NBCUniversal is officially launching its Peacock streaming service for free to Comcast customers this week. The launch to existing Comcast customers comes ahead of a broader public rollout on July 15.
We first heard about NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service, Peacock, back in September. We learned some initial details from The Hollywood Reporter but there wasn’t any information about pricing. Now it seems that NBC is considering making the service free for all with ads that could help as it’s set to compete with Apple TV+ and Disney+.
Last week Netflix reported a drop in its US subscribers ahead of new streaming service launches from Apple, Disney, and HBO. Now NBCUniversal has shared that its new streaming service will launch in April 2020 and will become the home of The Office after the show’s deal with Netflix ends.
Streaming video has become a booming industry, with giants such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon, and others. Now, another service from NBC may be joining the streaming video business.
If you watch NBC shows on iPhone or iPad, you’ll be pleased to know that support for Single Sign-on has now been extended to iOS devices. Single sign-on for NBC was previously only available on Apple TV …
NBC Universal today announced that it is bringing a trio of new apps to the fourth-gen Apple TV. Starting today, those with a cable login can now watch content via the Syfy, E!, and Bravo applications with their Apple TV. Subscribers will have access to full seasons of the networks’ most popular series, including current and past episodes.
T-Mobile today announced new services being added to its Binge On program, which allows its wireless subscribers to stream video content from certain apps without dipping into their mobile data caps.
Current Apple TV customers are getting at least one more new wave of channel additions before the focus completely means to the new App Store-based Apple TV on Monday. New channels from CBS, NBC, and the fashion-focused M2M arrived on current Apple TV home screens today, bringing CBS’s subscription service, full episodes of NBC shows, and exclusive fashion videos to the streaming box.
Expand
Expanding
Close
While Apple’s rumored Web TV service is expected to launch with new hardware and software later this year, Comcast has shown its cards on what it describes as an “experiment” to offer live TV streaming to its Internet subscribers without cable packages. Stream, a $15/month Xfinity add-on, will allow Comcast Internet subscribers to view live and on-demand streaming television from “about a dozen networks” including HBO and other major broadcast networks.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Apple has refreshed its channel lineup on the Apple TV to include NBC Sports Live Extra. The channel provides “thousands of live sporting events that air on NBC, NBCSN and Golf Channel” for free. Aside from live content, the channel includes loads of highlights and replays of sporting events to view at no charge; NBC Sports Live Extra users can activate the full channel (including content from CNBC, USA, and NBC) by verifying a cable subscription.
Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and the Discovery Channel are among the channels that could be making their way to Apple’s reported new web TV service, as the WSJ reports that Apple is in talks with Discovery and Viacom. The paper had earlier said that Apple’s online TV service would be announced in June and launched in September with 25+ channels.
Discovery, owner of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC, and Viacom, owner of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, are in talks to be on the Apple service, people familiar with the matter said.
We first heard about the plans in early February. ABC, CBS and Fox are already believed to be on board for the service, which is expected to cost somewhere in the $25-40/month range …
Expand
Expanding
Close
With rumors flying about an Apple television subscription service in the works for release this year, new details have started to emerge about what kinds of deals the tech company will make with its content partners. The NY Post says that these deals will involve Apple turning over certain data about its users to programmers to help solidify its agreements.
Despite reports that NBC Universal is not involved in negotiations for Apple’s upcoming subscription TV replacement service, NBC still hopes to arrive on the Apple TV as soon as the second half of 2015, according to a source with knowledge of NBC’s digital roadmap. A recent presentation slide provided by the source shows that NBC wants to launch Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Xbox apps during the second half of this year, following its existing apps for iOS and Android devices. NBC also would like to add new affiliate stations, Nielsen Rating integration, and support for Google’s Chromecast…
NBC has followed in ABC’s footsteps and released an update for its iOS app that introduces live streaming of the network’s content directly to an iPhone or iPad. Similarly to ABC’s offering, the feature is only available in a few select cable markets that this time and requires a subscription to a cable or satellite partner.
All users will be able to take advantage of the other new feature added in version 3.0, however…
Super Bowl XLIX with the Seahawks vs. the Patriots kicks off this weekend on February 1st and we’re already getting prepared with a handy list of links for watching on all your Apple devices.
Head below for details on how to watch the game from iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Expand
Expanding
Close
NBCUniversal announced today that it will offer a free live stream of Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1 to all desktop and tablet users to promote its TV Everywhere service. For smartphones, Verizon has exclusive rights to stream the event to users through its own mobile app.
Expand
Expanding
Close
[hulu id=lqyna__lnmz36pprgionzw width=704 thumbnail_frame=73]
Alongside Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon has become the voice of the iPhone 6 with Apple releasing a continuous series of ads featuring both entertainers. Fallon also sits behind a MacBook on the set of The Tonight Show on NBC, something that he brought over from his time hosting Late Night on NBC.
Now Fallon’s Tonight Show is giving the gift of Apple, specifically to the studio audience from last night’s taping as each attendee was gifted with a brand new iPad Air 2 as part of this week’s holiday gift giveaway segment. See the clip above (and wish you were there!) …
(We know Hulu works in a very limited number of countries and will post the YouTube clip when available.)
NBC updated its mobile app for iPhone and iPad today with one big update for iOS and Apple TV users: the ability to AirPlay content from the mobile app to your TV via Apple TV.
