NBC News is latest broadcaster to enter streaming wars
NBC News today began the rollout of its free, ad-supported streaming service.
Chuck Todd and Meet the Press are NBC News tentpoles
Dubbed NBC News Now, it will stream content Monday through Friday from 3pm-11pm Eastern Time. NBC plans to eventually launch a 24/7 service.
An NBC spokesperon said ad load on the streaming service will be consistent with other digital video properties. Currently, digital programming runs eight minutes of commercial time every hour.
NBC News Now will be available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and NBC New Now's website and mobile app.
NBC will be vying for eyeballs against competitors old and new now that it has a streaming service. Its broadcast competitors already have OTT outlets, such as CBSN, ABC News Live and Fox News’ Fox Nation, which is a subscription service. Plus, digital natives Cheddar and Bloomberg's TicToc have emerged as mainstays for cord-cutters looking for news.
The new streaming service is meant to serve "a rising generation of news consumers" with original content that the NBC News Now team creates. When asked if that programming will include news from Sky News, an NBC spokesperson said the company will work with additional NBCU partners on content down the line.
As for NBCU, it is planning to launch its ad-supported OTT product by the middle of next year. Comcast owns both NBCU and Sky.