I have a column about Universal and I actually debated if I should cover this. Well, I think I have to. NBC/Universal’s streaming service, Peacock, is now open for business.
Did you know? I think they made it pretty evident on YouTube with ads displacing the political ads for a week, but otherwise, I think this has been kind of quiet. The service has been open to some cable company customers for a while now, but upon launch, Peacock is not yet available on Roku or Amazon Fire streaming platforms.
But, on the positive side, it is free. Mostly.
Universal decided to go the ad route. They have paid options, to be sure, but for the most part, it is a free service best I can see with ads. The ads aren’t too bad yet, but YouTube wasn’t bad at first, either. So hold on with that judgment.
Actually, hold on is the best advice in general. We don’t know what they are going to do with the Olympics yet. I’m sure that will be at least partially behind the paywall options. Will they show the Olympics live as well as the tape delayed packages we are used to?
How about movies? Will something like Trolls World Tour premiere on here from time to time? Or am I right at looking this over and seeing it primarily as a TV service?
I mean, their big event promotion hasn’t even happened yet, when they get The Office to return to their shores. They paid a pretty penny to wrestle it back from Netflix, so the impact of that one show could turn a big tide.
They are pushing Brave, New World as their big Sci Fi offering, which hits me as an odd choice. I mean, this is the home of Universal monsters. I am surprised a Horror Hosted Universal Monsters “channel” or choice is available to match their impressive deep dive on the classic horror movies.
We will need to wait and see, but if you are interested NOW, check it out at Peacock. Heck, it can’t be worse than that HBO thingy they flopped around in the boat the last couple of weeks.