Another Day, Another Subscription Service! DocuStream Wants Your $4.99
Another day, another subscription service! This time it’s DocuStream, a new documentaries-only streamer set to launch October 15 on Amazon Prime for $4.99 a month.
The service is expected to arrive with more than 2,000 titles, plus a collection of exclusive programming. Its catalogue stretches across Hollywood, music, pop culture, true crime, biographies, sports, history, business, UFOs and the unexplained—basically, if there’s a rabbit hole to fall into, DocuStream would very much like to be the one handing you the flashlight.
Among the names already represented in the library are Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Anthony Bourdain and Elon Musk. Titles cited ahead of launch include Big Hair, Bigger Heart and Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour.
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DocuStream Is Coming
More than 2,000 documentaries, a $4.99 monthly price and yet another streaming subscription asking to join the monthly bill pile.
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Who’s Behind DocuStream?
David DiVona, founder of Proven Entertainment, founded the service and serves as CEO. The venture is also backed by industry veterans including Mark Amin, former Trimark Pictures chairman and CEO; Jules Haimovitz, formerly of Viacom Networks Group and Showtime; Marty Pompadur, former chairman of News Corp Europe; and longtime Sony Pictures executive Shebnem Askin.
The pitch is deliberately narrow: rather than burying nonfiction somewhere between reality TV, action movies and whatever else the algorithm is serving today, DocuStream wants documentaries to be the whole point. After its Amazon debut, the company says it plans to expand to Roku, Tubi and Samsung.
But Do We Need Another Subscription?
We surely shall be scoping out the catalogue. But another subscription on top of the preexisting ones? Mmm, perhaps that’s a nope. At $4.99, DocuStream isn’t exactly asking for a kidney, but the bigger question is how many “just a few bucks more” services can pile up before the monthly streaming bill starts looking like cable in a different outfit.
Still, a documentary-only home with thousands of titles could make its case if the catalogue turns out to be deep enough to keep nonfiction diehards digging past the first week.
Unions Rise Again: Labor Collectives vs. Amazon
And since DocuStream is launching through Amazon Prime, here’s CBS Sunday Morning’s 2022 report on labor collectives taking on Amazon.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter; DocuStream. Related video: CBS Sunday Morning.
