Weeks after launching on other platforms, NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service has finally arrived on Roku. Roku and NBCU seemed to be at standoff last week, and there were threats that all 46 NBCU apps would be removed from Roku. But both parties reached a last-minute agreement last Friday.
A report from Variety indicated that Peacock wouldn't arrive on Roku for a few weeks, as the two companies would need time to integrate the Peacock app into the Roku system. However, Peacock became available on Roku just three days after the agreement was announced, indicating that Roku and NBCU had been cooperating on the app all along.
Roku and NBCUniversal had been deadlocked over terms of advertising inventory on the ad-supported versions of Peacock. Roku typically takes a 30% share of ad inventory, but Peacock had refused these terms, arguing that it delivers only 5 minutes or less of ads per hour of programming. Variety noted that NBC content will also be made available on Roku's free flagship app The Roku Channel. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Variety said that "there is money changing hands, in the form of NBCU providing some kind of value to Roku: The platform company said it has a deal for 'a meaningful partnership around advertising.'"
Peacock offers hundreds of movies from major Hollywood studios, thousands of hours of TV shows, live news and sports, and Peacock Channels, which stream movies, shows, and clips 24/7. The service is free, but viewers can subscribe to Peacock Premium ($4.99/month) for access to additional content, and Peacock Premium Plus (an additional $5.00/month) provides (mostly) ad-free viewing. You can find our full review of Peacock TV's Roku app here.
Currently, Peacock TV is still unavailable on Amazon's Fire TV, and we're still awaiting word on if and when HBO Max will become available on Roku.
(Update Sep 26, 2020) Peacock TV is not available on all Roku models. A list of compatible devices, including Roku models that support Peacock TV, can be found at www.peacocktv.com/help/article/what-devices-and-platforms-are-supported-by-peacock.
