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You can now stream Peacock shows on Meta Quest VR headsets
You can now watch The Office in VR, as NBC Universal’s Peacock app is now available for the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro virtual reality headsets. In addition, the companies are partnering to give new Quest owners a free year of the streaming service.
Recommended Reading: How Ford built the electric F-150
Recommended Reading highlights the week's best long-form writing on technology and more.
Every episode of 'The Office' will be free on Peacock for one week
Peacock has made every episode of 'The Office' free to stream for one week starting on March 18th to both mark the anniversary and boost viewership.
Pixar's 'Soul' was so popular on streaming that it beat 'The Office'
Pixar's 'Soul' was the top streaming title during the holidays, and was so popular it even dethroned 'The Office' from its usual top spot.
Nielsen says people mostly streamed old network shows, not new releases
Many more viewers watched older network shows like The Office, Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds, according to Nielsen’s first-ever yearly streaming show rankings and the NY Times.
Now 'The Office' is a Peacock exclusive
NBCUniversal has taken 'The Office' back from Netflix, making it a subscription streaming exclusive for Peacock.
‘The Office’ will stream exclusively on Peacock starting January 1st
Once the show leaves Netflix at the end of December, Peacock will start airing the mockumentary beginning on January 1st.
NBC's Peacock streaming service might include live video
NBC might rely on more than a mix of free and paid tiers to reel you into watching its Peacock service. CNBC sources say the plan is to launch the app or website by immediately playing video, including live material -- you might see NBC News Now before you've even thought about choosing a show. Just what you'll watch may depend on how much you're willing to pay, mind you.
NBC's Peacock streaming service may be free for everyone
With the streaming wars heating up -- Apple TV+ debuted today and HBO Max launch details were announced this week -- there are still some services that have a few cards to play before they start to roll out. Among them is Peacock, NBCUniversal's offering, which might very well be free for everyone when it debuts in April.
How to get the most out of Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services
A Netflix or Hulu subscription alone won't cut it anymore. The streaming landscape is fracturing as bastions of old media rise up with their own services, offering a blend of originals and library material. Over the coming months, the streaming video options will multiply like Gremlins, as the likes of Disney, Apple, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and mobile platform Quibi hop into the game.
NBCUniversal's streaming service will be called Peacock
NBCUniversal has revealed launch details for its upcoming, ad-supported streaming service. Named Peacock, it'll be the exclusive streaming home of The Office (which you can still watch on Netflix through 2020) and Parks and Recreation. It'll debut this April with more than 15,000 hours of shows and movies.
Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey are making a podcast about 'The Office'
The Office might have wrapped for the last time in 2013, but its continued popularity shows no signs of waning -- it's the most watched show on subscription streaming, according to NBC. Now, fans can relive the escapades of Dunder Mifflin's beloved staff with a new podcast from Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin).
'Doctor Who' will be an HBO Max streaming exclusive in the US
Finding the shows you want to stream is about to get more complicated in the coming months as some big-name companies launch their own services to take on the likes of Hulu and Netflix. Among them is WarnerMedia, and when HBO Max arrives next spring, you may have to start using that platform if you're a Whovian eager for your Time Lord fix.
NBCUniversal plans to debut its streaming service in April
The streaming wars are intensifying, with the likes of HBO, CBS and Disney focusing on their own platforms and hanging onto their content instead of licensing it to Netflix and other services. We now know when another major player will enter the battlefield, as NBCUniversal has pegged next April as the launch window for its ad-supported streaming service.
Netflix loses 'The Office' after 2020 to NBCUniversal's service
Wondering what the most watched show on subscription streaming is? According to NBC it's The Office, and as such, it's no surprise that once the company's agreement with Netflix expires at the end of 2020, it's keeping the show for its own streaming service. The ad-supported NBCUniversal package is launching in 2020, but it won't have the show's nine seasons until 2021. It's following a trend we've seen from AT&T and Disney, as they try to capitalize on back catalogs to launch new streaming competitors. Of course, for viewers it means they won't be able to see popular shows all in one place, and it's unclear how this will impact international distribution. In response, Netflix tweeted that at least members can binge watch "ad-free" until January 2021.
The Perfect Ten: MMOs in movies and television
While 1982's Tron explored what virtual life might be like inside a massive video game, it wasn't until fairly recently that real MMOs have crossed the divide between niche and mainstream to be referenced in television and films. Depending on how you see it, this mainstream acceptance of geek culture can be a thing to be either celebrated or shunned. What's for certain, however, is that we've only started to see the beginning of such mentions. In today's Perfect Ten, I cobbled together a list of the first 10 MMO references that I know of from movies and TV shows. Some might be nothing more than a background detail or a throwaway line, while others are completely centered around the advertisement, er, massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. I tried hard not to use "cheats" such as fake MMOs featured in shows like The Guild, so this list is all about real-world titles with no sugar substitutes. Ready? Insert quarter and hit player one!
Ask Massively: These are not the Massively offices edition
It's somewhat astonishing how many people think Massively consists of a small cubicle farm in a large office building. I mean, we talk about how we work from home all the time, but somehow this image persists. So for the record, that picture does not represent where the Massively staff works. I'd show you a picture of where I actually work, but it's kind of a mess at the moment, not helped by the fact that I still need to figure out where I'm putting some of my new Transformers. (I think Drift and Terradive should be fighting.) Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time for this week's decidedly less holiday-flavored installment of Ask Massively. But we've still got our questions, this time concerning Final Fantasy XIV, Lord of the Rings Online, and our own pseudo-alcoholic tendencies. (We might not have a single place for everyone to be drinking, no, but we do share certain customs.) As always, send a question along to ask@massively.com or leave one in the comment field!
BD-Live lets The Office Season Six Blu-ray set stream next season's episodes in HD
Universal's list of special features for The Office: Season Six Blu-ray boxed set is pretty standard for its releases -- iPhone remote control, digital shorts, blooper reel etc. -- with the exception of one all-new feature. This time around, when season 7 episodes air on NBC, afterwards users with these discs can stream them, in HD, through their Blu-players via BD-Live. According to the press release users will have access to "the latest five episodes" but no word on exactly how long the window between them airing on TV and showing up online will be. We'll keep our DVR queue, but if these episodes are truly high quality and commercial free, it's at least a convenient bonus. Perhaps if they bumped it up to allow viewing before the episodes air, then Universal could be onto something, press release and trailer follow after the break.
The Daily Grind: Do MMOs belong in the mainstream?
Age of Conan on The Big Bang Theory. Second Life on The Office. World of Warcraft on South Park. The Guild transforming into an internet phenomenon. The Simpsons and FoxTrot creating parodies of virtual worlds. It seems as though everywhere we turn, MMORPGs are toeing the line between niche and mainstream, especially thanks to the whirlwind of WoW. As MMOs become less of a fringe activity and more accepted in popular culture, I have to ask -- is that a good thing? After all, geeks are highly protective of their territory, often seeing themselves as the faithful guardians of That Which Society Rejected. To suddenly see that pastime become accepted and embraced by the crowd may prove disorienting -- and even disturbing. So do MMOs belong in the mainstream? As they become more widespread, is there something essential that's being lost in the translation? Are the faithful guardians resentful of MMO devs who may cater to the casual crowd over them? Is there a risk of overexposure and backlash? Won't somebody please think of the children?
First seasons go on sale on the PlayStation Store
The US PlayStation Video Store is having its "First Season Summer Sale." From now until September 17th, you'll be able to download episodes from the first season of 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Psych and The Office for only 99 cents each in SD. (HD episodes are $1.99 each, and will only work on the PS3.)
