It’s the end of the road for Warner Bros. Discovery‘s MotorTrend+ automotive streaming service.
The media company announced that MotorTrend+ will be shut down after content from the service is fully migrated to Discovery+ and Max at the end of March. The majority of current MotorTrend+ subscribers will be automatically switched over to Discovery+’s ad-free plan by the end of March, retaining their same subscription price. The company said eligible MotorTrend+ subscribers will receive email instructions on how to access Discovery+. MotorTrend+ subs who signed up through certain third-party partners will not be moved over.
MotorTrend+ subscriptions had cost $5.99 per month or $54.99 per year. The ad-free version of Discovery+ is $8.99/month in the U.S.
Beginning Friday, Feb. 23, 1,000 hours of MotorTrend’s programming is being added to Discovery+ (in the U.S. and Canada) and Max (in the U.S.). Thousands of hours of additional MotorTrend content will be added to both Discovery+ and Max through the end of March, at which time the MotorTrend+ subscription service will “sunset.” (Meanwhile, with the rebranding of HBO Max to Max last year, the company funneled in hundreds of episodes from Discovery’s brands while keeping Discovery+ as a standalone service.)
WBD said MotorTrend news, reviews and shopping tools will continue to be available for free on its mobile apps and websites.
MotorTrend content available on Discovery+ and Max includes “Top Gear America,” a U.S. adaptation of the British show “Top Gear” featuring Dax Shepard, Rob Corddry and Jethro Bovingdon on a mission to drive the wheels off whatever they can get their hands on.
Other shows from MotorTrend include “Roadkill” with David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan (“two guys behaving badly with cars”); “Texas Metal,” following Ekstensive Metal Works, where owner Bill Carlton and his team design and build “outrageous, enviable cars and trucks”; “Kevin Hart’s Muscle Car Crew,” in which Hart and his friends try to transform from car enthusiasts into a legit car club; and “Hot Rod Garage,” featuring Lucky Costa, Tony Angelo and Alex Taylor joining forces to build hot rods “in every shape imaginable.”
In 2017, Discovery Communications acquired a majority stake in TEN: The Enthusiast Network and combined its Velocity TV network with the digital and live-event businesses of TEN’s 20-plus automotive brands including MotorTrend and Hot Rod. The subscription streaming service, originally called MotorTrend OnDemand, at one point offered more than 8,000 episodes and 4,000 hours of automotive series and specials.
Pictured above: Dax Shepard in “Top Gear America”