Comcast’s Peacock is now streaming on Roku devices after months of negotiations

The agreement gives the fledgling Peacock access to Roku's 43 million active users.

In this Jan. 16, 2020 file photo, the logo for NBCUniversal's upcoming streaming service, Peacock, is displayed on a computer screen in New York. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)Read moreJenny Kane / AP

by Christian Hetrick

Published Sept. 21, 2020, 5:37 p.m. ET

Comcast’s Peacock streaming service is now available on Roku devices after months of wrangling that spilled into public view last week.

The agreement gives the fledgling Peacock access to a market leader in streaming media players. Roku had 43 million active accounts using its internet-connected TVs and other devices as of June, according to company filings. Peacock has about 15 million sign-ups since its soft launch in April and was made available nationwide in July, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said last week.

The deal also keeps Comcast’s other NBCUniversal apps on the Roku platform after the Philadelphia media giant threatened to pull them as negotiations soured. Roku users could have lost access to 46 apps from NBC, Telemundo, and other Comcast-controlled channels by last weekend if the two sides had not reach a deal, Variety reported Friday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Roku customers are engaged streamers and we know they’ll love access to a wide range of free and paid content,” Maggie McLean Suniewick, Peacock’s president of business development and partnerships, said in a statement Monday.

Unlike many of its streaming rivals, Comcast’s Peacock offers free and cheap streaming products supported by advertisements. The free tier comes with 13,000 hours of content, largely from the NBCUniversal library. The premium version, with more than 20,000 hours of movies and shows, is available for $5 a month with commercials. Consumers can pay $10 a month for an ad-free version.

Although the Peacock app was on Apple, Android, and Microsoft devices at launch, it wasn’t carried by Roku, which controlled 39% of the streaming device market as of last year, according to Parks Associates, a Texas market researcher. The big sticking point between Comcast and Roku was reportedly ad inventory. Roku typically takes 30% of available ad space from its partners.

Peacock is still missing on Amazon devices, which made up 30% of the streaming media player market as of last year, Parks Associates said. Talks between Comcast and Amazon are ongoing.