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NBCUniversal–owned streaming service Peacock is getting another chance to stick the landing with the Olympics.
Less than a month away from the kickoff of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the streaming service said it plans to cover every single Olympic event on Peacock’s Premium tier, which costs most customers about $5 a month.
That means all of NBCUniveral’s broadcast and cable coverage of the games, including NBC’s nightly primetime show, coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies, medal ceremonies, and studio programming, will all be available to watch on the streaming service. After coverage streams live on Peacock, subscribers will also be able to watch full replays immediately.
A 180: The move marks a considerable reversal from the Comcast–owned broadcaster’s approach to the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. During those games, Peacock only aired a handful of live events, including only some men’s and women’s gymnastics and track and field; men’s basketball was mostly paid-tier. Watching other events required either broadcast or cable TV subscriptions, or YouTube searching.
That approach, to say the least, didn’t win over many fans—and it may have affected how many people tuned in. Last summer’s games were the least-viewed Olympics on record. In October, NBCUniversal executives were noticeably quiet about how the Olympics helped Peacock’s user base during a call with investors in October.
Zoom out: The programming decision also marks one of the first major moves involving Peacock President Kelly Campbell, the former CEO of Hulu who defected in October.—KS