Comcast plans to launch a bundled streaming service that puts its own Peacock offering together with Apple TV+ and Netflix at what CEO Brian Roberts called a “vastly reduced price to anything in the market today”.
The Comcast initiative comes after Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney announced that they were tying up to bundle Disney+, Hulu and Max at a discount.
According to Roberts, speaking at MoffettNathanson’s Media, Internet and Communications conference yesterday, the new offering from Comcast will be called StreamSaver.
Roberts did not reveal further details about the bundle, such as planned launch date and actual pricing.
During his MoffettNathanson presentation, Roberts said that streaming could be a good business within a company like NBCUniversal.
Roberts said that Peacock had reached 34 million customers within four years of launch. NBCUniversal could run its linear and streaming businesses “as one” to maximise the value of its content, he said.
“We’re getting two different revenue streams. One is cord-cutting and the other is the fastest growing streaming service out there,” he said.
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) last week said they were forming the first cross-company partnership between major streaming services to offer a bundle including Disney+, Hulu and Max.
The groups hailed the move as a major step in reducing churn for the respective services and increasing competition against market leader Netflix.
Set for launch this summer in the US, the bundle will include brands such as ABC, CNN, DC, Discovery, Disney, Food Network, FX, HBO, HGTV, Hulu, Marvel, Pixar, Searchlight and Warner Bros. Key titles available in the bundle will include Disney+’s Shogun, Hulu’s The Bear and Max’s House Of The Dragon.
Comcast, like other US cable companies (‘cable company’ incidentally being a description Roberts rejected for Comcast during his MoffettNathanson keynote), has suffered from cord-cutting. Last month it daw its shares fall on its Q1 earnings amid higher than expected customer losses, despite beating analysts’ expectations on earnings growth.
Much attention was focused on Comcast’s loss of 65,000 broadband customers, including 10,000 business customers, in the US, compared with net additions of 5,000 for the prior year quarter.
However, Comcast also lost 487,000 US video customers during the first quarter, an improvement on the 614,000 lost for the prior year quarter.
Peacock on the other hand grew its base by 55% year on year, taking its total to 34 million paying subs. Peacock revenue increased by 54% to US$1.1 billion, and EBITDA also improved – but Peacock’s losses still weigh on the company’s overall numbers.