On Wednesday, Comcast NBCUniversal is officially entering the streaming fray with its own offering, Peacock, featuring more than 20,000 hours of content in its premium tier at launch.

“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,” said Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock, in a statement.

The service will offer content from both within and without NBCU’s family of networks and studios including NBC, Bravo, USA Network, SYFY, Oxygen, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, NBCSN, Golf Channel and Universal Kids as well as A&E, ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, History, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, Focus Features, Illumination, ViacomCBS, Paramount, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., and Blumhouse.

The service also will feature Peacock Original movies and shows; more than 30 curated channels; current season series and specials from NBC and Telemundo; live news and sports; as well as daily trending highlights from news programs Today, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, E! News and Access Hollywood.

Peacock offers three tiers of service: a free ad-supported tier, a premium ad-supported tier for $4.99 per month and an ad-free premium tier for $9.99 per month. The service will be widely available on Apple, Google and Microsoft platforms and devices, and on Vizio and LG Smart TVs. Comcast Xfinity X1 and Flex customers as well as Cox Contour customers will receive Peacock Premium at no extra cost. Starting the week of July 20, Peacock also will be available for Sony PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro.

Both free and premium tiers will feature current season hits from NBC, timely news, sports and pop culture highlights, and dozens of genre channels including live news from NBC News Now and Sky News, as well as exclusive curated channels featuring the best moments from favorite shows such as The Office, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night With Seth Meyers. The service also will offer exclusive genre channels such as CNBC Make It, Today All Day, CNBC Ka-Ching, and more.

The free tier will offer more than 13,000 hours of content, including a movie library with such titles as The Bourne Identity, Jurassic Park, Tully, Phantom Thread, The Matrix and more. New episodes of current NBC series will be available on Peacock’s free tier one week after they air in their linear time slot. That tier will also include sample episodes of Peacock original series as well as access to hundreds of library series, such as 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and more.

Sports also will be available in the free tier, with four exclusive Premier League matches teed up to air on July 15. Later, the service will have coverage of the U.S. Open Championship, an NFL Wild Card playoff game and select events from the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo and Beijing in 2021 and 2022. On-demand replay of sports events also will be available as well as sports-related Peacock Originals.

The premium tier will offer all of the above plus the full catalog of Peacock Originals launching on July 15 and thereafter. New episodes of NBC shows will premiere the next day, instead of the next week, on Peacock Premium, and viewers will be able to watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Myers at 8 p.m. ET when the shows go back into in-studio production.

As for sports, Peacock Premium subscribers will be able to watch more than 175 exclusive Premier League matches, elite cycling events such as the Tour de France and more.

New originals coming to Peacock include Angelyne, Rutherford Falls, Five Bedrooms, Lady Parts and more.

While NBCUniversal is excited about launching Peacock, many NBC affiliates are far less so. As a result, they will not be airing NBC’s 30 Rock reunion special on Thursday night due to the number of Peacock promos that are included, The Wrap reported.

Tags: comcast nbcuniversal peacock


  Save as PDF