NBCUniversal will join the growing ranks of new streaming services, including — but definitely not limited to — Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, and Quibi. The ad-supported service, Peacock, which launches on April 15 exclusively for Xfinity customers before becoming widely available this summer, not only hopes to rival the several other new streaming services with their library of original and exclusive content, but also Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, which until recently had dominated the streaming market.
The new platform will include a sizable portion of NBCUniversal’s archive, including beloved comedies like The Office and Parks and Recreation, critically-acclaimed dramas such as Friday Night Lights and Downton Abbey, and much-loved films including Back to the Future and the Fast & Furious franchise. Peacock will also entice viewers to subscribe with its buzzy slate of originals, including new projects from Mike Schur and Lorne Michaels.
Here’s everything we know about Peacock so far.
It’s coming in July 2020 — probably. NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, named Peacock, is expected to launch on Wednesday, April 15 for Xfinity and Xfinity Flex subscribers. Originally, Peacock was going to be made widely available on Wednesday, July 15 (which is still the official plan), but NBCUniversal is reportedly “evaluating” moving up the launch with so many people trapped at home thanks to the spread of coronavirus.
There are three price tiers for the service. It was announced during Peacock’s launch presentation in January 2020 that there will be three different price tiers for the service. There will be a free ad-supported version with half the content of the full service. For $5/month, viewers can have ad-supported access to the full Peacock library. Cable subscribers with certain services, like Comcast, will have access to the ad-supported premium version for free. An ad-free experience will be available for $10/month.
Ads will be limited to five-minutes per hour. No one loves ads, but Peacock executives made the promise that the ads would be limited to five minutes per hour, which is about a third less than linear cable. Deadline reports that Capital One, L’Oreal, Molson Coors, Subaru, Verizon, Apartments.com, State Farm, Target, and Unilever will be the service’s launch sponsors.
The loss of the Summer Olympics is a big blow to Peacock. The 2020 Olympics were supposed to play a major role in the Peacock rollout, but with the Olympics postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the streaming service is losing a major piece of its initial selling proposition.
Your old favorites are returning in new forms. Plenty of your nostalgic favorites are being revived or rebooted on the new platform. Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley will reprise their roles as A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano, respectively, in a Saved By the Bell sequel created by Tracey Wigfield (Great News). A new Battlestar Galactica series from Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) has been given a straight-to-series order; the new show is expected to take place in the universe established in Syfy’s 2004 run rather than the 1978 original series. And Soleil Moon Frye is reprising her titular role in a Punky Brewster sequel series, in which Punky is now a single mother of three who runs into a young girl in foster care (Quinn Copeland) who reminds her of herself at that age. Steve and Jim Armogida will write and executive produce the comedy.
More original scripted shows are in the works. New original dramas headed to Peacock include Brave New World, starring Demi Moore, which was previously developed for USA Network; Dr. Death, inspired by the hit podcast, starring Alec Baldwin, Jamie Dornan, and Christian Slater; Emmy Rossum-starring limited series Angelyne, also from Esmail; and thriller One of Us Is Lying, which is currently a pilot. Comedies include Rutherford Falls, co-created by Mike Schur, Sierra Teller Ornelas, and Ed Helms, who also stars; and Rashida Jones‘ pilot Straight Talk, starring Jada Pinkett Smith.
At the January launch presentation, Peacock announced an additional slate of shows, including Girls5eva — a girl group comedy from Tina Fey, a new Amy Poehler comedy Division One, Clean Slate from Norman Lear, The Adventure Zone based on the McElroy family’s Dungeons & Dragons podcast, a pregnancy comedy Expecting from Mindy Kaling, Will Forte‘s MacGruber TV adaptation, and a docuseries — Hatching Twitter — from NYT writer Nick Bilton.
Unfortunately, many of these originals will not debut on the streamer until 2021 given the recent production shutdowns due to COVID-19, per Variety.
A.P. Bio and the Psych movie sequel are on the move. After NBC canceled the comedy following its second season, A.P. Bio was saved by NBCUniversal’s then-unnamed streaming service in July. Season 3 of the Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt sitcom will air exclusively on Peacock, with no premiere date set at this time. The anticipated Psych movie sequel, titled Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, will also move from USA to Peacock. That means Psych-Os won’t be able to see Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) back in action in late 2019, as initially reported, and will instead have to wait until at least spring 2020.
The Office and Parks and Recreation will stream exclusively on Peacock. Your go-to NBC comedy favorites are transferring to a new home. The Office will leave Netflix for Peacock in January 2021, while Parks and Recreation will disappear from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu in October 2020 ahead of its move to Peacock for the service’s July 15 launch.
Other TV favorites are making Peacock their exclusive streaming home. In addition to The Office and Parks and Recreation, several other notable titles will be available on Peacock, eventually becoming exclusive to the service. This includes comedies like 30 Rock, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Cheers, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, King of Queens, Married… With Children, Superstore, and Will & Grace. On the drama side, Peacock will feature Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, Covert Affairs, Downton Abbey, Friday Night Lights, House, Monk, Parenthood, Psych, and Royal Pains. The streaming service will also add unscripted programming such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, Top Chef, Chrisley Knows Best, and Saturday Night Live (reportedly, the platform will offer every completed season of SNL since its 1975 premiere).
Peacock is developing a slate of unscripted programming, including its own late-night show. The streaming service will attempt to break into the late-night game with its weekly show starring comedian Amber Ruffin from Seth Meyers. It will also feature a new talk show from Jimmy Fallon where kids interview adults, a Real Housewives spin-off, and an SNL docuseries Who Wrote That, from creator Lorne Michaels.
A new Telemundo series is in the works for Peacock. In addition to new original dramedy Armas de Mujer, more than 3,000 hours of content from NBCU’s Telmundo will be available to stream.
Peacock will be a destination for news. MSNBC, Telemundo Noticias, and Dateline will all have a digital home on the series along with a new version of Meet the Press. “Our ambition is a lot bigger than just putting on another show or two,” Meet the Press host Chuck Todd told investors at the launch presentation. “We’re going to be able to create a central location for how people consume and understand politics for the next 70 years.”
Plenty of big-name movies will be available for streaming. Much-loved films available to stream on Peacock at launch include American Pie, Back to the Future, A Beautiful Mind, the Bourne franchise, The Breakfast Club, Bridesmaids, Brokeback Mountain, Casino, Dallas Buyers Club, all Despicable Me movies, Do the Right Thing, Erin Brockovich, E.T., the Fast & Furious franchise, Field of Dreams, Jaws, Knocked Up, Mamma Mia!, Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents, and Shrek.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Saved by the Bell, The Office
Source : TVGuide
