At the height of the short-lived drama between Comcast and Google, it was reported that YouTube TV was going to encourage users to sign up for Peacock. Why? The perception was that the $4.99 a month service essentially offered everything that would be lost by not having a dozen channels including the flagship, NBC. Is this the case? I mean I guess it depends on how you define having a channel. Peacock provides its share of unique content. At the moment it does not feel fully defined. But there is a lot to take in. Learn more about what it does and doesn’t do.
Does it give you access to your NBC station?
No. What you can get is the sports content from NBC’s national broadcasts. This is no small feat. If the major networks in your home exist to deliver primetime shows and big-time sports then you can work with Peacock. As long as you are not concerned with watching a show the night it airs. But if you live to tweet about the voice or talk about it with workmates the next day it will not work. But NBC’s hit shows are totally available weekly. What is not available is a true live feed of your local NBC network. Unlike TV everywhere apps or Paramount+ there is not a portal where you can watch 24-7 live TV in order to tune in to live daytime talk shows or soap operas, no access to local news etc. Again as the night moves on you can check out early access to The Tonight Show. So ask yourself what do you watch and your answer to the question reveals itself.
Do you get access to the other networks owned by Comcast?
Some. Can you for instance replace the SyFy channel with Peacock? Nope. But some of the SyFy channel’s shows are available. In order to find out which are on you basically have to do a channel to service head-to-head comparison. We took 20 minutes to search for overlap on current shows and found some matches. But we saw enough holes to say that one is not a substitute for the other. There is a lot of news content. In some cases, it provides full episodes of NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and other weekly magazine-style shows along with clips of multiple shows to give the viewer a good feel for the news of the day. The same is true across the rest of the Comcast-owned properties. USA Network fans will find Chrisley Knows Best and Growing Up Chrisley and Suits. But No White Collar or Mr Robot.
Library Content
Peacock is a great place to find library content from the company’s TV past. Cheers, Charmed, Law and Order, and numerous hits are available. The list is likely to get more exclusive as Comcast eventually breaks from Hulu. At the moment it is not so much. Most notable of course is the cult hit The Office.
Originals
Peacock does not try to define itself with original content. It feels much more like a service that defines itself by its legacy. But it does make some attempts. The first year out saw Peacock launch a Punky Brewster reboot, a Saved By The Bell reboot, a one-season reinterpretation of A Brave New World and a fun new look at the world of Dan Brown’s conspiratorial rabbit hole in The Lost Symbol. There is enough studio heft to churn out big-time content, but it has not matured yet.
Pro Wrestling
Peacock became the home of WWE and with it the archives of multiple professional wrestling promotions and the home of current live events from the biggest sports entertainment promotion in the world. For wrestling fans, the service is a treasure trove that lets them dive into their childhood and keep up with the latest. Fan’s can watch everything from the latest episodes of current shows or follow the entire career runs of stars like the Undertaker, Andre The Giant, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels.
Great Leanback experience
Peacock gives users the option to browse channels built into the service. The channels feature dedicated 24-7 feeds of TV shows, curated news clips, SNL and other properties owned by Comcast with a mix of other content sources that make for perfect content in the break room. You can watch for 15 minutes and feel like you got the whole story because there is nothing else to catch.
