Peacock Adds Starz Sign-Up Across All Tiers
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- Peacock signed a deal letting subscribers sign up for Starz within the app across all three subscription tiers, with Starz programming playable directly on Peacock rather than a separate app.
- Starz ended Q4 2025 — the last period in which the company reported subscriber levels — with 12.7 million U.S. streaming subscribers, against Peacock's 46 million U.S.-only subscribers.
- The deal fits NBCU Media Group Chairman Matt Strauss's strategy to reposition Peacock as a multi-faceted platform, which has already added video game titles, vertical video and AI features to boost engagement.
- Earlier the same week, YouTube announced it would distribute Peacock's ad-free subscription tier on its subscription hub under a 2025 deal, marking a second new distribution channel for Peacock within days.
- The Starz announcement landed one day after Comcast — NBCU's parent — said it would split into two public companies, one combining NBCU and Sky and the other housing cable and broadband operations.
- NBCUniversal Media Group Chief Growth & Data Officer Will Gonzalez framed the add-on as expanding "choice" and "flexibility" for Peacock subscribers.
- Starz Networks President Alison Hoffman positioned Starz as a "complementary premium service" built to enhance broader platforms, citing its slate of originals for women and underrepresented audiences alongside Pay 1 and library films.
Why it matters: Peacock's 46 million subscribers get direct access to Starz's 12.7 million-subscriber film and originals library without leaving the app, deepening platform lock-in just as NBCU parent Comcast prepares to split and the streamer must justify its standalone economics. For Starz — which has stopped publicly reporting subscriber counts after Q4 2025 — the deal adds a built-in distribution channel on the country's third-largest U.S. streamer.
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