NBC's Streaming Service is Called 'Peacock' and Will Exclusively House The Office and Parks & Rec

[MacRumors]

NBCUniversal today revealed that the name of its upcoming streaming television service is "Peacock," a reference to the company's logo. The service is still set to launch in April 2020, and NBC also provided more information on the content users will see at launch and beyond (via Vulture).

We knew that Peacock would be getting The Office to stream exclusively, but NBC today revealed that its service will also be the only place you can stream Parks and Recreation starting next fall. Parks and Rec is currently available on a multitude of streaming platforms, including Netflix and Hulu, but come fall 2020 it will be removed from those services.

"The name Peacock pays homage to the quality content that audiences have come to expect from NBCUniversal," said Bonnie Hammer, who's overseeing the service in her role as chairman of NBC's direct-to-consumer and digital-enterprises division. And while there was nothing official in the release Tuesday, Hammer seemed to indicate Peacock will also have news and sports content. "Peacock will be the go-to place for both the timely and timeless -- from can't-miss Olympic moments and the 2020 election to classic fan favorites like The Office," she said.

Peacock will also house exclusive original shows, including a reboot of Battlestar Galactica from the creator of Mr. Robot, a Saved by the Bell revival, a Punky Brewster revival, a spin-off of one of The Real Housewives shows, and a new comedy from Mike Schur, creator of The Good Place.

Former NBC shows on Peacock include: SNL, Cheers, 30 Rock, Frasier, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood, Superstore, Will & Grace, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. There will also be NBCUniversal properties from the USA and Bravo networks.

In terms of movies, NBC said that the service will have dozens of films from the NBCUniversal library, as well as new animated shows from DreamWorks Animation, and episodes of Downton Abbey. Additionally, there will be premium programming from Telemundo, featuring over 3,000 hours of content from the Spanish-language network.

The price hasn't yet been detailed, but NBC said Peacock will be supported by ads, and suggested that anyone who subscribes to a cable package (including OTT services like YouTube TV or Hulu with Live TV) will be able to watch for free. Otherwise, there will be a standalone subscription price, but it's not clear if there will be an ad-free tier.

Essentially, Peacock will be NBC's answer to CBS All Access, which provides subscribers a back catalog of the network's classics and modern TV shows, along with all-new scripted series that are exclusive to the platform.

Streaming TV has become more and more fragmented over the years, with each company, broadcaster, and brand offering a service of its own. Apple is getting into the market itself this year with Apple TV+, which will launch this November for $4.99/month and offer a catalog of exclusive TV shows and films. For anyone who purchases an Apple device, the service will be free for an entire year.

Article Link: NBC's Streaming Service is Called 'Peacock' and Will Exclusively House The Office and Parks & Rec

 

[maflynn]

Death by a thousand cuts, every network, and media company will have their own exclusive streaming service.

 

[jbachandouris]

Wow. Great name. Not.

 

[macduke]

I honestly can't believe they named it that.

 

[julesme]

One of the worst names of all time is going to lead them into the streaming era? What a disaster.

 

[Unity451]

Looks like I'm dusting off my old dvds of The Office. I'm not going to pay for a streaming service just so I can watch old episodes. Nice try NBC!

 

[aaronhead14]

I guess no one on planet Earth will be watching The Office and Parks and Rec anymore then.... Such a shame!

 

[MacDevil7334]

Ugh we are very quickly moving back to the cable days here. Every network will have their own service. If you want everything, it will cost you the same as cable (if not more). I guess the only advantage is you aren’t forced to bundle together stuff you don’t want.

 

[triangletechie]

peacock is obviously a horrendous choice. NBCUniversal+ is also horrible. I'm not sure what they could have chosen that would have sounded good.

 

[kalafalas]

So we’re right back to cable paying $200 a month for TV. They’ll never learn

 

[Unity451]

This whole thing is getting out of hand... I think in time once all these networks realize the demand just isn't there, they'll have to change their approach, but right now, they're all in panic mode, and the netflix/prime model seems to be what their customers are leaving them for. All theses services are just knee-jerk reactions to the changing industry.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

As someone who works inside of a marketing department, I love the name. It beats the pants off of [service] plus, [service] go, [service] all access. It gives it some personality that NBC can play with. It can live and breathe and animate in a way that makes it infinitely more human than just about every other streaming service name out there.

 

[JarvisMeier]

looks like it’s time to break out the old VPN and dust off the torrent machine.

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

Death by a thousand cuts, every network, and media company will have their own exclusive streaming service.

And Netflix will continue to hoover up all the best shows for international syndication.

Here in the UK we get Titans and Star Trek Discovery on Netflix whereas in the states that’s 2 extra services you need to pay for.

I wonder who will be quids in at the end?

 

[ghostface147]

Terrible. All these streaming services add up to the point of maybe getting to the same costs as a cable bundle. Go here for these shows, go there for those shows, go way over there for those shows. Just stinks.

 

[machpost]

For how long will old episodes of the Office and Parks & Rec be considered such valuable commodities? At this point in time it's very hard to imagine there are living human beings who haven't seen each episode 15 times already.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Cut the cord they said. It will be great for the consumer they said.

 

[tom5304]

I’m not paying to watch TV ads, no way. TV advertising is an open sewer pipe into your mind. You don’t know how bad television advertising is until you shut it out of your life completely for a year or more, and then come back and watch an ad or two. TV ads are disgusting, degrading, and insulting. I won’t have it at any price.

 

[bkaus]

Cut the cord they said. It will be great for the consumer they said.

Just paying a different troll under a different bridge. Or in this case, a multitude of trolls.

 

[Stratus Fear]

Cut the cord they said. It will be great for the consumer they said.

Yeah, I sort of figured the legacy media would come around and ruin a good thing. The only thing that having 15 different $5-$10 services causes me (and many others) to do is choose one that best matches what I want and get everything else by other means (not necessarily illegally; for the major networks I DVR stuff OTA with Plex and HDHomeRun). Which obviously doesn’t benefit them at all. They could have gotten some of my money via Netflix or Hulu or whatever, instead they get nothing because they’re all getting greedy again.

 

[nutmac]

Ad-supported.. meh.

Probably free to Comcast customers... hm...

Brooklyn 99, Cheers, Frasier, Park & Rec, The Office? Sign me up.

 

[LarryNyquil]

I knew I wasn't making a mistake opting out of Sling and all that a few years ago.

Though I can't wait for them to follow CBS's lead and make certain things exclusive to the streaming platform so they can double-dip. That's the next logical step.

 

[now i see it]

Tries Disney+ for a few months then cancels when the binging is over and boredom seeps in,
Then tries Apple TV+ for a couple months or less then cancel- same reason,
Tries Netflix again for a month but cancels for all the same reasons it was canceled 5 times before,
Tries Peacock, binges for a bit, then cancels...

Then back to Disney+ and do the subscription merry go round all over again.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I’m not paying to watch TV ads, no way. TV advertising is an open sewer pipe into your mind. You don’t know how bad television advertising is until you shut it out of your life completely for a year or more, and then come back and watch an ad or two. TV ads are disgusting, degrading, and insulting. I won’t have it at any price.

Never paid for cable/satellite?

 

[BWhaler]

Like the name. Hate the logo mark.

Either way, not signing up for it. Subscription fatigue. Disney+ will sneak in just int time. Netflix is on probation and may be first streaming cancelation.

All others offer nothing I need.