Peacock quietly removed a line that says it offers the “most live sports of any streamer” on its site after DIRECTV complained about the legitimacy of the claim.
DIRECTV slammed the claim, arguing that its own DIRECTV Stream, as well as its DIRECTV service delivered over the internet, offers more live sports than Peacock. Cord Cutters News wrote about its objections in a story published on Sunday.
“That unsubstantiated hubris is unfortunate as it muddies the water for consumers truly looking to stream the best sports experience,” DIRECTV spokesman Jon Greer told Cord Cutters News in an email on Friday.
As the prior story noted, the complaint raises the question of what constitutes of streaming service. Peacock is more like a Netflix with live sports, while DIRECTV Stream is essentially the full cable lineup delivered over the internet, like a YouTube TV. The comparisons between the two are a little silly, because DIRECTV counts sporting events from ESPN, Fox Sports, and a myriad of other cable and local channels, which far outstrip Peacock.
But from the most liberal interpretation of a streaming service, DIRECTV has a point.
Thanks to the full cable lineup offered by DIRECTV, it’s not much of a contest in terms of live sports. Peacock boasts more than 8,000 hours of live sports a year. DIRECTV boasts tens of thousands of hours of sports.
Peacock declined to comment on DIRECTV’s statement from Friday, and a spokesman couldn’t be reached to comment on the revised website.
DIRECTV was motivated to send the note after Brian Roberts, the CEO of Comcast, which owns Peacock, reiterated the claim on last week’s third-quarter earnings conference call. “With Peacock now, we have the most live sports of any of the streaming services. And I believe that that’s a surprise to many people when they learn that, and I believe that to be the case,” he said.
Since then, Peacock has walked back the claim on its site.
Photo Credit: Screenshot of Peacock site.