Discovery, Inc. Re-imagining the Direct-to-Consumer Experience with First-of-its-kind Product Offering

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery, Inc. today announced the launch of Food Network Kitchen, a first-of-its-kind direct-to-consumer product with proprietary streaming technology offering consumers LIVE, interactive cooking instruction every week with the top culinary experts in the world, grocery and equipment delivery, over 800 on-demand classes and so much more to make the consumer's cooking, shopping and food experience more convenient, joyful and delicious. 

Today's announcement includes a landmark collaboration between Discovery and Amazon to offer Food Network Kitchen through Amazon Alexa and Echo Show, Fire Tablets, Fire TV streaming media devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs. 

Food Network Kitchen will launch in late October 2019 in the U.S. and will also be available across iOS (iPhone and iPad), and Android mobile devices. Food Network Kitchen will roll out across additional platforms and devices in 2020.

"Food Network Kitchen brings the top chefs in the world directly to consumers' kitchens through first-of-its-kind live interactive cooking classes, seamless e-commerce transactions, and the richest culinary media ecosystem in the world," said David Zaslav, President and CEO, Discovery, Inc. "We are re-imagining the direct-to-consumer experience as not just another entertainment service but as the "Peloton of Food" accessible to everybody. Through Food Network Kitchen's proprietary streaming technology and our foundational partnership with Amazon, we believe this is a truly differentiated product that will make customers' lives better. With hundreds of the world's leading cooks offering live and on-demand classes every day, we want to be the trusted partner to everybody who wants to cook and loves to cook. No one needs to be alone in the kitchen again."

Food Network Kitchen will offer 25 weekly LIVE classes with five daily LIVE classes on weekends, allowing consumers an intimate and interactive connection with their favorite chefs. In addition to LIVE cooking classes, Food Network Kitchen will also offer over 800 on-demand cooking classes with the world's greatest chefs providing a deep experience for consumers. On-demand lessons will be updated daily. Additionally, Food Network Kitchen will offer an unmatched selection of 3,000 instructional videos, including hundreds of step-by-step videos by Michelin-star chefs, James Beard award-winners, bestselling cookbook authors, and restaurateurs from Panna, the award-winning digital cooking app, which was recently acquired by Discovery.

"Everything we do starts with the customer and they have repeatedly asked us to bring the incredible food they see on Food Network into their homes," said Peter Faricy, CEO, Direct-to-Consumer, Discovery, Inc. "Food Network Kitchen is an interactive culinary experience that will improve people's lives. We have designed a product that will change the way people cook by giving them direct access to their favorite chefs, the convenience of expert instruction and the skills they need to be more confident in the kitchen. We are bringing inspiration and joy to cooking."

Food Network Kitchen will be the most complete food and cooking digital experience, offering consumers more capabilities, content and interactive features from the most complete roster of iconic cooking talent anywhere in the world. Highlights include:

• LIVE Interactive Classes: For the first time, customers will be able to stream LIVE cooking classes with two-way interaction allowing users and chefs to communicate in real-time. Unlike any other class experience in the world, customers will learn from the world's best cooking instructors, including Food Network chefs and world-renowned culinary experts, including Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart, Ted Allen, Sunny Anderson, Alton Brown, Kardea Brown, Valerie Bertinelli, Anne Burrell, Daniel Boulud, Maneet Chauhan, Scott Conant, Giada De Laurentiis, Ree Drummond, Guy Fieri, Amanda Freitag, Ina Garten, Alex Guarnaschelli, Carla Hall, Eddie Jackson, JJ Johnson, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro, Marc Murphy, Chris Santos, Nancy Silverton, Michael Symon, Jet Tila, Buddy Valastro, Jonathan Waxman, Molly Yeh, Zac Young, Geoffrey Zakarian and Andrew Zimmern.
• 800 On-Demand Cooking Classes: World's largest ecosystem of culinary experts and the greatest chefs in the world providing a deep experience for customers. Classes range from basic skills for making kitchen staples to advanced techniques for the most passionate foodies.
• Advanced Search Functionality: Food Network Kitchen's state-of-the-art filtering technology will allow users to find perfectly curated classes and video recipes created by Food Network chefs. LIVE and on-demand classes, as well as video recipes, can be filtered by chef, level of difficulty, preparation time, cuisine, diet, allergies, popular food trends and more. 
• Ingredient Home Delivery: Food Network Kitchen will offer consumers home delivery of the ingredients shown in the classes, and from recipes throughout the platform. At launch, customers will be able to order ingredients through the Food Network Kitchen app using Amazon Fresh in select cities. Additional delivery partners will be announced in the coming months. 
• Culinary Equipment Home Delivery: Coming in 2020, Food Network Kitchen will offer a new one-touch transaction feature allowing consumers to purchase the equipment being used by the Food Network Kitchen chefs, from pots and pans, to utensils and appliances.
• 24/7 LIVE Culinary Support: Coming in 2020, for the first time, LIVE cooking advice and support will be offered 24/7, 365 days a year via the Food Network Kitchen "Kitchen-on-Call" service. Friendly expert cooks will be available to answer questions and provide suggestions and tips.
• 3,000 Instructional Videos: Consumers will be able to view exclusive content, search for inspiration, and be guided through their own cooking with helpful video instruction across any device. Chefs and trusted experts bring recipes to life and put culinary techniques within reach, taking users through each step of the cooking process.
• Food Network Kitchen Content: Users will gain access to Restaurant Insights from Food Network chefs and talent, and Personalized Playlists of tailored content available across all devices.
• A Curated Selection of Food Network's Hit Cooking Shows: Available commercial-free on any device, the library will include 30 Minute Meals, Barefoot Contessa, Brunch @ Bobby's, Girl Meets Farm, Good Eats, Guy's Ranch Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman and more. Episodes can be viewed across all devices, anytime, anywhere.
• 80,000 Trusted and Chef-Tested Recipes: Food Network Kitchen offers users step-by-step cooking instructions tested and proven in the Food Network's test kitchens by chefs including Giada De Laurentiis, Ina Garten, Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli, and home cooks like Emmy Award winning Valerie Bertinelli, Ree Drummond and Molly Yeh. More than 100 step-by-step video recipes will rotate seasonally.

