LG TVs get Discovery+ app, Vestel TVs add Red Bull TV
LG TVs get Discovery+ app, Vestel TVs add Red Bull TV
By Mike Wheatley - 14 October 2021

TV brands are adding more applications at an increasing rate. This week, LG Electronics announced the Discovery+ app has landed on U.S. models dating from 2018 onwards. Meanwhile, Vestel has said its 2018 models manufactured in Europe, including Android TV sets sold by Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba, are all getting the free-to-watch Red Bull TV app. 

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The Discovery+ app is the home of the Discovery channel and brings access slew of documentaries and other content from channels including Animal Planet, HGTV and Food Network. 

As is increasingly common with LG, it’s only the owners of recent models that benefit from the update. LG said the Discovery+ app is coming to LG TVs made between 2018 and 2021 only, even though its models from 2014 to 2017 also run the same webOS platform. 

Lucky American LG TV owners will be able to subscribe to the service for $5 a month with ads and $7 without ads. For that, they’ll gain access 60,000 episodes of current and classic shows from the Discovery channel, A&E, The History Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Animal Planet and Magnolia Network. 

What’s notable for animal lovers is that Discovery+ has an awful lot of nature documentaries in 4K resolution, which might be hard to come by elsewhere. 

The company did not say if there are any plans to bring Discovery+ to TVs outside of the U.S.

As such, European readers who own a Vestel-made TV may be more interested in the Red Bull TV app, which is coming to more than twenty brands. Vestel, which is a TV manufacturer based in Turkey, said the app is now available free of charge on all Android TVs made from 2018 onwards. 

Red Bull has an interesting library of live events, sports, music and lifestyle content to view, including some original programmes. It’s all carefully categorised too, with channels falling under menus such as “adventure”, “culture”, “music”, “biking” and “water sports”. Better yet, there’s no need to pay as the app is fully ad-supported. 

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Some highlights include dance competitions, gaming tournaments, live concerts such as Lollapalooza, plu sports events such as the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series and the Mercedes-Benz UCI MTB World Cup. Movie lovers will appreciate Red Bull’s catalogue of exclusive films, and there is a lengthy list of TV shows and documentaries. Red Bull’s original content includes Sky Trippers, which is an aerial adventure following three friends as they pilot their paramotors across Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Vestel Vice President of Marketing and Product Management Baris Altinkaya said Red Bull TV is an exciting app addition to its models, especially for action sports fans. 

“Without setting foot outside of their living rooms, customers can step into the on-screen action and feel part of the sports championships and pioneers’ adventures from every corner of the globe,” he said.