On Monday, NBC announced plans to launch its own
streaming service in early 2020. The
move is in response to similar offerings by their broadcast competitors, CBS
and Disney/ABC. The ad-supported service,
which will consist of television episodes and movies produced by NBC Universal,
will be free to the 52 million Comcast and Sky subscribers and available for
$12/month to non-pay TV customers. (Note: The news came about a week after Comcast and
many other MVPDS (e.g. Charter, AT&T/DirecTV, Dish) announced rate hikes
because of rising costs to retransmit broadcast channels and distribute sports
programming.
While NBCUniversal, in its press release, states that it is
committed “to license content to other studios and platforms, while retaining
rights to certain titles for its new services,” is it a matter of time that it,
like Disney, ends its long-term relationship with Netflix? The year or so gap between the streaming service
launch and contract renewal with Netflix in 2021 will give NBC plenty of time
to evaluate what to do. And, if
NBCUniversal determines that it doesn’t “need” Netflix does it “need” Hulu either? Time and data will tell.
http://www.nbcuniversal.com/press-release/nbcuniversal-announces-direct-consumer-streaming-service-and-new-leadership-structure
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