• by Wayne Friedman , January 16, 2015

Launching in March by John Hendricks, founder and former chairman of the Discovery Channel, CuriosityStream will have non-fiction content similar to Discovery channels. 

Hendricks told The Wall Street Journal the new service will focus on PBS-like content, catering to “light” TV viewers.
CuriosityStream will launch with 800 titles, about half of which will be short-form programming less than 10 minutes long.

A five-year goal is to get to 5 million to 7 million subscribers, and 15 million to 20 million in 10 years. 

The SVOD service will be advertising-free, priced to consumers depending on video quality -- standard definition (SD), HDTV, and Ultra HD-4KTV. The cost will be anywhere from $2.99 to $9.99 a month. 

Standalone digital TV services from traditional TV companies that have been announced include CBS All Access, which has already launched and Dish Network’s Sling TV, which will soon come online. Both are advertising-supported services.

Also coming is Time Warner’s standalone effort for HBO. Sony Pictures Entertainment will join the hunt as well.