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Discovery Plus launches 'slow TV' nature videos to Zen out for Earth Day

Discovery Plus' new Immersions are meditative nature videos that turn your TV into a porthole to flitting hummingbirds, cascading waterfalls and snow rainbows.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
Expertise Streaming video, film, television and music; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; deep fakes and synthetic media; content moderation and misinformation online Credentials
  • Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)
Joan E. Solsman
2 min read
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Discovery

Discovery Plus' latest premiere stars slow-motion hummingbirds flitting around a Wyoming field, giant Sequoias dappled by sunlight and a winter rainbow in the midst of a Rocky Mountain snow flurry. 

Immersions, a new package of "slow TV" nature programming that Discovery Plus launched Thursday for Earth Day, are meditative, long-form videos presenting quiet shots of animals and nature, turning your TV into a sort of porthole to the world's most beautiful vistas.

Think Netflix's Yule Logs, but with manatees lazily swimming in the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico.

Discovery Plus -- the streaming service from the cable programmer behind networks like Discovery ChannelFood NetworkHGTV and TLC -- said its Immersions programs feature never-before-seen footage from nature-documentary specials like Sunrise Earth and North America. The video compilations, which run from 30 minutes to three hours, include cameos by Patagonian penguins, sunrises across America, waterfalls, snowy peaks and flowering fields.

Immersions are initially available in 1080p high-definition video, but Discovery said it plans to add new 4K content in the future. Immersions are available in the Discovery Plus Originals section on the service, along with its Earth Month section of the For You page.

It's the kind of programming that would have been an awkward fit on a traditional TV channel but may help one streaming service differentiate itself from another in a newly competitive streaming market.

That's increasingly important following a period over the last year and a half when media giants and tech titans have released a raft of new streaming services, sometimes referred to as the streaming wars. Pitting rookies like Apple TV Plus, HBO MaxDisney Plus and NBCUniversal's Peacock against heavyweights like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, huge corporations have poured billions of dollars into their ambition to shape the future of television. But for you, this intensifying competition also affects how many services you use -- and often pay for -- to watch what you like most. 

Discovery Plus, which launched nearly four months ago in the US, is $5 a month with commercials and $7 a month ad-free.