NBCUniversal's challenger to Apple TV+ & Netflix is launching in April 2020

Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt in NBC's "A.P. Bio."

NBCUniversal's still-unnamed streaming service will launch in April, CEO Steve Burke said during an earnings call on Wednesday.

Over 500 people are working on the platform, which will rely on the same infrastructure underlying Sky's Now TV in Europe, Burke elaborated. Comcast/NBCUniversal owns Sky, and Now TV is available on iOS, Mac, and Apple TV, among other platforms.

"We believe we have a very innovative way of coming to the market that is very different than anything else and has very attractive financial aspects," said Burke.

NBCUniversal's timing will give Apple TV+ a few months' headstart, but the former may have some content advantages. It will for instance become the exclusive home of "The Office," which for years was one of the most-watched shows on NBC, then Netflix. It's also planning original content with a focus on existing properties, one example being a third season of "A.P. Bio," which stars Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt.

Nevertheless Burke said he's expecting "the vast majority of consumption" in the beginning to be of acquired shows.

Apple TV+ is launching sometime this fall, presumably after the company's annual September press event, when it will likely confirm an exact date, pricing, and lineup.

Many of Apple's original shows have already been revealed. Yet to be learned though is whether the company will license any third-party material, without which it may be harder to compete not just with NBCUniversal but Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

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22 Comments

jbdragon

said about 4 years ago

Here we go with yet another company that just has to have their own streaming service. When it was just Netflix, Piracy had been dropping down greatly. But as more and more of these streaming services pop up, Piracy started growing again. No one in their right mind is going to sign up to 10+ streaming services.

I sure as hell refuse to sign up for CBS All access. I'm sure not going to sign up for NBC Universal. I'll get my free NBC and CBS from the antenna. I'm already on the fence with Netflex and their huge price increase. Remember the days when it was CHEAP and so much worth it? It's ore than doubled since then.

"We believe we have a very innovative way of coming to the market that is very different than anything else and has very attractive financial aspects," said Burke. What a laughable comment that is. It's no different from everyone else.

rob53

said about 4 years ago

jbdragon said:

Here we go with yet another company that just has to have their own streaming service. When it was just Netflix, Piracy had been dropping down greatly. But as more and more of these streaming services pop up, Piracy started growing again. No one in their right mind is going to sign up to 10+ streaming services.

I sure as hell refuse to sign up for CBS All access. I'm sure not going to sign up for NBC Universal. I'll get my free NBC and CBS from the antenna. I'm already on the fence with Netflex and their huge price increase. Remember the days when it was CHEAP and so much worth it? It's ore than doubled since then.

"We believe we have a very innovative way of coming to the market that is very different than anything else and has very attractive financial aspects," said Burke. What a laughable comment that is. It's no different from everyone else.

NBCUniversal is part of the Comcast conglomerate so it's simply an extension of Comcast's programming into the streaming market. Comcast streams over its own coax-based system but now it will be available over every ISP. Talk about a business that needs to be broken up.

check out https://www.nasdaq.com/article/your-complete-guide-to-everything-owned-by-comcast-cm859101 to see just how large they are. They intent is to control everything.

Soli

said about 4 years ago

Can we wait until AppleTV+ actually launches before you start calling other services a challenger to it? I see Apple as the challenger here, not NBC who already has a a successful all-you-can-eat steaming service with original content with Hulu.

JinTech

said about 4 years ago

But NBC already make original content?

daven

said about 4 years ago

So instead of one $80 cable bill, we will have 8 $9.99 bills. I'm glad I ditched cable and just watch over the air and an occasional iTunes commercial-free movie. You can watch a lot of commercial free iTunes content for $80 a month.

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