The battle between Roku and Comcast over Peacock increases. Roku is now being asked by the telecommunications and media giant to get NBC apps off its streaming platform.
On Friday, Roku confirmed that Comcast had been asked to remove the NBC TV Everywhere apps from its platform. According to Variety, there are 46 apps that could be affected, including the main NBC app. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which, in addition to the Peacock streaming service, is the parent company of a variety of channels including NBC, USA Network, and Telemundo.
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Roku sent customers an email notifying them of the upcoming app removal. Starting Friday at 12:00 PM ET, NBC's major NBC apps have been listed on the Roku website and Apps page as being available on the popular streaming platform.
It's about negotiations for Peacock, Comcast's new streaming service, which launched nationwide in July. However, the streaming service is available on a wide variety of devices remains absent on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, the two most popular streaming platforms in the US.
"We recently learned that Comcast plans to revoke consumer access to NBC TV Everywhere channels on the Roku platform by having Roku delete those channels on / or as early as September 18, 2020," a Roku spokesman said in a statement to CNET. "These consumers, some of whom are Comcast customers, have paid to access these channels through their cable television subscriptions and are now unable to view this content on Roku, their platform of choice."
"Comcast is removing the channels in an attempt to force Roku to distribute its new Peacock service on inappropriate terms. While the NBC TV Everywhere apps represent an insignificant amount of streaming hours and revenue on our platform, we believe they are for this Consumers care who use them, especially when so many Americans are at home. "
In a statement, NBCUniversal pushed back, calling Roku's demands "unreasonable".
"We are disappointed that Roku is blocking its users' free access to NBCUniversal programs - 11 Network Apps, 12 NBC Owned Station Apps, 23 Telemundo Owned Station Apps - and continue to have access to the only free premium streaming service in the market, Peacock, blocked, "said the company. "Roku's unreasonable demands are ultimately damaging both their consumers and their consumer product partners, whom they have promised access to all apps on the market."
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