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Peacock’s R.S.N. Vulcan Chess

Peacock executives, like their counterparts at ESPN, seemingly want to find out if streaming can be television again by investing in local sports fandoms. If the early streaming wars were a race to see who could disrupt TV fastest, this next phase is a marathon to see who can reinvent it first.

NBA
Between Peacock’s 50 national regular season and postseason games available to all subscribers, and the added inventory from the R.S.N.s, the streamer suddenly looks like the one-stop platform for a complementary audience to its broadcast networks, at least in certain markets. Photo: Nic Antaya/Getty Images
Julia Alexander
March 24, 2025

Back in December 2022, when Comcast executives first started talking about folding NBC’s regional sports networks into Peacock, the streaming service was still something of an enigma. Unlike other pure plays, Peacock was unique among the major players as an ad-supported video-on-demand service with around 20 million subscribers, available at a relatively inexpensive price point. The decision to prioritize the ad tier, it seemed, was an attempt by Comcast C.E.O. Brian Roberts and C.F.O. Mike Cavanagh to test the streaming waters without upending NBCUniversal’s multibillion-dollar advertising business. It was unclear whether Peacock was a bet on the future of the industry, or merely a hedge.