# Peacock Premium Plus Heads to The Roku Channel as Comcast Sells Q2 Inflection > NBCU's first ad-free SKU through a third-party hub lands the same week as a $71.76M Cavanagh comp print and Fox's $45M-$55M Big Ten reclaim. - Publication: The State of Streaming - Section: Platforms - Published: 2026-04-26T00:00:00.000Z - Byline: The State of Streaming Staff - Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/platforms/2026/04/comcast-q1-peacock-inflection-followups/ - Read time: 2 min ## Summary NBCU will sell Peacock Premium Plus through The Roku Channel, the first time Comcast has put its ad-free Peacock SKU inside a competitor hub — alongside a Q1 print teeing up a Q2 'meaningful inflection,' a $71.76M Cavanagh comp disclosure, and Fox's $45M-$55M reclaim of the Big Ten title game. ## Key facts - NBCUniversal will sell Peacock Premium Plus at $16.99/month or $169.99/year through The Roku Channel premium-subscriptions hub — the first time NBCU has offered the ad-free tier through a third-party marketplace, per The Desk's April 21 reporting. - Comcast Q1 2026 revenue was $31.46 billion, up 5.3% year-over-year; Peacock crossed $2.1 billion in quarterly revenue ($901M ad, $1.2B distribution, $189M other) for the first time, with paid subs at 46 million and an EBITDA loss of $432 million. - CFO Jason Armstrong told analysts Q2 will be 'a meaningful inflection point, with Peacock expected to approach profitability,' per the Motley Fool earnings transcript. - Comcast's 2026 DEF 14A disclosed Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh's 2025 total compensation at $71.76 million — about 2.5x his 2024 package — including a $35 million stock grant tied to his January 2026 promotion. Brian Roberts cleared $35.15 million. - Fox Corporation will pay NBC $45-$55 million plus extra regular-season inventory to reclaim the 2026 Big Ten Championship Game, first reported by The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint. ## Why it matters Selling the ad-free Peacock SKU inside The Roku Channel ends NBCU's standing posture that the Premium Plus transactional relationship stayed first-party — putting Peacock on the same hub-monetization path Max joined in November 2024. The same week that Q1 print pre-sells a Q2 inflection, the proxy hands the co-CEO an 8-figure package and Fox claws back a college-football tentpole the Q1 narrative was implicitly leaning on. Buyers reading the NewFronts pitch should weigh the inflection language against what's leaving Peacock's 2026 inventory. ## What to watch - NBCU's NewFronts pitch on May 11 for product-surface details on the agentic-AI ad initiative first detailed at CES. - Q2 2026 earnings (late July) for whether 'approach profitability' resolves to EBITDA breakeven or true operating profit. - A formal joint NBCU/Roku release confirming launch date and whether the deal touches the ad-supported tier. - Fox or Big Ten Conference confirmation of the title-game terms beyond the WSJ reporting. ## Article NBCUniversal will start selling Peacock Premium Plus through [The Roku Channel](/products/the-roku-channel/) premium-subscriptions hub at $16.99 a month or $169.99 a year, [The Desk reported](https://thedesk.net/2026/04/peacock-the-roku-channel-comcast-nbc/) on April 21. On reporter Matthew Keys' read, it is the first time Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has put its ad-free Peacock tier inside a competitor's marketplace. The deal lands the same week as a Q1 print pre-selling a Q2 "meaningful inflection," an eight-figure proxy disclosure for Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh, and Fox Corporation's claw-back of the 2026 Big Ten Championship Game. [Deadline corroborated](https://deadline.com/2026/04/peacocks-premium-roku-subscriptions-streaming-deal-1236865457/) the pricing and that the deal covers Premium Plus only. The Roku Channel move is the next door NBCU has agreed to open in a 24-month sequence (StreamSaver in 2024, the Charter Premium+ upgrade path, an Apple TV/Peacock standalone bundle, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Walmart+, and now Roku) that takes Comcast from "we sell Peacock" to "almost any hub can" as [the streaming-wars era ends](/measurement-data/2026/04/streaming-wars-era-ended-2025-data-story/) and the next phase of monetization shifts to hub take-rates. Max [joined the same Roku Channel hub in November 2024](https://newsroom.roku.com/news/2024/11/max-launches-on-the-roku-channel/d8pr8gpt-1731503414); [Peacock](/products/peacock/) is the second of the consolidated streamers to follow. Peacock crossed $2.1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ($901 million advertising, $1.2 billion distribution, $189 million other) and reached 46 million paid subscribers, [Comcast disclosed in its Q1 2026 earnings release](https://www.cmcsa.com/static-files/a2249d91-66e3-4b6d-a71e-29dea0d4e81c). Group revenue was $31.46 billion, up 5.3% year-over-year. Peacock's EBITDA loss widened to $432 million from $215 million a year earlier on $1.95 billion of programming and production costs, which CFO Jason Armstrong attributed to Super Bowl 60, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and the first year of the NBA contract. Q2 will be "a meaningful inflection point, with Peacock expected to approach profitability," Armstrong told analysts, [per the earnings call transcript](https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/04/23/comcast-cmcsa-q1-2026-earnings-transcript/). Two adjacent disclosures cut against that pitch. Comcast's 2026 [DEF 