NEW YORK—NBC is known as the peacock network thanks to its classic logo, and it is keeping that identity with its upcoming streaming service, which will simply be known as Peacock. NBCUniversal also announced that it will launch the service in April 2020.
The Peacock streaming service will offer both original series, reboots and serve as the exclusive streaming home for many NBC classic series, while also offering film content, news, sports, late-night and reality programming. As part of its announcement it unveiled its initial content lineup.
As previously announced, the service will be the exclusive streaming home for series like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.” In addition, Peacock will host popular series including “30 Rock,” “Bates Motel,” the original “Battlestar Galactica,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Cheers,” “Chrisley Knows Best,” “Covert Affairs,” “Downton Abbey,” “Everyone Loves Raymond,” “Fraiser,” “Friday Night Lights,” “House,” “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” “King of Queens,” “Married … With Children,” “Monk,” “Parenthood,” “Psych,” “Royal Pains,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Superstore,” “The Real Housewives,” “Top Chef” and “Will & Grace.”
New dramas set to premiere on the streaming service include “Dr. Death” with Alec Baldwin based on the popular podcast; “Brave New World” starring Demi Moore; original Spanish-language dramedy “Armas de Mujer”; a reboot of “Battlestar Galactica”; “Angelyne” with Emmy Rossum; and “One of Us Is Lying” based on the best-selling young-adult mystery thriller.
On the comedy side, new programs will include “Rutherford Falls” starring Ed Helms; “Straight Talk” from Rashida Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith; a new season of “A.P. Bio”; a second movie spin-off of “Psych”; and a pair of reboots of “Punky Brewster” with original star Soleil Moon Frye and “Saved by the Bell” with Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez.
There will also be a handful of new unscripted programs. Lorne Michael’s has created an “SNL” docuseries called “Who Wrote That”; Jimmy Fallon will launch a new original talk show series; there will be a weekly late night show from Seth Myers starring Amber Ruffin; and a spinoff of “The Real Housewives” series.
Launching in 2020, Peacock is also set to be part of NBC’s coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In addition, Peacock’s slate of film content will feature popular titles from Universal Pictures and Focus Features. Universal Pictures is also developing original films and animated series for the streaming service, while DreamWorks Animation is working on original animated content for kids.
When it launches in April, NBC says that Peacock will feature more than 15,000 hours of content.
The streaming service will be supported both by advertising and subscription services. Pricing and distribution details are expected to be announced closer to launch.
