Peacock

Peacock is an American over-the-top subscription video-on-demand streaming service by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Named after the logo of NBC, the service was launched on July 15, 2020, with early availability for Xfinity customers starting on April 15, 2020.

History
On January 14, 2019, NBCUniversal announced that it will launch an over-the-top streaming service in 2020, featuring content from its entertainment brands. It was also announced that the service would be free and ad-supported for customers of NBCUniversal pay-TV, Comcast, and Sky; viewers without a pay-TV subscription or viewers who do not want advertisements can also subscribe to an ad-free version of the service. NBCUniversal also announced at that time a reorganization created NBCUniversal Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises under Chairman Bonnie Hammer.

On September 17, 2019, NBCUniversal announced that the service would be called Peacock and would be available in April 2020. The announcement also included new original programming, NBCU property reboots, and that NBC series The Office and Parks and Recreation would be taken off rival streaming services Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video, and 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 debut for Xfinity cable and broadband customers on April 15, 2020, and will be made available for everyone in the United States on July 15, 2020. Additionally, Comcast announced additional programming details, including NBC Sports content such as non-televised Premier League soccer matches and extended coverage of the Ryder Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics, duplicating content that is a part of NBC Sports Gold (though without some features of Gold such as on-demand replays for Premier League matches).

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.

Service structure
Peacock will have two programming tiers, both of which will be supported by advertising (limited to five minutes per hour) by default: Peacock Free, which will be available at no charge to all U.S. Internet users, but with a reduced programming lineup; and Peacock Premium, which will be included at no charge for subscribers to participating TV service providers including Xfinity and Cox Communications, and $5 per month for others. Subscribers to Peacock Premium, whether included through their provider or paid separately, can upgrade to an ad-free version for an additional $5 per month.

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. series Two and a Half Men and George Lopez, as well as The Matrix films. 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.