Layer3 TV has expanded its slate of integrated OTT content at the set-top level following an integration agreement with CuriosityStream, the fact-based SVOD service from Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks.
Layer3 TV’s app integration of CuriosityStream covers all pricing tiers of the SVOD service – Basic (Standard-definition only, for $2.99 per month), Standard (HD, for $5.99 per month), and Premium (includes service’s 4K and UltraHD fare, for $11.99 per month). Financial terms were not announced, but deals such as these are typically forged under a revenue-sharing model.
Every Layer3 TV set-top box is capable of delivering 4K video, and 4K support for CuriosityStream on those devices will be supported in the “coming weeks.”
“Our subscribers have demonstrated a voracious appetite for compelling documentaries and are seeking more 4K programs,” Layer3 TV CEO Jeff Binder, said in a statement. “Our addition of CuriosityStream – especially with its illuminating original 4K content – satisfies both of these subscriber demands.”
Launched in March 2015, CuriosityStream presently offers more than 1,500 titles, including David Attenborough’s Light On Earth, Deep Time History, and Emmy-winning Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places.
The integration of CuriosityStream expands the amount of OTT content and services supported by Layer3 TV set-top box platform. Other examples include Xumo, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Facebook and YouTube.
RELATED: Layer3 TV Expands OTT Slate With Xumo
The Layer3 TV agreement also extends CuriosityStream’s distribution strategy and gives it another avenue to obtain subscribers. Layer3 TV has not announced subscriber numbers, but the service is currently available in Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington D.C.; Dallas/Ft. Worth; and Longmont, Colo., with New York on deck.
In addition to offering its service on a direct-to-consumer basis, CuriosityStream is also distributed through Amazon Channels and VRV. Comcast also offers access to CuriosityStream on its set-top VOD system.
RELATED: Comcast Adds CuriosityStream to SVOD Lineup
CuriosityStream has deals done with about 15 different distributors, though not all have been announced, Clint Stinchcomb, CuriosityStream’s chief distribution officer, said in a recent interview for an upcoming SVOD-focused story that will be featured in an upcoming issue of Multichannel News.
“We want to make it as easy as possible” to get CuriosityStream, Stinchcomb said. “I’m in the friction-minimization business.”
