Discovery Plus Statistics (2026): Subscribers, WBD Deal Status, and India Pricing
Most articles about Warner Bros Discovery still describe a plan that never actually happened: a clean split into two separate public companies. That plan was scrapped in early 2026 and replaced with something bigger, an all cash acquisition that’s now frozen in federal court.
None of that has touched discovery+ India directly. It’s still its own app, still priced the same, and still has nothing to do with the JioHotstar deal most headlines associate it with.
Every figure below is sourced and dated as of August 2026.
- No split happened: Warner Bros Discovery’s plan to split into “Warner Bros.” and “Discovery Global” was scrapped in February 2026 in favor of a $110 billion all cash acquisition by Paramount Skydance at $31 a share.
- The deal is frozen: A dozen state attorneys general sued to block the merger on antitrust grounds on July 13, 2026. Paramount agreed to postpone closing until 5 days after a trial concludes, or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first.
- Subscribers: WBD’s combined HBO Max and discovery+ streaming base passed 140 million in Q1 2026, up from 131.6 million the prior quarter, with a company target of 150 million by the end of 2026. WBD does not report discovery+ subscribers on their own.
- Discovery Plus India: Still a fully independent app, priced at ₹199 a month or ₹499 a year, advertising over 10,000 hours of content.
- Not the same as HBO Max in India: HBO Max content reached Indian audiences in April 2026 through a ₹49 a month add on inside JioHotstar, a separate licensing deal that doesn’t involve the discovery+ app at all.
- India launched first: discovery+ actually debuted in India on March 23, 2020, nearly ten months before its January 4, 2021 launch in the United States.
- The lawsuit’s real target: the 12 states suing to block the merger are focused on theatrical film distribution and basic cable channel licensing concentration, not streaming itself.
Sources cited throughout this article. Checked August 2026.
What Actually Happened to Warner Bros Discovery
In June 2025, Warner Bros Discovery announced it would split into two separate public companies: a streaming and studios business built around HBO Max, and a networks business built around CNN, TNT Sports, and discovery+. That plan changed direction within months.
WBD announces a planned split into two public companies, targeted for around April 2026.
Netflix and Paramount Skydance both make competing offers for the entire company instead of letting the split proceed.
WBD’s board accepts Paramount Skydance’s revised offer of $31 a share, about $110 billion. Netflix declines to match and withdraws.
WBD shareholders approve the Paramount Skydance merger.
The European Commission clears the acquisition.
California’s attorney general and 11 other states sue in federal court to block the merger on antitrust grounds.
A federal judge issues a temporary restraining order. Paramount Skydance agrees to postpone closing until 5 days after an antitrust trial concludes, or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first.
As of August 2026, Warner Bros Discovery is still one company, trading as WBD on the Nasdaq. It has not split into two entities, and it has not actually been acquired by Paramount Skydance, that deal is signed but on hold pending the antitrust case. No trial date has been set yet.
What the Lawsuit Actually Argues
The suit was filed by California, joined by Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It’s built on Section 7 of the Clayton Act, the same law used against most modern merger challenges.
The states aren’t arguing streaming competition harm. Their complaint focuses on wide release theatrical film distribution, where the combined company would hold roughly 27% share, and basic cable channel licensing, where WBD and Paramount rank second and third largest owners respectively. California attorney general Rob Bonta said the merger “would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences.”
How Paramount Beat Netflix
Netflix wasn’t a token bidder. WBD’s board initially recommended Netflix’s offer of $27.75 a share, valuing the streaming and studios business at roughly $72 billion in equity. Netflix structured that bid as cash and stock at first, then converted it to all cash in January 2026 while keeping the same price.
Paramount Skydance came back with a higher, fully cash offer of $31 a share. When WBD’s board declared it superior on February 26, 2026, Netflix co CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters were given a window to match it and declined within about an hour, saying a match would no longer be financially attractive.
Paramount’s win was backed by serious money behind the scenes. Oracle co founder Larry Ellison personally guaranteed about $40.4 billion of the equity financing for his son David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, and sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi committed a combined $24 billion for a reported 38.5% non voting stake. If the deal eventually closes, David Ellison is expected to run the combined company.
