Peacock is spreading its wings and will fly to international markets, including the U.K., before the end of 2021. Launching through Sky, more than 20 million customers in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland will be able to watch Peacock content at no additional cost, according to Comcast.
To date, Peacock has only been available to consumers in North America. This will mark the streaming service’s first expansion to international markets.
Peacock has been working to make itself more available to consumers, adding Amazon Fire TV just this past June in addition to Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, PlayStation and being available via a computer.
No information was given on an official launch date other than later in 2021, but when Peacock becomes available in Europe, viewers can start watching across Sky’s platforms, including Sky Q, Now and Sky Ticket. Among the selections are expected to be The Office (the U.S. version), Downton Abbey, Young Rock, Suits and more programming from NBCUniversal’s library of TV and movies.
“Peacock will be a great addition for Sky customers with over 7,000 hours of content at no additional cost,” said Dana Strong, group chief executive officer of Sky. “This exceptional value add is another example of great ways we are innovating to bring more benefits to our customers from the synergies across Sky, NBCUniversal and Comcast Cable.”
One thing that is not clear from the press release, however, is if European customers will have access to the Peacock Premium packages that offer additional programming. Peacock Premium ($4.99 and ad-supported) and Peacock Premium Plus ($9.99 and ad-free) feature even more content than the free Peacock, including Peacock originals and live sports. Are those options going to be available to Sky customers?
In addition to announcing Peacock’s expansion into international markets, Comcast also updated the subscription numbers for Peacock during its second quarter 2021 earnings call. The company said that 54 million customers have signed up for Peacock in the U.S. since its launch in July 2020, up from 42 million via their last earnings report.
However, because NBCUniversal isn’t sharing details on the specifics of sign ups for the three different Peacock plans, it is impossible to know for sure how many of those 54 million are simply using the free version of Peacock or one of the Peacock Premium packages.
