Peacock – the US streaming service owned by NBCUniversal – will land in the UK and Ireland on Tuesday 16th November.
The "soft launch" will give Sky Q, Sky Glass and Now Entertainment subscribers free "early access" to Peacock content, which includes hit movies such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, plus TV favourites like The Office, 30 Rock and Battlestar Galactica.
Sky says that after the UK and Ireland soft launch, "Peacock will continue to rollout... across Sky platforms in territories including Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland in the coming months, making it available to almost 20 million Sky customers in total."
The downside? Adverts. According to a previous Sky announcement, Peacock's programming will be ad-supported (as it is in the US). There's no word on whether the ad-free Premium tier, which costs $10 a month, will ever make it to the UK. Content availability will differ from what’s available on Peacock in the States, too.
Peacock isn't the only big streaming service headed Sky's way, mind.
The pay-TV giant has inked a deal to launch Apple TV+ on Sky Glass and Sky Q later this year (unlike Peacock, Apple TV+ won't be free to Sky subscribers). Paramount Plus is also due to launch on Sky platforms in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria next year.
Since launching in the US 18 months ago, Peacock has surpassed 54 million subscribers and amassed over 13,000 hours of programming. The service doesn't currently support 4K, HDR or Dolby Atmos in the States, so we wouldn't expect the UK version to differ.
Wondering what to watch first? Sky has provided a flavour of Peacock's "growing" catalogue below...
Peacock Originals: Saved by the Bell, Rutherford Falls, Punky Brewster, The Girl in the Woods, Five Bedrooms, and Vanderpump Rules; in addition to upcoming series MacGruber, Bel-Air, Joe Exotic (working title), Killing It, Vampire Academy, Irreverent, The Innocent, The Resort, The Missing, The Best Man, Angelyne, Ted, and Battlestar Galactica/
Peacock TV shows: The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Psych, Superstore,A.P. Bio, The Mindy Project, Will & Grace, Mr. Mayor, Young Rock, and Saturday Night Live; popular dramas such as Battlestar Galactica, Monk, Bates Motel, Heroes, Friday Night Lights, 12 Monkeys, Downton Abbey, House, Suits, Quantum Leap, Warehouse 13, The Equalizer, and Grimm; and unscripted hits like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Million Dollar Listing, Southern Charm, Below Deck, The Real Housewives, and Top Chef.
Peacock movies: The Best Man, Bird on a Wire, Bowfinger, Brüno, Bulletproof, Children of Men, Definitely, Maybe, Far and Away, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Game, Hanna, Hannibal, The Last House on the Left, MacGruber, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Meet Joe Black, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Out of Sight, Pride & Prejudice, Scent of a Woman, Seed of Chucky, A Simple Wish, The Skeleton Key, Tower Heist, United 93, Very Bad Things, What Dreams May Come, and You, Me, and Dupree.
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