Peacock Adds Free, 24/7 Access To Local News

Looking to stay competitive with CBS, Amazon and other streaming rivals, NBCUniversal is adding free, 24/7 access to NBC-owned news channels for all Peacock users in seven major markets.

Peacock streaming access launched on Jan. 20 for five markets/stations: NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ), NBC 10 Philadelphia (WCAU), NBC10 Boston (WBTS) and New England Cable Network (NECN), and NBC 6 Miami (WTVJ).

News channels from two more NBC stations will launch on Peacock in the months ahead, according to NBCU: NBC 4 New York (WNBC) and NBC 4 Los Angeles (KNBC).

The new channels titled NBC Chicago News, NBC Philadelphia News, NBC Boston News and NBC South Florida News offer Peacock subscribers around-the-clock access to comprehensive, local news coverage.

Each channel features simulcast and encore news programming, along with breaking news and original content produced by its NBC station’s local news operations.

Peacock already offers live and on-demand channels including  NBC News NOW, Sky News, Today All Day, NBC LX, Telemundo Al Día, and Dateline 24/7; exclusive channels like The Choice from MSNBC; curated playlists from national programming such as Today, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, E! News and Access Hollywood, as well as 11 local NBC stations.

Local news is becoming a competitive differentiator in the ongoing streaming wars.

For instance, CBS’s CBSN streaming news service is available live, 24/7 via CBSNews.com/live and on all CBS News mobile apps.

As of October 2021, Amazon Fire TV’s free news app was serving 158 U.S. cities through 259 channels.

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