Discovery launches streaming app Discovery Plus, to drop coronavirus special on March 18

Discovery Plus, India's first aggregated real-life entertainment streaming app from Discovery, is set to premiere "Coronavirus: The Silent Killer", a special on the deadly virus which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

The COVID-19 outbreak, which originated in China last December, has claimed over 6,500 lives and infected more than 169,000 people over 135 countries and territories.

According to Issac John, business head digital (South Asia), Discovery, along with "Coronavirus: The Silent Killer", the newly launched app will come up with two more originals on the disease in a fortnight besides the new special on March 18.

John said the attempt with these specials was to look at "events that define the world and humanity".

"We believe there is a lot more to it than what meets the eye. This special is just our first attempt at showing the world in terms of what its origins were and what led to its spiralling out of control.

"However, the interesting thing about the way we are looking at coronavirus is that there needs to be information that comes from trusted sources, that's essentially what Discovery brings to the table. Our take is to begin with this and over the next two weeks we will be dropping at least two more Discovery commissioned originals on coronavirus," he told PTI in an interview.

Be it covering the Thai cave rescue in 2018 or the rising coronavirus spread, John said, the network has closely followed "rapidly evolving" events around the world.

"It's really hard for the entire story to be captured in one-moment-of-truth kind of a storytelling narrative... We will continue to weave the narrative with the trust and credibility that Discovery has always had in defining it," he added.

Asked if Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 outbreak originated, feature in these specials, John declined to comment.

"Given that the topic is so sensitive, we don't want to say what's in it, what's not. What we are saying is that Discovery, like in the past, will have strong narrative pieces around most hotly searched, contested and concerning topics of this year," he said.

Megha Tata, managing director South Asia, Discovery, added that there were multiple ways of viewing the current situation around coronavirus.

"This upcoming special and the two others have a viewpoint. Every content piece has two sides of the story, especially in the infotainment space.

"When people start consuming it, they will know that this is one particular view to the issue," Tata said.

Discovery Plus, a direct-to-consumer streaming app, is now available for download on app stores.

The app will offer never-seen-before premium shows in 40+ genres including science, adventure, food, lifestyle.

Superstar Rajinikanth's TV debut 'Into The Wild With Bear Grylls' will be launched first on Discovery Plus, which is priced at Rs 299 yearly.