This week’s announcement confirming the end of Eurosport has consequences for viewers with a Discovery+ subscription or who get the streaming service bundled with Sky.
- Discovery+ Standard subscribers need to proactively cancel or be billed for sport-free basic plan.
- No Discovery+ subscription needed to stream free sport on Quest.
- Automatic downgrade for most Sky viewers.
- No upgrade option in Republic of Ireland.
Discovery+ is reducing its pricing plans for the remainder of 2025, ahead of the service folding into Max next year.
In the UK, Discovery+ is only offering Basic and Premium tiers going forward. In the Republic of Ireland, only the Basic tier will be available.
Discovery+ Standard subscribers will either see their subscription downgraded or, if they purchased a yearly plan, cancelled.
Most Sky subscribers, who have been promised access to the budget ad-supported tier of Max in 2026 are having their Discovery+ access tier downgraded to ‘Basic’ in the meantime. The Discovery+ standard plan had been included with Sky TV subscriptions since early 2023 as part of a deal with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). Only customers with TNT Sports in their bundle are exempt – they’ve already been upgraded to Premium.
WBD’s announcement that it will be closing Eurosport in the UK and Ireland was timed to give Discovery+ users a month’s notice of change in their subscription plan. Emails began to be sent to customers just after midnight on Tuesday morning. As RXTV reported, the move could make access to sport more expensive – that’s if you’re not content with what’s offered for free on Quest.
It’s not yet clear if Discovery+ will offer all account holders free access to the UEFA Champions and Europa League finals this spring as it did last year.
Downgrade or cancel?
Many Discovery+ Standard subscribers migrated across from the former Eurosport Player. Others signed up to Discovery+ Standard ahead of the 2024 Olympics, when the streaming service offered special offers, including a discounted yearly plan.
And most users who took up the discounted yearly plan will now see their subscription cancelled. Refunds will be issued.
Be proactive if you want to cancel
A downgrade to Basic may not suit many subscribers.
If you subscribe to Discovery+ directly (i.e. you don’t have access as part of a TV bundle) and you’ve been told your subscription is being downgraded to Basic, you will need to proactively log in to your account to cancel Discovery+ if you don’t want to be billed going forward.
If you have Discovery+ as part of a pay TV bundle, evaluate if your pay TV service still offers the sport you want to see, and whether it might not be cheaper to switch to Freeview, Freesat or Freely and just add individual sports streaming services.
Be proactive to keep sport
With Discovery+ downgrading or cancelling subscriptions, viewers in the UK will need to proactively log in to their account to sign up for Discovery+ Premium (£30.99 a month) to keep access to sports previously shown on Eurosport, plus gain access to the full catalogue of live sport shown on TNT Sports. There is no option to purchase a cheaper yearly subscription for Premium.
This option is not available in the Republic of Ireland.
No Discovery+ Subscription required for Quest
You can stream Quest, which will host a selection of sport after Eurosport closed without a Discovery+ subscription.
Programmes shown on Quest, Quest Red, Really, HGTV, Food Network and DMAX can be accessed through a free Discovery+ account. All you need to do is register. The option to register for free content is found on the sign-up page via a small button below all paid-for options.
What’s left on Discovery+ if I don’t subscribe to sport?
Discovery+ subscribers can still access a range of programmes live and on-demand from channels including the main Discovery channel and its offshoot channels including Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery History and ID.
This mostly consists of reality and factual shows and may only have a limited appeal.
And if its just Quest you want, then you can get this for free (see above).
WBD isn’t overly bothered about the situation – it’s preparing to junk Discovery+ in the UK and Ireland anyway in favour of its new all-in-one streaming service Max at the end of the year which it hopes will appeal to more subscribers.
Discovery+ hasn’t generally been successful at attracting subscribers for its non-sport provision.
This will include HBO entertainment shows like The White Lotus, which will switch from Sky Atlantic from the beginning of 2026.
Price plans for Max in the UK and Ireland haven’t been confirmed. However, it is known there will be a basic ad-supported tier that Sky TV customers will automatically have access to.
By: Marc Thornham | Image: WBD