• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 1, 2022

DirecTV and DirecTV Stream customers can now opt to subscribe to and access the ad-supported version of the Discovery+ streamer through their DirecTV interface — and get a discount in the bargain. 

Those who subscribe to the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) ad-supported streaming app, which costs $4.99 per month, will get $2 off their video subscription. 

The deal, which could help add to the subscriber base for ad sales purposes , comes two years after the launch of Discovery+ and just months before Discovery+ and HBO Max are set to be merged in spring 2023. 

Specifics about the nature of that merger have yet to be released. 

For now, the DirecTV deal provides discounted access to Discovery+’s more than 70,000 episodes of original series and library content from WBD’s networks. 

The offering may provide some support for customer retention/acquisition efforts at DirecTV, which, along with other pay-TV brands, continues to experience subscriber losses.

The satellite service and the online Stream service, together with U-Verse, lost an estimated 1.9 million subscribers in 2021 and 400,000 subscribers in the most recent quarter (Q3 2022), estimates Leichtman Research Group.