Current NBC shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Voice, New Amsterdam and the well-watched #OneChicago trifecta are moving their next-day streaming home from Hulu to Peacock starting this fall, TVLine has learned.
An NBC Universal spokesperson confirmed the move from Hulu to Peacock, but had no additional details to share at this time. A Hulu rep was not immediately reachable for comment.
The move comes as NBCUniversal, which owns one-third of Hulu (to Disney’s two-thirds), aims to pump up the subscriber base for its Peacock streaming service, which will be two years old in July. In service of that goal, NBCU — in addition to commissioning original content such as Saved by the Bell, Girls5eva and Bel-Air — previously reclaimed The Office’s entire library for Peacock, made the service the exclusive streaming home of WWE, is fast-tracking Universal feature films to Peacock, and streamed all Winter Olympics coverage on the service.
In this new scenario, likely to take effect this fall, fans of current NBC series will only be able to stream new episodes the next day via Peacock. The Peacock Premium tier subscription fetches $4.99/month, for streaming with ads; Peacock Premium Plus runs you $9.99/month, with no ads; and there is also a Free tier that offers limited, ad-supported content.
Contrary to previous reports, TVLine hears that it is undetermined at this juncture which Peacock subscription level will be needed to enjoy next-day streaming of current NBC series.
Older NBC series such as 30 Rock are not affected by this decision, as they currently stream on Hulu as part of different, separate deals.
The decision for NBC to move this batch of content (as previously hinted at by the Wall Street Journal) didn’t come lightly, since it could effectively devalue its own stake in Hulu.
By one WSJ account, NBCUniversal content makes up only a small percentage of Hulu’s total viewership, whereas some 80 percent of NBC’s digital audience comes via Hulu — an audience they now must compel to get their Chicago Fire fix on Peacock.
What’s your take on current NBC faves having to be streamed on Peacock? Will you drop your Hulu account, or simply add another service/subscription?