NBCUniversal Launches Nearly 30 New FAST Channels, Setting Distribution With Amazon Freevee and Xumo Play
NBCUniversal is continuing its push into free, ad-supported television (FAST) by rolling out nearly 30 new channels to be distributed at launch on Amazon Freevee and Xumo Play.
Many of the offerings from across the NBCU Television & Streaming portfolio and NBCUniversal Global Distribution library will be available to viewers on demand for the first time at no charge. Viewers with antennas can get linear signals over the air for free, of course, but the always-on nature of the FAST channels makes the initiative unprecedented.
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The channels include curated programming from Saturday Night Live, The Real Housewives franchise, Top Chef and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Also in the mix are Spanish-language entertainment and news selections from Telemundo, including Historias de Amor, Lo Mejor de Telemundo and Telemundo al Día. Library series including Little House on the Prairie, Murder, She Wrote and Saved by the Bell, along with genre-based sitcoms, action, crime, westerns, and monster movie content will also launch as dedicated FAST channels.
On the distribution side, Xumo Enterprise, the business-to-business arm of Xumo (which NBCU parent Comcast acquired in 2020) will support the new channels on third-party services, starting with Amazon Freevee. The new launches join existing NBCUniversal channels like Dateline 24/7, NBC News NOW, and those tied to Local NBC and Telemundo news stations, giving the company almost 50 total channels.
When the company debuted flagship subscription service Peacock in 2020, FAST was a key component of it, differentiating the platform from other new SVOD players like HBO Max (now Max), Disney+ and Apple TV+. The FAST sector has grown dramatically in the years since, becoming a multi-billion-dollar segment of the overall TV business and providing some offsetting positives in a world of advertising and viewer declines in traditional pay-TV. While smart-TV makers like Samsung and streaming providers like Roku have been making moves in FAST, content owners see it as a new arena to make money on their catalogs in a landscape of diminishing syndication and carriage revenue.
“NBCUniversal is in the enviable position of owning a vast array of iconic shows that are not part of our broadcast and cable networks to curate a valuable portfolio of FAST channels,” said Matt Schnaars, President, NBCUniversal Content Distribution. “These channels, with content from some of the most recognizable brands in television, will find an immediate audience in the growing FAST ecosystem, and create value for NBCUniversal, our distribution partners, and our advertisers.”
Belinda Menendez, President & Chief Revenue Officer, NBCUniversal Global Distribution, said the company can “fulfill the appetite of every viewer” with its wide-ranging offerings. The FAST initiative, she added, will give viewers “more ways to find our popular content.”
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