FIRST LOOK: This Is Peacock, NBCU’s Streaming Service, Coming to Xfinity X1 & Flex Customers Tomorrow
The national launch for NBCUniversal’s Peacock may not be coming until July 15, but Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex customers will get to early access to the streaming service.
The ad-supported subscription streaming service will be included for Xfinity X1 and Flex customers across the country at no additional cost starting tomorrow, April 15th. The company says that while it will begin rolling out to customers tomorrow, it will be available to all Comcast customers by the end of the month.
While the company is expecting to rollout nationally on July 15th, Matt Strauss, Chairman of Peacock, said the company continues to evaluate bringing that launch earlier. The biggest impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the service is the original series. While the company hopes to launch a few in July and throughout the rest of the year, they said most have been pushed back to 2021.
Peacock Pricing
When Peacock launches nationally in July, it’ll include a free tier featuring more than 7,500 hours of movies and shows. The service will also offer Peacock Premium, which will be available for $4.99 per month, as well as an ad-free tier for $9.99. Comcast and Cox customers, will get a $5 discount on the service, making Peacock Premium no extra cost.
“Offering Peacock Premium at no additional cost, seamlessly integrated on Xfinity X1 and Flex is another example of our commitment to provide more value, content and choice to customers,” said Dana Strong, president of Xfinity consumer services at Comcast. “With entertainment hours on our platforms up 24 percent versus last year, we know that our customers will enjoy discovering Peacock and all its great content during this exclusive preview period.”
Supported Devices
For the early launch, Peacock will be available exclusively on Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex devices. Come July, Peacock will become available on connected devices (presumably Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV), Smart TVs, mobile and tablet devices, and the Peacock website.
It will also be available on the Cox Contour platform, which will bundle Peacock Premium with the service.
Available Content
For the early launch, there will be a more limited set of content, but when the service rolls out in July, Peacock Free is expected to have 7,500 hours of content, while Peacock Premium will feature more than 15,000 hours of current TV shows, classics, and movies.
Trending Clips
When you first launch Peacock, the service will show Trending Clips from around the NBCU family. Whether this is breaking news, sports highlights, or clips from your favorite late night or variety shows.
Live Channels
The service will have 20+ editorially created live channels at launch — expanding to 75+ over the first year, which create a lean back experience to access content. Streamers can access live news, clip-based channels featuring the best Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers comedy sketches, the best sketches from the SNL Vault, and of episodes of The Office (when it joins Peacock).
TV Shows
Peacock will come with a slew of programs on NBC’s current season, including “Law & Order: SVU,” “Blindspot,” “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Fire,” among others. On the ad-supported plan Peacock programming will feature approximately five minutes of commercials or less per hour.
In addition, Peacock will offer an array of programming, including new and classic content from Telemundo; iconic comedies such as “King of Queens,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Two and a Half Men”; competition series including “Hollywood Game Night,” “American Ninja Warrior,” and “Face Off”; must-see reality including “The Profit,” “Million Dollar Listing NY,” “The Real Housewives of Dallas” and “Chrisley Knows Best”; and docu-series including “Dateline,” “American Greed,” “Snapped” and “Forensic Files.”
“The Office,” “The Mindy Project,” “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and “Roseanne” will be among the shows joining the platform later this year and into 2021.
Movies
While the film library will come equipped with classics such as “E.T.,” “Meet the Parents,” “Schindler’s List,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Children of Men”, while “Bridesmaids,” “The Hurt Locker” and “The Big Lebowski” will be part of the film roster going into next year.
Kids
Peacock’s selection of kids programming will include staples such as “Care Bears,” as well as new and exclusive episodes of “Curious George,” “Where’s Waldo?” and “Cleopatra in Space.”
Originals
One of the most affected parts of content by the COVID-19 pandemic were original series, which has seen all productions shut down. Matt Strauss, Chairman of Peacock, said that the timing of those are “tricky to answer because it’s unclear when things are going back to normal.”
However, he does expect some to be available at the July 15th launch and more hopefully towards the end of 2020 like “Brave New World,” “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” and reboots of “Punky Brewster” and “Saved By The Bell.” NBCU intends on adding dozens of series and original films, including “The Capture,” “Angelyne”, and more in 2021.
Sports
And depending on the timing the coronavirus pandemic, Peacock plans to include coverage of live sports events such as the Premier League, the Ryder Cup, the NFL’s new Wild Card Playoff game and the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The platform will also showcase events such as the Global Citizen and the World Health Organization’s “One World: Together at Home Global Entertainment Special.”