In this new stage in the period
of ascendance for digital content streaming, nearly every major company of media
content providers are developing and launching their own corner of the
streaming market. True, “universal” media streaming platforms like Netflix and
Hulu are still around, but even they are increasingly putting more focus on
original stuff even as more of their licensed media get pulled by their
respective creators for their own exclusive services. Now, the contest is on
for which platform has the most sought-after content and the coolest ways of
presenting them. Comcast looks to be thinking of the second aspect regarding
their preview of their own streaming service.
The Verge tells us that Comcast and NBCUniversal has given
investors a sneak peek on the features and general interface for Peacock, their
soon-to-launch streaming platform. The event was held Thursday, July 16, at an
investor event in New York City. Peacock’s chairman, Matt Strauss, was on hand
to show how users would navigate through Peacock when it opens in the middle of
this year. And one of the quirks for the platform is something the interface
automatically does while the user is browsing the library for media to watch.
It is normal for some streaming
service interfaces to have some preview footage shown when a user highlights a
media selection while browsing. But with Peacock, that snippet sneak peek is
taken one extra mile or two. When navigating the interface and deciding which
content in the library to view, the platform actually randomly chooses one of
its online media and automatically streams it in full: a series episode, news
broadcast or even a game. Strauss describes this auto-streaming as a
replication of live TV, where if a television set is switched on it will open
on any currently airing program without any stream-like pausing.
The Peacock boss demonstrated
this feature in a sample interface walkthrough. While Matt Strauss was cycling
through selections on the service’s library of over 15,000 films and TV shows,
the upper portion of the screen was automatically running through a broadcast
of NBC News Now, with a report on the latest developments regarding the “stepping
back” of Prince Harry and Meghan from UK Royal Family duties. Similar to
Netflix, the more media a Peacock subscriber watches, the more its algorithms
calculate which media the user prefers to see in selection. There will also be
priority sections for children’s content, trending media and Peacock original
productions.
Comcast and NBCUniversal’s
Peacock streaming service will go online this coming July 15, 2020. There will
however be an early-bird launch available for subscribers to Comcast’s Xfinity
service, which will be on April 15 instead.
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