Peacock to get first dibs on streaming Universal movies starting in 2022

The movies will appear on Peacock no later than four months after their theatrical premiere, joining other studios drastically shortening the length of time they typically wait to make their biggest releases available on the small screen. But it also gives Universal a much-needed advantage over its streaming competitors when every studio’s biggest releases are made available as soon as possible.

By giving its Peacock service greater priority in distribution, Comcast CMCSA, -0.88% continues its focus on direct-to-consumer offerings that value subscriber growth and retention above all else. Rivals at Walt Disney Co.  DIS, -1.93%  and ViacomCBS Inc. VIAC, -2.92% have taken similar approaches that use marquee titles from a decades-old studio to bolster the appeal of relatively new streaming services. With Wall Street watching for any signs of subscriber losses, studios and their parent companies have broken once-sacrosanct practices to give their services an edge.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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