• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 18, 2023

Comcast’s Sky has quietly posted an announcement on its U.K. customer service pages that NBCUniversal’s Peacock app will close on Jan. 9.

“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 post (above) adds.

The news was not entirely unexpected.

The Peacock version launched in the U.K. and Ireland on Sky and its NOW service in November 2021.

Although the service was provided at no additional charge to Sky and NOW subscribers, many complained because it never offered the full complement of content available in the U.S. version. In early 2023, Sky reportedly pulled back on Peacock content in both of those markets and some other European markets.

In addition, the dispersal of content has caused confusion. Some shows originally promised to come to Peacock became available in other places, according to RXTV. For instance, reality shows such as "Below Deck" are on NBCU's Hayu, and comedy series such as "Superstore" are on ITVX, which has a content deal with NBCU. Sky's own linear and on-demand services contain many shows that are on Peacock in the U.S., and Premier League coverage, which is shown on Peacock USA, is found on Sky Sports in the U.K., the site notes.

Comcast has sought to reduce costs at Sky, as well as at Peacock, which reached 30 million paid subscribers in Q3 and is projected to see its losses peak at $2.8 billion this year — slightly below the previously forecast $3 billion.

“We’re focused on domestic, we can take the content that doesn’t go into Peacock and monetize it outside of the United States,” Comcast CEO Mike Cavanagh said during the company’s Q3 earnings call.

“We can take the content that doesn’t go into Peacock and monetize it outside of the United States. I think for us, that’s not the ambition, we’ll figure out how to make sure our international joint ventures and partnerships and the like solve the problem of what it means not to have a global service of our own, and that can change over time,” he added. “But our primary focus is, figure out domestic and make sure that we continue to have the reach and relevance between linear and digital as we look several years down the road. I think that will set us up for plenty of good, both sustainability of what we currently are, which is a pretty powerful thing, and good optionality for the future.”

As of publication, Sky, NBCU and Comcast had not publicly commented on the U.K. Peacock decision.