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Peacock is due to launch next week, on July 15. And perhaps unsurprisingly, Peacock will launch without Amazon Fire TV or Roku support. Meaning that users won’t be able to watch the service on either of those platforms.
But, Comcast is okay with that.
In an interview with CNET on Tuesday, Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock and NBCUniversal’s Digital Enterprises stated that “when it comes to Peacock, we’ve got a very long-term strategy and vision for what we’re bringing to market.” Adding that this is “not a sprint, it’s a marathon for us.”
Comcast isn’t calling it quits with Fire TV or Roku though
Strauss said that they are in talks with all platforms, as they would like to “have the app available on all platforms.” But reiterated that they are committed to launching Peacock on July 15.
What this means is that the app is likely going to come back to Amazon Fire TV and Roku in the very near future. And for now, users will have to settle for Cast support, which does work on both of those platforms.
Though, this is a big blow for Peacock’s launch, considering Roku and Fire TV are the biggest platforms in the world right now. Which means that Peacock is going to lose out on a big group of people that could potentially sign up for the service.
Peacock is going to launch for $5/month or $50/year for the ad-supported version. And the Premium option without ads will cost you $10/month or $100/year. Making it one of the cheaper options out there for streaming.
This is the latest example of streaming services having to play ball with streaming hardware players
This is the new “blackout”. We’ve all seen it where our cable or satellite provider has had to blackout a channel because they were unable to come to a deal with the distributor. Well, this is a new version of that.
The distributor, in this case, Comcast, needs to play ball with Roku and Amazon, to get their app on their platforms. We’ve seen this recently with AT&T and the HBO MAX launch, which also missed out on both of these platforms. Considering Amazon and Roku have 70% of the streaming player market, Comcast is going to want to play ball with them.
Recently, both Amazon and Roku have become more aggressive in their negotiations for new streaming services. Instead of just having all the channels available on their platform, like it used to be.