Through Discovery's collaboration with Amazon, Food Network Kitchen exclusively offers an integrated cooking experience with voice innovation. Customers will be able to simply ask Alexa to access Food Network Kitchen's extensive library of LIVE and on-demand classes, shows, recipes, how-to videos and more. Alexa has already been a helpful addition to many kitchens with features like named timers and conversion information. With this new feature, customers will be able to start watching a Food Network show on Fire TV, save recipes from the episode and ask Alexa to open the recipe on their Echo Show in the kitchen when they're ready to make it.  

"We're thrilled to be working with Discovery to bring the new Food Network Kitchen content to Echo Show, Fire Tablets, and Fire TV. We hope the combination of Food Network's world class cooking content and the simplicity of Alexa inspires and delights customers throughout every part of their cooking journey – whether they're a seasoned cook or just starting out," said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President Amazon Devices and Services. "We look forward to hearing customers' feedback on this experience and continuing to expand the offerings over time."

Consumers can sign-up for free access to a limited selection of videos and recipes or subscribe to the full suite of premium features for $6.99/month or $59.99/year. An initial free trial period of three months/90 days will be made available at launch, along with a limited-time discounted rate of $47.99/year.

Through Discovery's collaboration with Amazon, Food Network Kitchen will offer the following features:

• Alexa Integration: Customers can access and navigate Food Network Kitchen's content with Alexa. Home cooks can just ask Alexa to browse the tens of thousands of recipes, hundreds of LIVE and on demand cooking classes, how-to videos, premium step-by-step video recipes and more on Echo Show. Simply say "Alexa, go to the next step," or "Alexa, show me the ingredients" to navigate the recipe hands-free. While Alexa guides you through the recipe, you can set timers as you go, or ask questions like, "Alexa, how many teaspoons in a tablespoon?" Customers can also ask Alexa to play their favorite Food Network shows and while watching say "Alexa, save recipe" when they see a recipe they'd like to try later. Items are saved to their Food Network List and can be accessed on any device.
• Fire TV and Fire Tablet Integration: Customers will also be able to access the new Food Network Kitchen app via their Fire TV streaming device, Fire TV Edition smart TV or Fire Tablet, giving customers access to their favorite Food Network shows, LIVE and on-demand cooking classes, recipes and more on the biggest screen in their home with Fire TV or while on the go with their tablet. Customers will be able to seamlessly switch between devices. Navigate to the app by using your remote, tapping the app or just saying "Alexa, open Food Network Kitchen."

To support the launch of Food Network Kitchen, Discovery will promote the new product across all of its U.S. networks and digital platforms, including GO, web and social media. Food Network Kitchen will be integrated into shows on Food Network, as well as programs across TLC, HGTV, Discovery Channel and more. 

Conference Call for Investors
(New York, NY) – To elaborate on the attached press release, Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) will be hosting a conference call for investors tomorrow, September 26 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. To listen to the call, please visit https://corporate.discovery.com or dial 1-844-452-2811 inside the U.S. and 1-574-990-9832 outside of the U.S., using the following passcode: DISCA.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties and on information available to the Company as of the date hereof. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 1, 2019. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will" and "would" or similar words. Forward-looking statements in this release include, without limitation, statements regarding investing in the Company's programming, strategic growth initiatives, and the effects of the Scripps Networks acquisition and related transactions. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

About Discovery:
Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is a global leader in real life entertainment, serving a passionate audience of superfans around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains. Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each year and has category leadership across deeply loved content genres around the world. Available in 220 countries and territories and nearly 50 languages, Discovery is a platform innovator, reaching viewers on all screens, including TV Everywhere products such as the GO portfolio of apps; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Eurosport Player and MotorTrend OnDemand; digital-first and social content from Group Nine Media; a landmark natural history and factual content partnership with the BBC; and a strategic alliance with PGA TOUR to create the international home of golf. Discovery's portfolio of premium brands includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, and Science Channel, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S., Discovery Kids in Latin America, and Eurosport, the leading provider of locally relevant, premium sports and Home of the Olympic Games across Europe. For more information, please visit corporate.discovery.com and follow @DiscoveryIncTV across social platforms.

SOURCE Discovery, Inc.