NBCUniversal is getting ready to get into the streaming service game with the launch of Peacock and now they have finally revealed the launch date and pricing tiers for the new platform.
Peacock will arrive April 15 on Comcast’s XFinity X1 and Flex video platforms before a national launch on July 15. The service will come in three versions: a free, ad-supported one; a more robust, ad-supported one that will be free to Comcast and Cox Cable subscribers, and $5 for everyone else; and an offering with no ads that is $5 for Comcast and Cox subscribers and $10 for everyone else.
NBCUniversal is rewarding subscribers of X1 and Flex with an early bird special launch in April, mostly due to the fact that they account for a majority of total subscribers to the No. 1 U.S. cable operator. The national rollout comes just before the July 24 start of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which offers the company a large promotional push. A bundled arrangement with Comcast and Cox Cable will also kick in at that time, making Peacock available in 24 million homes.
There are other distribution deals in the works as well. Specific third-party distributors like Apple, Amazon or Roku were not called out in advance of the announcement, but a press release promised Peacock will be on “popular web, mobile and connected-TV devices.”
Programming will include 600 movie titles and 400 series, including NBC broadcast mainstays like the Law & Order franchise, The Office and Parks and Recreation; acquired titles like Yellowstone and Two and a Half Men, and a slate of original shows.
