even admitted to be a work of fiction in its credits.

 

[Gray Matter]

This is going to bomb so bad. Sad but true.

 

[GK86]

I will give it a shot. If it is more like DC from yesteryear, I'm in.

Edit- Ohh founder. I will still check it out.

 

[SolarPowered]

It's definitely worth a try at only $2.99 a month for the cheapest plan.

 

[jelly]

Hopefully the content isn't like much of the rubbish on current documentary channels. Good idea though. Now we just need to get Sports off cable.

 

[Slime]

Anyone wanna bet how long it lasts before fake documentaries about mermaids and other shit find their place there? Like this shit.

God, I hope not.

Ever since I was a kid I've been a sucker for anything dealing with ancient history, mythology and archaeology. That's sadly died these past several years because of the abundance of ancient alien and conspiracy theory bullshit. I hope this has the real deal.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

This sounds fascinating. Will definitely check it out.

 

[Coins]

No aliens? Giorgio Tsoukalos?

 

[Vyrance]

This sounds really cool. A great price point too. I'll check this out.,

 

[Makai]

Jumped in! Looks like à la carte channels is the future after all.

 

[Naughty_Doge]

How long before they start streaming nothing but Bear Grylls?

 

[watershed]

For some reason their site isn't loading properly on Chrome. I will give it a try later. The free trial will help me decide if this is worth it but Netflix already has some pretty great docs.
Edit: Youtube also has awesome docs for free.

 

[Dark Ninja]

Ill wait for the Nazi Zombies, UFO, Alien and Big Foot documentaries to show up

 

[smurfx]

does it have all the modern marvels episodes?

 

[Flambe]

Bah can't get in Canada =[ And Proxy no worky with this POS telus modem

 

[mightynine]

I think we should note this has no connection to Discovery.

 

[Yekshemesh]

If this is the original programming they use to show before all those stupid reality shows then I would gladly order this.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Yeah I want the old Discovery back. Hopefully this becomes something like that.

 

[old]

I'll subscribe. Sounds interesting.

 

[samn]

Hopefully this has some good content, I see they have content from the BBC. I can't imagine reality show garbage would do very well for on-demand services like this, or Netflix? People don't actively seek out these shows, they just watch because there's not much else on.

Sorry Discovery. if it was the Discovery of the past, where science, technology, and nature were the main concepts instead of American South reality shows about the jobs they do, i might have had the drive to sign up.

but you broke my heart.

It's not Discovery

 

[RockTurtle]

Sorry Discovery. if it was the Discovery of the past, where science, technology, and nature were the main concepts instead of American South reality shows about the jobs they do, i might have had the drive to sign up.

but you broke my heart.

Hopefully this has some good content, I see they have content from the BBC. I can't imagine reality show garbage would do very well for on-demand services like this, or Netflix? People don't actively seek out these shows, they just watch because there's not much else on.



It's not Discovery

The OP makes it sound like they're trying to be more like the Discovery of old.

than YAS, i shall be there day one to provide support and show there was an audience for this.

my only regret is that there isn't a free option for over the air like back in the old days. i used to love this stuff as a kid.

 

[RockTurtle]

dbl post!

 

[LyleLanley]

Sorry Discovery. if it was the Discovery of the past, where science, technology, and nature were the main concepts instead of American South reality shows about the jobs they do, i might have had the drive to sign up.

but you broke my heart.

The OP makes it sound like they're trying to be more like the Discovery of old.

 

[jambo]

Need an XBOne app!

 

[sans_pants]

This sounds like something I'd want just worried about having enough content that interests me

I can't seem to look at the whole list without signing up

 

[CDX]

Anyone wanna bet how long it lasts before fake documentaries about mermaids and other shit find their place there? Like this shit.

I hope never.

I think we should note this has no connection to Discovery.

Yeah, I thought I did that with the first quoted article. Maybe I could emphasize it a bit better.

It's not Discovery

Yep.

It's the original founder of the Discovery Channel starting a new company using the BBC's and NHK's back catalog of shows (AFAIK not Discovery's back catalog)

While also producing exclusive content Netflix style, which seems to mimic some of Discovery's better stuff. For example CuriosityStream is commissioning “Big Picture Earth” which is made by the same people that made "Sunrise Earth" that aired on the Discovery Channel.

