NBCUniversal has christened its upcoming streaming service Peacock and unveiled a slate of original drama projects for the service including a reboot of Battlestar Galactica from Mr Robot creator Sam Esmail and an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World with Solo: A Star Wars Story star Alden Ehrenreich and Demi Moore.
The Comcast-owned media giant also revealed that its Universal Pictures studio is developing original films and animated series to debut on the streaming service and that DreamWorks Animation will be contributing original animated content.
Set to debut in April 2020 as an ad-supported and subscription service, Peacock - whose name is a nod to the NBC broadcast network’s long-standing logo - will offer more than 15,000 hours of content including library hits such as The Office and Parks And Recreation, films from Universal, Focus Features, Illumination, DreamWorks Animation and outside studios, and news, sports and reality programming.
Other original dramas set for the service include true-crime podcast-based Dr Death, with Jamie Dornan and Alec Baldwin; Angelyne, a limited series from Emmy Rossum; and One of Us Is Lying, based on a New York Times best-selling young adult mystery-thriller.
Original comedies will include Rutherford Falls, co-created by Mike Schur, Ed Helms and Sierra Teller Ornelas; Straight Talk, from Rashida Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith; and reboots of Saved By the Bell and Punky Brewster.
The platform will offer more than 3,000 hours of Spanish-language programming from the NBCUniversal owned Telemundo network, including original dramedy Armas de Mujer and a new series from the makers of La Reina del Sur.
WarnerMedia adds ‘Big Bang Theory’
Meanwhile WarnerMedia’s upcoming rival to Peacock, HBO Max, has secured the first-ever US streaming rights to all 12 seasons of Warner Bros-produced smash hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory. All 279 episodes of the series will be available on HBO Max when the service launches in the spring of 2020.
The deal is the latest high-profile classic comedy grab as competition between new and existing streaming services heats up. In recent months, HBO Max has secured rights to Friends and NBCUniversal’s service Peacock rights to the US version of The Office. Earlier this week, Netflix, current streaming home of both Friends and The Office, revealed a deal for streaming rights through most of the world to Seinfeld.
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