Peacock launches in the US Wednesday.
Angela Lang/CNETPeacock, the streaming service from Comcast's NBCUniversal, is launching Wednesday, and it's lined up distribution across a who's who of the biggest devices. It even announced a last-day deal with Sony to make the service available on PlayStation 4 consoles next week. But Peacock's time is running out to lock down the two most popular devices to stream to televisions -- Roku and Amazon's Fire TV.
As of Tuesday morning, the companies remained silent about their talks. Amazon declined to comment, and Roku and Peacock didn't respond to messages seeking comment. Last month, Comcast's executive in charge of Peacock, Matt Strauss, said the service would launch Wednesday with or without Roku or Amazon on board. And last week, CNBC reported that the companies were unlikely to reach deals in time for launch.
Streaming has grown more popular than ever during the coronavirus pandemic, and Roku and Amazon Fire TV products are the most popular ways to stream on televisions in the US. Together, the two companies' streaming devices and smart TVs make up 70% of all the streaming devices installed in the US last year, and they reach roughly 80 million active users between them.
But rather than serving as neutral platforms for apps, Roku and Amazon both have become more assertive in their talks with new streaming services lately, and media companies are more invested in reaping the most reward possible from their products, leading to impasses.
Peacock failing to launch with Roku and Fire TV would be a repeat of HBO Max's rollout in May. Failing to reach their own distribution deals, HBO Max is still missing from Roku and Fire TV more than a month after launch, with no news about progress since.
Peacock has already announced support for other streaming-TV devices, like Apple TV, Google's Chromecast, Microsoft's Xbox One and now Sony PlayStation 4, among others. Peacock's app is also confirmed for Vizio's SmartCast TVs and LG Smart TVs, and the service will be available on mobile devices too.
Competing with the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and others, Peacock is the last big new service to roll out in the so-called "streaming wars," when a flood of services spilled out from tech and media giants over a roughly seven-month period. In the case of Peacock, it means even a traditional TV and cable company like Comcast is betting that the tide of cord-cutting won't turn.
These competitive battles will shape the fate of companies vying to rule television's future, but they'll also affect how many services you have to use and pay for to watch your favorite TV and movies.
Peacock launches Wednesday in the US with a seven-day free trial for its premium tiers, as well as an always-free tier that lets you sample about half its library with advertising. Peacock Premium, which unlocks the full catalog, is $5 a month or $50 a year with advertising, or you can upgrade to an ad-free version for $10 a month or $100 a year.
The library has about 20,000 hours of shows, movies, news, sports, skit-style clips and exclusive big-budget original programming. Popular programming set to stream at launch includes Jurassic Park, the Bourne movie franchise, The Matrix, Battlestar Galactica, Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, Downton Abbey and Law & Order.
Watch this: Which streaming service meets your needs?
1:19
"TV" - Google News
July 14, 2020 at 09:10PM
https://ift.tt/30bv4Su
Peacock launches tomorrow. Roku and Amazon Fire TV still aren't on board - CNET
"TV" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2T73uUP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Peacock launches tomorrow. Roku and Amazon Fire TV still aren't on board - CNET"
Post a Comment