Comcast Corp. believes that the launch of its upcoming streaming service will not have a major impact on the company's overall financial performance next year.
The company's programming unit NBCUniversal Media LLC on Sept. 17 announced the Peacock name for the upcoming ad-supported video-on-demand service, which will debut in April 2020. Peacock will offer an array of TV series, both originals and library content, and also showcase films from Universal Pictures, Focus Features LLC, DreamWorks Animation LLC. and Illumination Films.
Speaking at an investor conference on Sept. 18, Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts told investors that while the investment in Peacock will be significant, it will not be at a level that will keep "both NBC and the overall company from the historic kind of growth that we've been able to enjoy."
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His confidence stems in part from widespread distribution for the service, as well as the repurposing of some of the funds allocated to content production, a total that reached $24 billion in 2018.
Roberts said the company had been looking to the success of Sky Studios, Universal Cable Productions and NBC Studios and determined it needed to ramp up production. Some of the projects under Sky Studios will end up on Peacock, he said.
"The new Comcast has a capability that it's never had before, and I think it will work well with the timing of what we think is going to be a really exciting new project," said Roberts.
Peacock will have wide-scale reach, available to the 80 million customers tied to Comcast and NBCU. The service will also be offered to other pay TV distributors. Those outside of the pay TV ecosystem will be able to purchase the product on a subscription basis. Pricing and other details will be revealed closer to the launch date.
Roberts said Peacock will have a light advertising load, with advanced targeting capabilities, which will be inserted within new programming, including reboots of popular franchises as well as top library fare like "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation." "Saturday Night Live" and potentially the 2020 Olympics will also be part of a lineup, sporting 15,000 hours of content. NBCU will present the Summer Games from Tokyo next July and August.
Peacock evolved from the company's decision to "do something different" within an increasingly crowded streaming field led by Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video. Those streaming services will soon be joined by Apple Inc.'s Apple TV+ and The Walt Disney Co.'s Disney+, neither of which will feature commercial messaging. AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia is also gearing up for the launch of its streaming service HBO Max next year.
The company believes Peacock's ad-supported approach represents the "fastest way to get to profitability and do so with the least amount of investment.”

New Peacock logo