14A](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001166691&type=DEF+14A) put Cavanagh's 2025 pay at $71.76 million, roughly 2.5x his 2024 package and including a $35 million stock grant tied to his January 2026 elevation to co-CEO, with Brian Roberts at $35.15 million, [Variety reported](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/comcast-brian-roberts-mike-cavanagh-2025-salary-pay-package-1236730015/) from the proxy. The Cavanagh print is the second eight-figure 2025 package among the consolidated Big Four, after Warner Bros. Discovery's [shareholder rebuke of David Zaslav's merger-related parachute](/business-deals/2026/04/wbd-paramount-shareholder-vote/) the same week. And [Fox](/companies/fox-corporation/) will pay NBC $45 million to $55 million plus extra regular-season inventory to reclaim the 2026 Big Ten Championship Game, [first reported by The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint](https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/fox-nearing-deal-acquire-2026-big-ten-championship-game-nbc.html); NBC had reportedly shopped the title game to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video at roughly $70 million before Fox blocked the sublicense. Forward triggers for buyers are the May 11 NewFronts, where NBCU EVP of ad platforms Ryan McConville will reprise the agentic-AI ad initiative [detailed at CES with RPA, Newton Research, and FreeWheel](https://www.adexchanger.com/tv-2/ai-agents-are-taking-over-nbcus-linear-tv-buys/), and the late-July Q2 print, when Armstrong's "approach profitability" framing resolves to either EBITDA breakeven or true operating profit. ## Entities - Companies: Comcast Corporation, Roku, Inc., Fox Corporation, Netflix, Amazon.com, Inc., Warner Bros. Discovery - People: Mike Cavanagh, Brian Roberts, Jason Armstrong, Ryan McConville - Products: Peacock, The Roku Channel ## Tags - comcast - peacock - roku - Q1-2026 - earnings - distribution - executive-compensation - sports-rights - newfronts ## Sourced claims - Peacock Premium Plus will be sold through The Roku Channel premium-subscriptions hub at $16.99/month or $169.99/year — the first time NBCU has offered the ad-free tier through a third-party marketplace. — The Desk: https://thedesk.net/2026/04/peacock-the-roku-channel-comcast-nbc/ - Pricing of $16.99/month or $169.99/year on Premium Plus through The Roku Channel. — Deadline: https://deadline.com/2026/04/peacocks-premium-roku-subscriptions-streaming-deal-1236865457/ - Comcast Q1 2026 revenue was $31.46 billion, up 5.3% year-over-year; adjusted EBITDA was $7.93 billion. — Comcast Q1 2026 earnings release (IR/8-K): https://www.cmcsa.com/static-files/a2249d91-66e3-4b6d-a71e-29dea0d4e81c - Peacock Q1 2026 revenue was $2.1 billion ($901M advertising, $1.2B distribution, $189M other) — first time over $2 billion — with paid subscribers at 46 million. — Comcast Q1 2026 earnings release (IR/8-K): https://www.cmcsa.com/static-files/a2249d91-66e3-4b6d-a71e-29dea0d4e81c - Peacock Q1 2026 EBITDA loss widened to $432 million from $215 million in the prior-year quarter, on programming and production costs of $1.95 billion. — Comcast Q1 2026 earnings release (IR/8-K): https://www.cmcsa.com/static-files/a2249d91-66e3-4b6d-a71e-29dea0d4e81c - CFO Jason Armstrong said on the Q1 2026 earnings call that the 'second quarter [is] reflecting a meaningful inflection point, with Peacock expected to approach profitability.' — Comcast Q1 2026 earnings call transcript (Motley Fool): https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/04/23/comcast-cmcsa-q1-2026-earnings-transcript/ - Comcast Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh's 2025 total compensation was $71.76 million, including a $35 million stock grant in connection with his January 2026 promotion to co-CEO. — Variety, on Comcast 2026 DEF 14A: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/comcast-brian-roberts-mike-cavanagh-2025-salary-pay-package-1236730015/ - Brian Roberts' 2025 total compensation was $35.15 million. — Variety, on Comcast 2026 DEF 14A: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/comcast-brian-roberts-mike-cavanagh-2025-salary-pay-package-1236730015/ - The 2026 DEF 14A is filed with the SEC by Comcast Corporation. — EDGAR — Comcast DEF 14A index: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001166691&type=DEF+14A - Fox Corporation will pay NBC $45-$55 million plus extra regular-season inventory to reclaim the 2026 Big Ten Championship Game; NBC had previously shopped the title game to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video at roughly $70 million before Fox blocked the sublicense. — Awful Announcing, summarizing WSJ's Joe Flint: https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/fox-nearing-deal-acquire-2026-big-ten-championship-game-nbc.html - NBCU's agentic-AI ad-buying initiative was first detailed at CES 2026 in January with partners RPA, Newton Research, and FreeWheel; it is the centerpiece of NBCU's NewFronts pitch on May 11. — AdExchanger: https://www.adexchanger.com/tv-2/ai-agents-are-taking-over-nbcus-linear-tv-buys/ - Max launched on The Roku Channel premium-subscriptions hub in November 2024, the most direct precedent for NBCU's Peacock Premium Plus distribution move. — Roku Newsroom: https://newsroom.roku.com/news/2024/11/max-launches-on-the-roku-channel/d8pr8gpt-1731503414 --- View this article in a browser: https://thestateofstreaming.com/platforms/2026/04/comcast-q1-peacock-inflection-followups/ Browse the publication: https://thestateofstreaming.com/ Machine-readable index: https://thestateofstreaming.com/llms.txt