NBCUniversal and Amazon just announced that Peacock will launch on Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets in the U.S. starting on Thursday.
The Peacock app will bring thousands of hours of on-demand movies and shows, as well as live news and sports programming, to Fire TV and Fire tablet customers nationwide. I hear the announcement, which was teased on social media yesterday, is part of a larger partnership between Amazon and NBCU, with more announcements coming soon.
It’s a significant breakthrough for the year-old streaming service, as Fire reaches more than 50 million U.S. households. The distribution deal fills in the last remaining gap in Peacock’s distribution. NBCU recently announced a pact with Samsung, the leading smart-TV maker, and last fall reached terms with Roku, the top streaming gateway.
The news comes just a month before the start of NBCU’s Tokyo Olympics coverage, in which Peacock will play a key role. The Games originally were meant as a key promo platform for Peacock as it launched, but then came the coronavirus pandemic. Despite limits in its distribution, Peacock has drawn 42 million sign-ups as of the end of March, about one-third of which are active users. NBCU plans to put an undetermined amount of live coverage of gymnastics and other high-profile Summer Olympics sports on Peacock, which will also feature several channels dedicated to the Games.
Tomorrow’s announcement is NOT a prank 👀 pic.twitter.com/m9hCuHU9tt
— Fire TV 📺 (@amazonfiretv) June 22, 2021
“We aim to make Peacock as widely available as possible, so we’re excited to bring the service to millions more people who stream on Fire TV and Fire tablets,” said Maggie McLean Suniewick, President, Business Development and Partnerships, Direct-to-Consumer. “Amazon customers will find amazing content to stream this summer on Peacock from the Tokyo Olympics to The Boss Baby: Family Business.”
In addition to adding Peacock to Fire TV and Fire tablets, NBCUniversal and Amazon reached a distribution agreement for NBCUniversal’s network apps. NBCUniversal’s 15 network apps on these Amazon devices include NBC, Bravo, NBC News, NBC Sports and Telemundo, among others.
“We look forward to building on our existing partnership with Fire TV’s millions of customers and offering them Peacock’s undeniable line-up of original, library and film content,” said Matt Bond, Chairman, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal. “This marks another great step in reaching audiences everywhere with the breadth of NBCUniversal’s full entertainment, film, Hispanic, news and sports portfolio.”
In addition to current season programming from NBC and Telemundo, recent Peacock Original premieres include comedies Girls5Eva and Rutherford Falls; documentary series John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise; new episodes of The Amber Ruffin Show; dramas Dime Quién Soy: Mistress of War and Departure, sports series like Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts and Michael Phelps: Medals, Memories, and More. This content complements a massive library of hit shows including The Office, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Cheers, Yellowstone, Friday Night Lights, Downton Abbey, Real Housewives, Top Chef, and Curious George, as well as blockbuster movie franchises like Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, and Ghostbusters.
“Peacock has built an engaging streaming library that we know Fire TV customers will enjoy,” said Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services. “By pairing Peacock with Fire TV, our joint customers will be able to use Alexa and personalized recommendations to rediscover some of the world’s most-loved sitcoms, watch all-new shows like Girls5Eva, and follow Olympic highlights – all from one service. Alexa, watch Peacock.”
The Peacock app will launch on Fire TVs and Fire tablets starting Thursday and will be compatible with the entire Fire TV product line-up including Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick Lite, and Fire TV smart TV. With Alexa, Fire TV customers can search for and open Peacock using their voice. Full Alexa title integration will roll out later this year, which will allow customers to navigate the entire Peacock catalog from the Alexa Voice Remote, or by using voice from across the room with Fire TV Cube or by pairing an Echo device to any Fire TV streaming media stick or Fire TV smart TV.
Upcoming live events on Peacock include SummerSlam from WWE, Miley Cyrus’s Pride Concert “Stand by You,” and sports coverage of the Tokyo Olympics, Sunday Night Football and Premier Lacrosse League. The Peacock app also features news highlights from Today, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press, Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, E! News and Access Hollywood.
Peacock features a growing list of streaming channels, including clip-based channels like Fallon Tonight and SNL Vault; exclusive news channel The Choice; sports channels like GolfPass and NBC Sports; franchise-specific channels like The Real Housewives and Unsolved Mysteries; and genre channels like Peacock Reality and Classic TV Crime.
Dade Hayes contributed to this report.