The deal carries real financial consequences even while frozen. WBD already recorded a $2.8 billion termination fee from Netflix’s side of the earlier agreement, and Paramount faces a reported $7 billion reverse termination fee if regulators ultimately block its own deal, plus a ticking fee of $0.25 a share each quarter closing drags past fall 2026.
How Markets Have Reacted
WBD stock climbed roughly 147 to 150% between late August 2025 and February 2026 as the Netflix and Paramount bidding war escalated. That run reversed sharply once the legal risk became real.
| Date | WBD Share Price | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 13 2026 | $26.98 | DOJ clears the deal |
| Jul 14 2026 | $27.48 | Day after lawsuit filed |
| Jul 20 2026 | $25.86 | Judge pauses the merger |
Nasdaq closing prices as reported by financial press, checked August 2026. Deal price is $31 a share.
The gap between WBD’s trading price and the $31 deal price widened past 19% at one point in July 2026, a sign investors were pricing in real doubt the acquisition closes on schedule. On July 13, 2026, the same day the lawsuit was filed, CEO David Zaslav sold about 2.2 million WBD shares for $59.5 million under a prescheduled trading plan, not as a reaction to the news.
WBD’s Full Financial Picture
Streaming is only one part of a much larger, currently struggling company. WBD’s Q1 2026 results, covering the quarter ended March 31, 2026, showed total revenue of $8.89 billion, down about 3% year over year on a currency adjusted basis, and a net loss of $2.91 billion, driven largely by the $2.8 billion Netflix termination fee.
Warner Bros Discovery Q1 2026 earnings release, published May 6, 2026.
The Streaming segment swung from a $2 billion loss a year earlier to a $1.4 billion profit, the strongest part of the story. Networks, the traditional cable business that includes CNN and Discovery Channel, is the largest segment by revenue but is losing advertising dollars, partly from losing NBA broadcast rights.
Global Subscriber Numbers
WBD stopped breaking out discovery+ subscribers as a standalone figure. Its earnings reports now combine HBO Max and discovery+ into a single streaming number, similar to how Netflix and Disney report theirs.
Warner Bros Discovery Q1 2026 earnings report, published May 6, 2026. Q2 2026 results are due August 6, 2026.
Any figure claiming to isolate discovery+’s own global subscriber count isn’t sourced to WBD itself, since the company hasn’t published one since folding it into the combined number. Treat a standalone discovery+ number you see elsewhere with caution.
Discovery Plus India
Discovery Plus operates in India as a fully independent app, run by Discovery Communications India under the still unsplit Warner Bros Discovery parent. Nothing about the Paramount deal or the JioHotstar HBO Max licensing arrangement has changed how the app itself is owned or operated.
India wasn’t an afterthought market for discovery+. It launched here on March 23, 2020, as the platform’s first market worldwide, nearly ten months ahead of the January 4, 2021 launch in the United States and Europe.
On the Google Play Store, the discovery+ India app carries a 4.3 star rating from 151,000 reviews and over 10 million downloads, with its most recent app update on January 28, 2026. That’s a live, actively maintained app, not a legacy product being wound down.
| Plan | Price | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ₹0 | Limited, ad supported content |
| Premium Monthly | ₹199/month | Full ad free library |
| Premium Yearly | ₹499/year | Full ad free library |
Official discovery+ India support page, checked August 2026.
The app’s own Play Store listing advertises over 10,000 hours of content across more than 40 genres in 7 to 8 languages. That includes Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Investigation Discovery, Discovery Science, and Discovery Turbo, along with licensed BBC titles like Planet Earth and Top Gear.
Why People Confuse Discovery Plus With JioHotstar
Two separate deals get mixed up constantly, and they involve different companies entirely. The first is Disney and Reliance combining Disney+ Hotstar with JioCinema into JioHotstar, announced in February 2025, which has nothing to do with Warner Bros Discovery at all.
The second is a separate, older licensing deal, and it has never involved discovery+ at all. Before April 2023, HBO and Max content in India was licensed to Disney+ Hotstar, not to discovery+, under a deal that ran until March 31, 2023.
Warner Bros Discovery then signed a new exclusive deal with Viacom18’s JioCinema in April 2023, moving titles like House of the Dragon, Succession, and The White Lotus there instead. That relationship carried over into JioHotstar and expanded in April 2026 into a dedicated HBO Max hub, priced at ₹49 a month as an add on.
