NEW YORK—Following its three-month preview for Xfinity X1 and Flex customers, NBCUniversal is now bringing its new Peacock streaming service to all viewers, and officially entering the ever growing streaming market with its launch on July 15.
Peacock is the latest example of a major media company launching its own streaming platform for both new original content and classic fan favorites, a strategy that has been deployed to varying degrees of success for new services like HBO Max, Apple TV+ and, most notably, Disney+. However, there is one new wrinkle that NBCU hopes will be an advantage over its competitors—a free service that features more than 13,000 hours of content with advertisements.
Additional subscription options are available for consumers, including a premium tier with 20,000 hours of content with plans of $4.99-per-month with commercials and a $9.99-per-month plan without any ads at all.
Among the content that Peacock will be offering viewers at launch are 10 original productions, including “Brave New World,” a reboot of SyFy series “Psych” and “The Capture.” Some planned original series had to be put on hold because of production limitations as a result of COVID-19, including a “Friends” reunion special.
Sports will also be a part of the platform, another unique feature to the service compared to most of its competitors. Peacock will be the exclusive U.S. streaming home to the 2020-2021 Premier League season, with the premier tier having access to 175 games. It will also serve as the streaming hub for Olympics content, starting next year with the delayed Summer Games in Tokyo. Other sports that will be available on the platform include an NFL Wild Card Game, the Tour de France and the Ryder Cup.
In addition, current NBC shows will debut new episodes on Peacock one week after airing for the free tier, and one-day after for paid tiers. Full libraries of classic shows will also be available, from “The Carol Burnett Show” and “Saturday Night Live” to “Fright Night Lights” and “Battlestar Galactica,” and many more.
One of NBCU’s flagship programs, “Today,” is also launching something brand new on Peacock—“Today All Day,” 24 hours of lifestyle programming, including original video and digital series, and “Today” segments. The new offering will be available for free on Peacock, as well as Today.com.
“This is a historic moment for our company as we proudly introduce Peacock to consumers nationwide—a groundbreaking vision that was brought to life by an incredible team of people from across Comcast, NBCUniversal and Sky,” said Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock. “From current, classic and original movies and shows, to live news, sports, curated channels and trending content from around the world, Peacock is the only free, premium ad-supported streaming service that brings together everything consumers love about television and streaming—all in one place.”
NBCU says that at launch Peacock will be available on Google gadgets—Android mobile devices; Android TV-powered smart TVs, set-tops, dongles and streaming sticks; Chromecast dongles and streaming sticks; and Chromebook computers. Support will also be available on Apple iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs, Microsoft Xbox One gaming consoles, and Vizio and LG smart TVs. PlayStation 4 gaming consoles will support the service as of July 20.
However, there is no current deal in place that will allow Peacock to play on Roku or and Amazon TV devices.
For more information, visit www.peacocktv.com.
