On January 14, 2019, NBCUniversal announced that it would launch an over-the-top streaming service in 2020, and at the same time announced a reorganization created NBCUniversal Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises under chairman Bonnie Hammer. NBCUniversal announced the name "Peacock" and April 2020 availability on September 17, 2019. The announcement also included new original programming, NBCU property reboots, and that NBC series The Office and Parks and Recreation would be taken off from rival streaming services Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video. The series would join the service once their exclusive streaming rights to rival streaming services expire, with Parks and Recreation joining in October 2020 and The Office joining in January 2021. On January 16, 2020, Comcast announced that Peacock would soft launch for Xfinity cable and broadband customers on April 15, 2020, before launching nationally on July 15, 2020.
Distribution
Peacock has three tiers of service: Free, Premium, and Premium Plus. The Free tier has a subset of the content of the upper two tiers and targets its users with advertising. The middle tier, Peacock Premium, has the advertising as well but provides the full library of content. In both ad-supported tiers, commercials are limited to five minutes per hour. The upper tier, Peacock Premium Plus, provides the full library without ads. Peacock Free is available at no charge to all U.S. Internet users. Peacock Premium is available as a monthly subscription but also is included in some services from TV service providers including Xfinity and Cox Communications. Subscribers to Peacock Premium, whether subscribing directly or receiving service through a provider, can upgrade to the ad-free service, Peacock Premium Plus, for an additional monthly cost. On May 6, 2020, a distribution deal with Apple Inc. was announced. As part of the deal, Peacock will be available on iOS devices and Apple TV on launch. Furthermore, content from both Peacock tiers will be listed in the Apple TV app and users from Apple devices will have the ability to subscribe to Peacock Premium with an in-app purchase. On July 20, the service became available on PlayStation 4. On June 23, 2020, Canadian broadcaster Corus Entertainment announced that it had acquired exclusive Canadian broadcast rights to Peacock original programming.
Content
The service is drawn primarily from the NBCUniversal library, including subsidiaries such as Universal Pictures and Universal Television. It is suggested to include at least 15,000 hours of content on-launch without a subscription, and an additional 5,000 hours of content for Premium subscribers. Current episodes of NBC series will become available on Peacock the day after their premiere for Premium subscribers; non-subscribers will receive them on a week's delay. On January 26, 2020, it was announced that The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers will stream on Peacock at 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. ET, respectively, ahead of their television premieres on NBC. The decision, however, was criticized by many of NBC's affiliate groups out of concern that the "pre-airs" of both late-night talk shows on Peacock would cannibalize viewership for the shows on local NBC stations. Peacock also offers a lineup of around 25 curated digital linear channels, featuring long-form and digital-originated programming content from NBCUniversal's broadcast and cable properties as well as third-party content providers, which are designed to emulate a traditional broadcast programming experience.
Original programming
Third-party content
On December 23, 2019, Lionsgate announced it would license library content for Peacock, as part of a larger agreement by Comcast to renew its carriage of Starz. In turn, NBCUniversal will license content for StarzPlay in the U.S. and internationally. On January 16, 2020, Peacock acquired the streaming rights to the Warner Bros. Television series Two and a Half Men and George Lopez, as well as The Matrix film trilogy. In February 2020, A&E Networks licensed some titles from the A&E and History libraries to Peacock. On July 1, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that it would non-exclusively license some of its television series and films to Peacock, such as The Affair, Everybody Hates Chris, Ray Donovan, and Undercover Boss among others. The service will also hold rights to several Paramount Pictures films under a limited exclusivity window from 2021 to 2023. On July 14, 2020, the service acquired the Canadian drama Departure for a U.S. premiere. On July 17, 2020, Cinedigm announced that they had licensed over a dozen films and three streaming channels for Peacock's launch, with hundreds of other films and TV episodes to follow.
Sports programming
In January 2020, NBC announced that the service would carry non-televised Premier League soccer matches and NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games. On July 9, 2020, NBC announced that the NBC Sports Gold Premier League Pass would be discontinued and its content moved into Peacock Premium at no additional charge, offering 175 Premier League games not on television per-season, along with on-demand replays of all matches. As part of the national launch, all matches played on July 15, 2020 were carried exclusively by Peacock for free.
News programming
In January 2020, it was announced that NBC News and Britain's Sky News would collaborate on a new international news channel to be carried by Peacock. On July 13, it was announced that the service would also host Today All Day, a digital channel extension of NBC's morning show Today featuring a mix of lifestyle content.