The update is a big deal for a couple of reasons. The most notable being the fact that NBC offers full TV episodes for free through its mobile app, without the requirement of signing into your existing cable subscription like many other popular network apps. NBC has always been one of the go to apps for cord cutters, and now they’ll be able to beam that content onto the big screen using an Apple TV and AirPlay. Getting a lot of this content on the Apple TV previously required a subscription to Hulu or signing into a cable subscription.
Expand
Expanding
Close
A new email from Steve Jobs that was published during today’s Samsung lawsuit (via The Verge) has revealed a lot about Apple’s plans for its products in 2011 and beyond. As we’ve previously noted, Jobs referred to 2011 as a year of “holy war” against Google, but this document goes above that and describes how exactly Apple planned to wage this war.
A few choice bits are below, followed by the complete email.
With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics officially kicking off with opening ceremonies today at 11 AM EST/ 2 PM PST, you’re probably wondering how to watch live streams and keep up to date with events from your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. NBC will be delaying the TV broadcast of the opening ceremonies until 7:30pm tonight in the US, but you can still catch everything live on your Mac or mobile device using the apps below:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Click for a larger view.
Apple announced on Tuesday that iOS 7 will be publicly available on September 18th. The revamped OS moves completely away from the realistic designs of the past six generations, dropping almost all “artificial shadows” (as Apple SVP Craig Federighi called them), gloss, and even button borders. Instead, the Jony Ive-inspired interface features an entirely rethought design language that focuses heavily on large icons, lightweight fonts, whitespace, transparency, and conservative use of color.
We previously took a look at what some of Apple’s own in-house apps could look like when redesigned for iOS 7. During Apple’s September 10th event, Federighi flashed up a slide displaying the upcoming iOS 7 updates for many third-party applications. None of the apps were labeled, but we’ve tracked down names for most of them.
The apps featured are:
Today Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, announced that Amazon has struck a deal to add new shows from NBC/ Universal studios to Amazon Instant Video. The additions include Grimm Season 1, Suits Season 1, Covert Affairs Seasons 1-2 with Hannibal coming and Defiance coming at later dates. Amazon has a 4 year exclusivity over these shows, preventing them from airing on competing services such as Netflix and Hulu.
Amazon has been beefing up the content selection for this service recently with the addition of EPIX Studios, which brought “The Avengers,” “Iron Man 2,″ “The Hunger Games,” “Transformers Dark of the Moon,” “True Grit” and more to this streaming service. In its entirety, Amazon offers free streaming for more than 40,000 movie and TV titles.
Amazon Instant Video is free for Prime members, a yearly membership that costs $79. Prime members also receive free 2-day shipping and instant access to thousands of Kindle books.
Apple users can watch Amazon Prime on iOS devices or Macs (which can also Airplay to Apple TVs).
Aereo—the service that streams over-the-air local television to any Mac, iOS device, or PC running Safari for a monthly subscription—just landed a huge victory against television networks, as the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rebuffed an appeal today and ruled Aereo does not infringe broadcaster’s copyrights.
Aereo transmits television over the Internet, but local broadcasters claimed it does not have the legal license to operate. The Court of Appeals, however, agreed that Aereo’s system—14 of its antennas to be specific—operate independently and a license is irrelevant because subscribers stream their own copies of programs.
An excerpt from the ruling (PDF):
Each user-associated copy of a program created by Aereo’s system is generated from a unique antenna assigned only to the user who requested that the copy be made. The feed from that antenna is not used to generate multiple copies of each program for different Aereo users but rather only one copy: the copy that can be watched by the user to whom that antenna is assigned. Thus even if we were to disregard Aereo’s copies, it would still be true that the potential audience of each of Aereo’s transmissions was the single user to whom each antenna was assigned. It is beyond dispute that the transmission of a broadcast TV program received by an individual’s rooftop antenna to the TV in his living room is private, because only that individual can receive the transmission from that antenna, ensuring that the potential audience of that transmission is only one person. Plaintiffs have presented no reason why the result should be any different when that rooftop antenna is rented from Aereo and its signals transmitted over the internet: it remains the case that only one person can receive that antenna’s transmissions.
Aereo launched in New York City last March and has since landed in dozens of cities, but it has consistently battled opposition from television networks, like Fox, CBS, and NBC, as they attempted to halt its expansion during the last year. Due to today’s ruling, though, as first noted by The Verge, television networks would now need to win an appeal through either the Second Circuit or Supreme Court in order to block Aereo.
In a recent update to its supplier responsibility pages, Apple has listed Quanta Computer USA as a final assembler of its Macs.
Final Assembly Facilities
These are facilities where Apple products are assembled and packaged for distribution.
One of the locations of Quanta’s final assembly is 44350 Nobel Drive Fremont, Calif., indicating that some Macs are or will be built in the facility.
.
Apple CEO Tim Cook noted in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams late last year that Apple would invest $100 million to move at least one of its product lines to the United States. Quanta has assembled Macs for Apple for a long time in Asia.
Fremont may sound familiar, because we recorded more than a few of the new iMacs originated from Fremont after the November launch. These iMacs were delivered via FedEx and had the ‘Assembled in the USA’ moniker not only on the package but also on the actual machines. It now appears that Apple is confirming these products are indeed being assembled in Fremont.
Quanta, it should be noted, has U.S. assembly plants in both California and Tennessee. Previous package slips and Origin labels below.
