It's only been a few days since we found out that more adverts were coming to your favourite Netflix shows on Sky ...and now, the satellite broadcaster has confirmed that streaming service Peacock will be removed from all Sky Glass, Sky Stream, and Sky Q boxes next month.
The decision to ditch the Netflix competitor comes just two years after Peacock was rolled out to nearly 20 million Sky viewers in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland at no extra cost.
Peacock brought a flurry of new shows to the Sky TV catalogue, including The Office, Suits, Rutherford Falls, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Saved by the Bell, Young Rock, and Parks and Recreation, to name a few. Since Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, Sky TV viewers also enjoyed films from Universal Pictures and Dreamworks, such as About Time, Brüno, A Million Ways to Die in the West,Kung Fu Panda, Trolls, and Boss Baby.
Peacock shows were highlighted in a separate carousel in the main menu of Sky set-top boxes or had “Peacock Original” branding in the artwork.
The same catalogue of Peacock shows and movies was also added to NOW, formerly NOW TV, in late 2021 as part of the same deal between the broadcasters.
There was no need to navigate to a separate streaming service within the My Apps menu on Sky, instead, everything was included as part of the main menu with subtle Peacock branding — as shown in the example above
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Confirming the shutdown in a notice on its site, Sky stated: “The Peacock app will close on 9 January.”
From that date, Sky TV viewers will lose some of the series and movies that were added as part of the deal with Peacock. The catalogue is being split between Sky TV and Hayu, another streamer that’s available to watch on Sky Glass, Sky Stream, and Sky Q ...but costs an extra £4.99 per month.
“Some Peacock shows will still be shown on Sky channels, and others are on the Hayu app, which Sky Glass and Stream customers can subscribe to on Sky Marketplace,” the broadcaster clarified on its website.
It’s still unclear which movies and boxsets will continue to be available for Sky TV customers, and which titles will be exclusive to Hayu. However, we’re likely to hear more about the small print in the coming days before the January 9 shutdown.
We'd expect the biggest reality TV shows, like Below Deck and Real Housewives of New Jersey, to continue to be available to subscribers.
Several of the biggest original TV shows commissioned by Peacock for its US audience have appeared on Sky Max in the UK. Poker Face, developed by Knives Out writer-director Rian Johnson, appeared on the channel, while the upcoming Ted series from Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane will also premiere on Sky Max.
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Peacock boasts 30 million paid subscribers in the United States. However, that’s still a long way behind rivals like Disney+ (157.8 million subscribers worldwide), Netflix (238.4 million), and Paramount+ (60 million).
It's worth noting that Peacock is an entirely different proposition in the United States, as it bundles live sports coverage and other perks that were never included as part of the partnership between Sky and the NBC streaming service.
