Peacock Takes Flight

NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock launches today. While much of the attention will be on past hit series like “30 Rock” and “Parks and Recreation,” it will also offer sports.

Peacock’s first major sports asset was supposed to be the 2020 Summer Olympics, with five hours of planned daily coverage. With the Tokyo Games postponed until next summer, attention instead turns to the English Premier League. There will be four Premier League matches on the platform today for free, and NBC plans to broadcast 175 Premier League matches exclusively on its Peacock Premium subscription tier in the 2020-21 season as NBC Sports Gold’s Premier League Pass shifts exclusively to the platform.

Other live sports slated for Peacock will be a primetime NFL Wild Card playoff game, U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, and the 2021 Ryder Cup. There are also several sports-related Peacock Originals, including Lost Speedways, hosted by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and In Deep with Ryan Lochte.

Peacock and its sports offerings will go head-to-head with platforms from other major media companies. For example, Disney continues to build out the offerings on ESPN+ which now has more than 7.6 million subscribers, while CBS just acquired the rights to the UEFA Champions League – much of which will be featured on its CBS All Access streaming service.