That licensing deal only ever covered HBO and Max content. Discovery branded factual and lifestyle programming, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, and the rest, was never part of it and stays exclusively on the discovery+ app.
What’s Actually on Discovery Plus
Shark Week is still discovery+’s signature event. The 2026 edition ran July 26 through August 1, with 20 premieres, streaming simultaneously on both discovery+ and HBO Max rather than being exclusive to one platform.
MythBusters and its spinoff MythBusters Jr are both currently streaming on discovery+, according to the platform’s own show pages. Older franchise revivals continue to be one of the platform’s steadier draws alongside newer factual programming.
Magnolia Network, Chip and Joanna Gaines’s home and lifestyle brand, has a genuinely tangled history here. It launched inside discovery+, then WBD moved select Magnolia shows to HBO Max in August 2022 as an early cross platform test. Magnolia content is now available on both discovery+ and Max rather than being locked to either one.
How Discovery Plus India’s Pricing Compares
Against India’s other major streaming services, discovery+ sits at the cheaper end, close to the entry tier of bigger platforms rather than their flagship pricing.
Official pricing pages, checked August 2026. JioHotstar prices were revised January 28, 2026.
Top tier pricing tells a different story. Discovery Plus tops out at ₹499 a year, while Netflix‘s Premium plan runs ₹649 a month and Amazon Prime Video‘s full membership costs ₹1,499 a year.
JioHotstar raised its Premium annual price by about 47%, from ₹1,499 to ₹2,199, in that January revision. Its scale still dwarfs the others: JioStar reported 530 million monthly active users for the quarter ending June 30, 2026, up 15% year over year, driven largely by IPL cricket viewership.
Discovery Plus doesn’t compete on that scale or on sports. Its trade off is a narrower, cheaper, factual and lifestyle focused library against platforms chasing scripted originals and live cricket rights.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Warner Bros Discovery split into two companies?
No. WBD announced a split plan in June 2025, but scrapped it in February 2026 when its board accepted a $110 billion all cash acquisition offer from Paramount Skydance instead. As of August 2026, WBD remains a single publicly traded company.
Is discovery+ being bought by Paramount?
A deal is signed, but it hasn’t closed. A dozen state attorneys general sued to block the merger on antitrust grounds on July 13, 2026, and Paramount agreed to postpone closing until 5 days after a trial concludes, or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first.
How many subscribers does discovery+ have?
WBD no longer reports discovery+ subscribers separately from HBO Max. Their combined streaming base passed 140 million in Q1 2026, with a company target of 150 million by the end of 2026.
Is discovery+ available in India?
Yes, discovery+ operates in India as a fully independent app with over 10 million downloads and a 4.3 star Play Store rating. It’s unrelated to the JioHotstar and HBO Max licensing arrangement.
How much does discovery+ cost in India?
Discovery Plus India costs ₹199 a month or ₹499 a year for the ad free Premium plan, according to its official support page. A limited, ad supported free tier is also available.
Does discovery+ India have cricket or live sports?
No. Discovery Plus India carries no live sports rights, including cricket. That content, along with HBO Max branded shows, is available through JioHotstar instead.
Is HBO Max available in India?
Yes, but through JioHotstar’s dedicated HBO Max hub, launched in April 2026 as a ₹49 a month add on, not through the discovery+ app. The two are separate licensing arrangements under the same parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
What’s the difference between discovery+ and JioHotstar?
Discovery Plus is a standalone app focused on factual and lifestyle content from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, and similar brands, priced at ₹199 a month. JioHotstar is a much larger platform built on Disney, cricket, and Bollywood content, now also hosting HBO Max as a separate add on, priced from ₹79 a month.
Which states are suing to block the Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery merger?
California, joined by Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, filed suit on July 13, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case focuses on theatrical film distribution and cable channel licensing concentration.
Did discovery+ launch in India before the United States?
Yes. discovery+ launched in India on March 23, 2020, making it the platform’s first market worldwide, nearly ten months before its January 4, 2021 launch in the United States and Europe.
Who would run Warner Bros Discovery if the Paramount deal closes?
David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, is expected to lead the combined company. The deal’s financing was personally backed by his father, Oracle co founder Larry Ellison, alongside sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.
