NBCUniversal will move shows from Hulu to Peacock in deal shift

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NBCUniversal (CMCSA +0.2%) has formally ended a programming deal that provides popular content to Hulu - the streaming service where it still has a stake, but is run by Disney (DIS -3.6%).

Now, some popular NBC programs that usually appear on Hulu a day after airing on NBC - including Saturday Night Live, The Voice, American Auto and This is Us - will instead be available on NBCU's Peacock service.

Alongside NBCU parent Comcast's recent earnings reports, NBCU executives have tied some slow growth at Peacock to the fact that a lot of strong content premieres on Hulu rather than Peacock.

It's unclear when the switch could happen though it's likely as soon as the fall. The prospect that NBCU would change its deal with Hulu came up last month, as a deadline for the terms got nearer.

As with other Comcast moves, it looks to accelerate the chances of Comcast selling out of the Hulu venture entirely, leaving Disney with sole ownership.

Comcast gets paid by Disney for its content on Hulu, so the question of when to get out of the partnership is a complex financial and strategic one. Comcast agreed in 2019 to sell its Hulu stake to Disney in five years, in a deal that saw it giving up voting rights immediately. But the deal also gave NBCU the option of ending most of its licensing deals with Hulu in 2022.

Comments

[LONGBULL+]

Good to see this move.
Comcast reaches 70% of the international market ( China not included) via various partnerships and is looking for more partnerships to roll out.
So they are on track to reach their goals.
Looking forward to their next NEW partnership deal they will announce.

[yellowpage]

@LONGBULLPLUS HBO used to boast over 100M overseas audience when in reality, they received $1B license fee per year.

[1to3 Investing]

Good decision by Comcast... very curious what whether they are mulling the other choices they have for streaming.

[JohnMalone]

@1to3 Investing
What do you mean by mulling other choices?

[1to3 Investing]

@JohnMalone I mean what other decisions they are mulling over. Deals for streaming content, merging, purchases, etc. things that will grow the streaming side of the business.
The money they have promised from the sale of Hulu can do quite a bit of good to increase their content and offerings, or be used for mergers to grow in other ways.

[nerd_rage]

@1to3 Investing Sell NBC Universal to AMZN etc. It's too late for Peacock to be successful in the increasingly vicious streaming wars.

[brf69]

Peacock would be smart to have a full free access to all content for ad support. Not much to pay for on Peacock and they keep making things with that primetime tv feel, they should just be streaming tv.

[Apt Learner]

Who would have thought that they could make cable look affordable again.

[yellowpage]

@Apt Learner You never got à la carte on cable.

[nerd_rage]

This could be related to DIS's ad-based tier news. Hulu has an ad-based tier. If the ice is breaking and DIS is taking over all of Hulu soon, then they need a plan for integration and I doubt they'd leave that lucrative Hulu ad capability behind.

[TheBot]

IP repatriations signal that the content wars have started in earnest.

[Orangejulius]

@TheBot Yep, there has been talk for years about companies clawing back IP to push their platforms more aggressively. Now that consumers are very willing to subscribe to multiple streaming platforms, they all have greater incentive to buy IP and refuse to lease it out to competitors.

It's going to be interesting to see which of the smaller studios still exist independently in 5 years.

PARA, DISC/A/B/K and whatever it turns into following the merger, LGF/A/B, AMCX, etc. There are many to be bought out or wither away.

[Fred. L.]

@Orangejulius

I’ve been worrying about this for awhile. Might just be the tip of the iceberg. At some point if you have a deep content library why even let NFLX access that if they are your competitor?

[Orangejulius]

@Fred. L. Exactly. Netflix share price has a great deal to lose here. First mover advantage helped them gain a significant advantage, but they can't create enough (good) content to keep wandering eyes off the competition. Growth rates topped with the pandemic and will slow down to a trickle at best now that US / EU market saturation has been reached. Markets like India and South America are unreliable revenue sources as the past few years have shown. Growth is hard to come by when piracy and sharing of accounts is so prevalent.

I don't think streaming will be very profitable for anyone for the next few years. You'll see most of the platforms increase subscription costs beyond inflation (10-20%) to close the profitability gap. Netflix has finally been doing that the past few years, and the competitors will too.