Earlier today, Roku told Cord Cutters News that a disagreement over the terms of bringing Peacock to the streaming platform had resulted in Comcast preparing to pull its TV Everywhere apps from Roku. NBCUniversal quickly responded, saying that it was Roku’s decision to remove the channels.
A source close to the negotiations has now confirmed to Cord Cutters News that and agreement between Roku and NBCUniversal has been reached and the channels will not go dark tomorrow.
This doesn’t mean that we’ll be seeing an agreement to bring Peacock to Roku just yet. We learned earlier today that Roku offered to extend the current agreement to keep NBCUniversal’s TV Everywhere apps available on the platform while the two worked on negotiations for Peacock. Comcast initially declined the extension, but have now come to an agreement, which could mean we’re getting closer to learning of a carriage deal for Peacock as well.
Just before the streaming service launched in July, Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock didn’t seem concerned with the lack of an agreement with one of the largest streaming platforms. “When it comes to Peacock, we’ve got a very long-term strategy and vision for what we’re bringing to market. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon for us,” Strauss said.
Content distribution and ad inventory have been the two leading factors in preventing a deal, which has been mentioned previously. Roku would like to see NBCUniversal content on its free streaming service, The Roku Channel, and is looking to offer Peacock its standard deal for ad inventory. Peacock hasn’t been interested in the proposed terms, calling them “unreasonable demands” earlier today.
When the time comes, both sides are ready. A Peacock app for Roku is ready to launch as soon as a deal is set.
This is breaking news. We’ll be back with updates when official statements from Roku or NBCUniversal are made.