Roku Loses NBCU Channels Including USA; NBCU Comments

If you watch your NBC content via Roku, it might be time for a change.

Roku announced via email that NBC content would no longer be on the streaming platform as they were unable to reach an agreement to transition the Peacock service over to Roku 

Dear Roku Customer,​

Comcast informed Roku that they plan to take away consumers’ access to NBCUniversal’s TV Everywhere channels on the Roku platform.  TV Everywhere channels allow Roku users to stream channels that are part of the traditional Pay TV package they subscribe to.   Comcast may require Roku to delete these channels as early as this weekend. ​

This is deeply disappointing and the wrong way to treat subscribers, many of whom are Comcast customers, who pay to access these channels via their cable TV subscriptions and now will no longer be able to view these TV Everywhere channels on Roku, their platform of choice. While these NBC TV Everywhere apps represent a very small number of streaming hours on our platform, we believe they are convenient to people who use them, especially when so many Americans are at home.​

Comcast is removing these channels in order to try to force Roku to distribute its new Peacock service on unreasonable terms. ​

Roku’s goal is to bring you a wide selection of content and to help content producers build large audiences. We asked Comcast to extend our existing arrangement for their TV Everywhere channels as-is so that they remain accessible while we continue to work towards a Peacock agreement. Comcast declined to extend and also refused fair and normal business terms for the distribution of Peacock. ​

NBCUniversal sent the following statement to Deadline in response to Roku.

We are disappointed Roku is removing its users’ FREE access to NBCUniversal programming – 11 network apps, 12 NBC Owned Station apps, 23 Telemundo Owned Station apps – and continues to block access to the only free premium streaming service available in the market, Peacock. Roku’s unreasonable demands ultimately hurt both their consumers and their consumer equipment partners to whom they’ve promised access to all apps in the marketplace. 

Select WWE Network content is available on Peacock and Roku users can you continue to watch NBC Channel if they have subscription services to any cable outlet such as Charter/Spectrum or Xfinity. 

Fightful will continue to monitor the story and report any and all updates.