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The streaming world is getting more and more like cable every day.
Peacock, the Comcast-owned streaming service, will soon be bundled with Apple TV+ and Netflix in a package for Comcast customers, CEO Brian Roberts announced Tuesday.
The bundle, called StreamSaver, will roll out later this month, Roberts said at MoffettNathanson’s 2024 Media, Internet, and Communications conference, and it “will come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today.”
The move, announced a day after Comcast-owned NBCUniversal hosted its annual upfront presentation to advertisers, is the latest in a series of bundles announced in the streaming space. Last week, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery said Disney+, Hulu, and Max would be bundled together this summer, with both an ad-supported version and an ad-free version. Earlier this year, WBD, Disney-owned ESPN, and Fox announced that they were working on a joint streaming sports service slated to roll out this fall.
It also comes as streaming subscriptions are steadily growing more expensive. Peacock, which reported 34 million subscribers as of its most recent earnings report, will increase the price of both its ad-supported and ad-free tiers by $2 per month, beginning before the 2024 Paris Olympics. Netflix has also grown pricier in recent years.
Better together: Telcos like Verizon and T-Mobile have for years offered some customers free streaming service subscriptions as perks with their phone or internet plans. Deals like these can help incentivize customers to stick around with telcos long-term, while also giving streamers the chance to win over new viewers and helping them reduce churn.
On Tuesday, Roberts characterized the streaming bundle as the same tactic the company has been using for a long time.
“We’ve been bundling video successfully and creatively for 60 years,” he said. “This is the latest iteration of that.”