GCN+ Gone

[tarric]

For the last couple of years, I've been subscribed to Discovery+ using a Fire cube and an annual sub. This has got me not only Eurosport 1 and 2 but access to ad-free streams of major cycling events and complete live coverage of others, including many one day events. So, when the commentators for, say, the Tour state there's an ad break coming, I don't get ads and they just carry on.

Today, my Discovery+ sub autorenewed not for an annual sub but for £6.99 a month. When I looked up the subscription rates, the cycling options for the £6.99 a month contact were unchecked and greyed out, as they were for the only annual subscription option shown. They were not unchecked for the only other sub shown of £30.99 a month (!!).

Got through to a human being on Discovery's online chat. He said the annual sub was now withdrawn but the £6.99 month sub should get me cycling via Eurosport 1 and 2. When I asked if this included the ad-free Tour streams and the other events that I was able to view live in full last year (that didn't always appear on Eurosport 1 and 2 even as highlights), he was rather vague about that other than saying limited advertising was now included

I've opted to carry on the sub for the time being to see what I actually get. I'm not optimistic, though.

I've got the standard plan through my sky subscription and I still get the cycling on the discovery app ad free.

From what I've seen there are 3 plans Basic, Standard and Premium. The difference is explained in the link below.

https://get.discoveryplus.com/gb/wa...Aey_xug_LeFvzwceqzX5oOM3Lr4ZMW9YaAn5mEALw_wcB

 

[Rezillo]

I've got the standard plan through my sky subscription and I still get the cycling on the discovery app ad free.

From what I've seen there are 3 plans Basic, Standard and Premium. The difference is explained in the link below.

https://get.discoveryplus.com/gb/wa...Aey_xug_LeFvzwceqzX5oOM3Lr4ZMW9YaAn5mEALw_wcB

Many thanks for this - that explains a lot.

I was logging in via my Discovery account and that was only showing Basic (no Eurosport/cycling) and Premium as available, plus their details. The Standard £6.99 monthly rate they've actually put me on isn't shown or explained at all but does provide cycling, as you have shown.

There is an annual sub but only as Basic, which is probably why the Discovery+ assistant said there wasn't one any more (with cycling, that is). Paying monthly is an increase over a year of around a third more than I was paying for an annual sub.

 

[13 rider]

£30.99 a month wow

 

[Beebo]

£30.99 a month wow

That’s a shame.
They are bundling the cycling in with other much more expensive TNT sports packages.
It would be good if you could just get Eurosport on its own.

 

[Mike_P]

The £6.99 subscription was given to GCN+ subscribers:

The good news is that live cycling races are available on discovery+. As a gesture of our appreciation and to compensate you for the inconvenience of the closure of GCN+, we would like to offer you a voucher code to discovery+. With this voucher you will get a subscription to the Standard plan of discovery+ for the first 3 months at no cost starting from the date of your code redemption. GCNTODPLUSUK-Xxxxxxx must be redeemed at https://auth.discoveryplus.com/redeem by 31 Dec 2023. After the promotional period your subscription will convert to a paid subscription and will automatically renew each month at the then-current monthly price (now £6.99) inclusive of VAT, unless cancelled prior to renewal.

 

[geocycle]

I’m not sure how, but I seem to have discovery plus via my BT subscription. It might be worth checking for those on BT or even EE deals. How did tv get so complicated!

 

[albion]

The clue was in 'change'. You have likely already been put on the £6.99 a month tariff.
When I lost the annual sub for the monthly I chose to cancel, which is good as I get more than enough fred sport already.

 

[Alex321]

Many thanks for this - that explains a lot.

I was logging in via my Discovery account and that was only showing Basic (no Eurosport/cycling) and Premium as available, plus their details. The Standard £6.99 monthly rate they've actually put me on isn't shown or explained at all but does provide cycling, as you have shown.

There is an annual sub but only as Basic, which is probably why the Discovery+ assistant said there wasn't one any more (with cycling, that is). Paying monthly is an increase over a year of around a third more than I was paying for an annual sub.

View attachment 726306

You have the £6.99 subscription, so it isn't shown as one you can change to on that screen.

Live coverage (including replay of live stream) is ad-free, highlights aren't.

 

[ColinJ]

Live coverage (including replay of live stream) is ad-free, highlights aren't.

The Eurosport highlights have always been awful so I assume that Discovery+ are the same. I just watch the replay of the live stream and skip forwards when nothing much is happening.

 

[tarric]

£30.99 a month wow

That’s a shame.
They are bundling the cycling in with other much more expensive TNT sports packages.
It would be good if you could just get Eurosport on its own.

The £30.99 is for the premium package that includes, Premier League UEFA Champions League Football, NBA, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, Boxing, UFC, WWE & more, if you just want the cycling it's £6.99 a month unless you have Sky or some BT/EE contracts then it's a free ad on.

 

[Dogtrousers]

When GCN+ kicked off and it was something like £25 per year or something like that, I thought "Blimey, that seems a bit cheap".

I was right.

Maybe if they'd charged a bit more then their parent Disco might have let them play for a bit longer.

 

[Adam4868]

When GCN+ kicked off and it was something like £25 per year or something like that, I thought "Blimey, that seems a bit cheap".

I was right.

Maybe if they'd charged a bit more then their parent Disco might have let them play for a bit longer.

I remember the good old days when folk used to moan about it being 40 quid a year !

 

[Rezillo]

You have the £6.99 subscription, so it isn't shown as one you can change to on that screen.

Live coverage (including replay of live stream) is ad-free, highlights aren't.

I can see that now (thanks everybody). The first I knew that my account had been switched from annual to monthly was an email yesterday from Paypal stating "You paid £6.99 GBP to Dplay Entertainment Ltd".

Googling Dplay Ent showed that this was probably Discovery+. No emails at all from Discovery+ itself to say it had unilaterally changed my subscription type (and annual cost!), so I logged into my Discovery+ account, which had: Subscription: Current Pass:Standard £6.99/mo: Change Pass. No details whatsoever in my account details of the content I would be getting for my new £6.99 a month.

In any case, I didn't want to know details of the monthly sub - I just wanted to switch back to my annual sub. I used the Change Pass option, which brought up the long detailed list I posted earlier. The only annual option appeared to now be a basic sub that excluded cycling, which as far as I can see turned out to be correct. This was after a long online support chat with someone who was helpful but appeared to have been thrown a bit off-script.

Thanks again.

 

[albion]

If it was an annual sub I would have probably renewed. As they switched it to monthly without asking, it fully promoted my intent to cancel.

Seems rather stupid of them not to continue a 'legacy subscription'.
I guess enough will have renewed so that it payed. You will find out next year if most renewed as that is the key to them trying a big price rise.

 

[Mike_P]

The Eurosport highlights have always been awful so I assume that Discovery+ are the same. I just watch the replay of the live stream and skip forwards when nothing much is happening.

They are not even highlights just the last x km ignoring anything of note which happened and quite often start in the middle of a discussion between commentators that is even more pointless than Carlton normally is. Best to note from procyclingstats when if anything of note occurred and skip through the live replay to them.
On my Roku images come up as you fast forward so on a recent questionnaire from them I asked that be rolled out to other device apps.