 

[BobLoblaw]

Will wait for a Roku app and feedback. One of my biggest complaints about just having SlingTV is no science stuff. Hopefully, the content is there. $3 a month might be worth it if the selection is good.

Edit: $6 a month for HD? Pass.

 

[Like the hat?]

Will give it a try when it comes to fire TV

 

[Eric C]

I think I'm going to do the free trial.

I miss the old discovery type shows before everything was aliens and bigfoot.

 

[GKSilKamina]

I subscribed. It's a really good idea and I hope it succeeds.

 

[Ran rp]

Any impressions?

 

[xenist]

I hope someone does this with history stuff because the current state of the History Channel makes me want to burn and pillage.

 

[VariantX]

If there's a PS4 app in the future I'll give it a shot then. This sounds right up my alley as I can't even stand to look at those networks anymore.

 

[AJLma]

There's a decent amount of stuff to watch already, I haven't watched anything to completion but it seems like the 1080p stream loads quickly at least.

 

[DarkFlow]

When the Roku app hits, I'll give it a try.

 

[Ziffles]

I think we should note this has no connection to Discovery.

Hopefully that means they can show docs from all over, like BBC, PBS, and Nat Geo.

VV Hooray! VV

 

[DarkFlow]

Hopefully that means they can show docs from all over, like BBC, PBS, and Nat Geo.

That's literally in the OP.

CuriosityStream is expected to feature a mix of content acquired from BBC, NHK and other producers as well as original programming.

 

[Himynameischris]

Signed up, will try for free month and SD option but I love me some science so I might get the HD.

 

[Eric C]

I hope someone does this with history stuff because the current state of the History Channel makes me want to burn and pillage.

But this does do history stuff too though.

I've just quickly browsed through and saw stuff listed about Rome, China, Ancient Greece, Egypt, Hitler, and Napoleon etc.

 

[Mushroomer25]

It sounds interesting, but I just doubt there's a market for this. Would've worked better as a package of content to sell to another streaming player to boost their library.

Also, selling this content in SD feels like a joke. The lowest-tier stream needs to be HD, even if that means not being able to advertise as 'just $3 a month'.

 

[Foffy]

Yeah I want the old Discovery back. Hopefully this becomes something like that.

Didn't that migrate over to the Science Channel? Most of what I loved watching on Discovery also airs there.

I am unsure if that channel has ever been poisoned by Bear Grylls.

 

[DarkFlow]

Didn't that migrate over to the Science Channel? Most of what I loved watching on Discovery also airs there.

I am unsure if that channel has ever been poisoned by Bear Grylls.

Depends on what you want, a lot of it has scattered to the sub channels. Wings and military docs get thrown to the Military channel, there was stuff on health channel, and Science, plus animal planet. Kinda sad now that I list all this that it just used to be on one channel.

 

[CDX]

Any impressions?

Sadly I don't think many here on GAF have already been subscribed to this service to give detailed impressions.

I signed up last night before bed, and really have only on been on the site for probably just over an hour or so. But so far I'm finding stuff I haven't seen before, and stuff that's not on Netflix. Although I think I'd need A LOT more time with it to really know how I feel about it's content, because right now I've more or less just casually browsed the site and tried playing a few videos.

Also of note, the website & videos work on my laptop! *Normally* that wouldn't be notably but HBONow's website, for example, really sucked it stuttered awfully for tons and tons of people. So I thought it was worth mentioning.

The website also works on my Wii U webbrowser.
The nice thing about it working on the Wii U means I can use the GamePad to watch videos. I love doing that with the Netflix app and Youtube. So it's nice that this works.

 

[a secret-boss]

I would like to know if the civilization has history's mysteries

 

[The Albatross]

Sounds like a good idea but it really depends on the quality of the documentary/informational shows... If they're anything like what Discovery/History/TLC/Science/etc channels have aired in the last 10-15 years, then it's complete rubbish.

From the promo screen grabs, it looks like they might be, but can't tell.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Oh I like this. I will definitely give a shot.