Streaming

NBCU’s Peacock Will Soon Land on Roku Following Turmoil

By Bill Toulas / September 19, 2020

After launching its app on the iOS market, NBCU’s Peacock is readying to take on the Roku space as the two companies have reached a somewhat unexpected agreement. Peacock is one of the most recently launched streaming services, featuring films and series from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, and various big Hollywood studios.

It also comes with 13,000 hours of freely accessible content (ad-supported), while the subscription cost for the “Premium” and “Premium Plus” tiers only cost $4.99 and $9.99 per month, respectively.

NBCU and Roku were seemingly on the verge of reaching a dead end, as the talks about renewing the content distribution deal weren’t going very well. Rumors claimed that “TV Everywhere” channels were to be removed from Roku this weekend. Roku’s official statement even accused the Peacock owner of trying to enforce the new streaming platform to them on unreasonable terms. At the same time, they undermined the value of “TV Everywhere,” calling it an insignificant amount of streaming hours and revenue for Roku.

Somehow, the negotiations turned the other way around, and both parties are now declaring their satisfaction with the result. NBCU is currently looking to enlarge its userbase, which already counts 15 million people, and Roku is looking forward to offering the new streaming platform and generate more advertising revenue through it. It’s funny how a few hours ago, the two media companies exchanged insulting statements, and now they’re celebrating a mutually beneficial agreement.

So, all’s well that ends well, but what about Amazon’s Fire TV? There has been no word yet about that platform, so for now, we cannot say anything with certainty. Fire TV sticks may remain excluded for longer, and this will further delay Peacock’s universal adoption. As for Roku users, there are many of them asking for HBO Max on social media, but there is nothing official on that front either.

One thing that we can tell you about this streaming platform is that now is the best time to give Peacock a try and see how you like it. Once it has amassed more millions of subscribers, its pricing plan will definitely change, and even the free-access tier may be severely limited.



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