We have Disney+ and Apple TV+, and we know all about HBO Max. Now, the last of the major new platforms to enter the ever-escalating Streaming Wars has been unveiled, as NBCUniversal detailed Peacock during a investors meeting on Thursday.
Besides content, the major difference between Peacock and its competitors is ad support. A free tier with limited access to next-day cable shows, classic series, movies, sports, and select premium programming will be completely ad-supported. Peacock Premium, meanwhile, will feature all the premium, original programming for $5 a month, while an ad-free tier will cost $10 a month. However, if you’re a Comcast or Cox cable subscriber, you get the base Premium level for free and can update to ad-free for just $5 a month.
Comcast subscribers will have access to Peacock beginning April 15th. The service will launch nationally on July 15th, just in time for NBC’s coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Another benefit of a Premium subscription will be early access to NBC’s late night programming. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon becoming available at 8:00 p.m. ET, a full three-and-a-half hours before it airs on TV. Late Night with Seth Meyers will have an equally early debut, dropping on Peacock at 9:00 p.m. ET.
(Read: 50 TV Shows You Need to See in 2020)
As far as other content goes, NBCUniversal confirmed some of the Peacock shows we already knew about, such as reboots of Saved by the Bell and Battlestar Galactica. During Thursday’s presentation, a whole slew of new programs and movies were revealed. Here’s a list of some highlights (via The Hollywood Reporter):
— In addition to the Battlestar Galactic reboot, Sam Esmail has teamed with his with Emmy Rossum for Angelyne, which Rossum will also star in. “The limited series is based on the Hollywood Reporter feature that explored the identity of L.A.’s mysterious billboard bombshell,” according to a synopsis.
— Originally set at USA Network, an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World will star Alden Ehrenreich, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Demi Moore.
— Callum Turner, Ron Perlman, Famke Janssen, and Holliday Grainger will star in The Capture, a conspiracy thriller set in London.
— Wonderly’s Dr. Death podcast will be developed into a drama starring Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and Christopher Duntsch.
— Tina Fey will executive produce Girls5Eva from writer Meredith Scardino’s (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). The show centers on a ’90s girl group that reunites after a young rapper samples their only hit.
— Friends star David Schwimmer returns to TV for Intelligence from British comedian Nick Mohammed (who writes, executive produces, and co-stars in the series). A “workplace sitcom set in the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters,” the show stars Schwimmer as “an arrogant, maverick NSA agent” who teams with Mohammed’s “inept and tactless computer analyst” to combat cyber terrorism.
— Nida Manzoor will turn her comedy short Lady Parts into a series following a Muslim female punk band.
— A reboot of Punky Brewster will see Soleil Moon Frye reprise the title role in a very Girl Meets World-style sitcom. A single mother of three, Punky will meet a young girl who reminds her of her punkier days. Freddie Prinze Jr. will recur as Punky’s ex-husband.
— Ed Helms will star in Rutherford Falls, a scripted comedy he co-created with The Office and Parks and Recs creator Mike Schur and Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Sierra Ornelas. Helms will play “Nathan Rutherford, the eponymous denizen of a small New England town, who is having difficulty facing the inevitable changes to his way of life.”
— The docuseries Who Wrote That will take a look into the Saturday Night Live writers’ room to highlight some of the most important behind-the-scenes voices from the show.
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Peacock also isn’t eschewing the pilot process, as many other streaming services have. In addition to MacGruber, NBCUniversal is working on the following pilots:
— Laverne Cox and George Wallace are writing and executive producing Clean Slate alongside Dan Ewen. Wallace would play Henry, a car wash owner who is thrilled to have his estranged son return home to Alabama — only to learn that son is now a proud trans woman named Desiree (Cox).
— Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, and Griffin McElroy are developing their Dungeons & Dragons podcast and graphic novel series The Adventure Zone into an animated series.
— Amy Poehler is part of a team that includes writer/director/EP Maggie Carey and writer/EP Julia Brownell for Division One, “a coming-of-age comedy about an underdog women’s collegiate soccer team that gets a new female coach — a former professional soccer player who’s fallen from grace — and must decide whether or not they’re going to take the risk of trying to be great.”
— Mindy Kaling and Howard Klein are developing Expecting, about 39-year-old Ellie, a single music manager who asks her gay best friend and co-worker, Jonathan, to be her sperm donor.
All of this is in addition to a slew of legacy content, with NBCUniversal saying it will launch with 10,000 hours of library originals. We already knew Peacock nabbed exclusive rights to The Office and Parks and Recreation, but we learned today it also locked up Dick Wolf’s procedurals (the original Law & Order along with SVU and Criminal Intent, plus Chicago Fire, P.D., and Med.).
While previously inked streaming deals play out, Peacock will also have non-exclusive titles like 30 Rock, Bates Motel, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, House, Fraiser, Downton Abbey, Friday Night Lights, Married… With Children, Monk, Roseanne, The Purge, The Mindy Project, Suits, and more. Plus there’s non-scripted programming such as Dateline, Bad Girls Club, American Ninja Warrior, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Million Dollar Listing, Top Chef, and The Real Housewives franchise.
As far as movies go, Peacock users will have access to franchises like Bourne, Despicable Me, and Fast & Furious, as well as hits like Casino, Do the Right Thing, E.T., Field of Dreams, Jaws, Back to the Future, and others.
A full list of all the content Peacock will have at launch can be seen over at THR. We’ll see if it’s enough to draw users away from every other streaming option they suddenly find themselves facing.
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