NBCUniversal will be launching its new streaming service in April 2020, and like its competitors, HBO Max and Apple TV+, NBCUniversal has been pretty mum on the details of its service. To date, all we know is that it will launch next spring and will be free to anyone who subscribes to a pay TV service and will offer an ad-free tier for an additional fee — which has been previously reported at $10+.
Today, in a Comcast earnings call with industry analysts, NBCU CEO Steve Burke gave another tidbit of information, stating that the service will initially be more about showcasing the company’s library of content versus original shows.
He said, “When Netflix first started, it was all acquired programming and I believe today that acquired programming is something like 80 percent of Netflix’s volume. The vast majority of our volume I expect to be acquired. We are spending some money on originals and we’ve announced we’re doing another year of AP Bio. We have a number of originals that are actually tied to libraries that we currently own, but I would expect the vast majority of the consumption in the beginning would be acquired.”
Earlier this year, NBCUniversal announced that The Office, which is still the most popular show on Netflix, will be moving to their streaming service in January 2021. Burke acknowledged that the series was an important get for NBCUniversal as it holds “about 5 percent of all of Netflix’s volume” and will be “one of the tent pole programs” on the platform.