NBCUniversal announced today the planned launch of a new streaming service oin 2020, providing consumers access to premium content for free, with partnership opportunities for advertisers and distributors.

With the new service, the unit of U.S. cable group Comcast Corp. is stepping into a market dominated by Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

The ad-supported service, available at no cost to NBCUniversal's pay TV subscribers in the United States, will be led by Bonnie Hammer, currently chairman of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group.

An ad-free version of the service will be available for a fee and non-pay TV customers can purchase a subscription to the service, the media company said.

Comcast Cable and Sky will provide the service to their 52 million subscribers.

NBCUniversal said it would continue to license content to other studios and platforms, while retaining rights to certain titles for its new service.