Everything You Need To Know About Peacock TV
Everything you need to know about Peacock TV
Peacock is NBCUniversal's streaming app in the United States, offering tens of thousands of hours of free programming in addition to additional shows, movies, sports, and originals for a fee. Paying subscribers gain access to everything on the service, including over 175 Premier League matches; cowboy drama Yellowstone; all WWE content; all nine seasons of The Office, as well as extended episodes with deleted scenes from two seasons; and newer films such as Trolls World Tour and the Boss Baby 2.
Peacock was one of many new streaming services launched in the last year by tech and media titans. Other new services such as Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, Paramount Plus (a reimagining of CBS All Access), and HBO Max compete against established services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu.
However, Peacock is unique among these competitors in that it offers this free tier. It's also unique among the crop of new streaming services in that it includes live sports and news; the majority of new streaming services focus exclusively on video-on-demand entertainment a la Netflix. Other distinctions: Peacock has television "channels," but these are not live streams of its networks. Rather than that, they're curated feeds of shorter programming or complete episodes grouped by theme.
How much does Peacock cost?
Peacock offers three subscription tiers: a free limited version, an all-inclusive version for $5 per month with ads, and an all-inclusive version for $10 per month without ads.
The free tier has a cap on the amount of content you can watch. For instance, Peacock offers free access to only a few episodes of its original series, with the remainder locked behind a paywall. Free accounts are limited to the first two seasons of The Office. And, while many films are available for free, some — including Boss Baby 2 — are unavailable until you upgrade. This limited-time free tier provides access to approximately two-thirds of Peacock's total catalog of movies, current season television, television classics, curated daily news, sports, Hispanic programming, and curated channels.
The paid tiers are essentially all-access passes to the service's entire catalog. Peacock Premium is $5 per month or $50 per year with advertising, or $10 per month or $100 per year with ad-free viewing (this Premium Plus tier is also the only one that lets you download to watch offline).
The advertising-supported tiers are supposed to have a maximum of five minutes of commercials per hour.
What deals does Peacock offer?
Certain individuals may qualify for discounts that reduce the cost of Peacock if they are already subscribers to certain cable companies. Peacock offers a $5 discount on the paid versions of the service to Comcast X1 and Flex subscribers. Thus, they pay nothing for Peacock Premium if they wish to watch with advertising; however, if they wish to watch without advertisements, they must pay $5 per month for Premium Plus.
Cox customers are also eligible for the $5 discount. Peacock has stated that it is pursuing partnerships to make this discount available to a broader range of consumers.
NBCUniversal announced in January that it had reached an agreement with cable company Charter Communications to provide extended free trials to Peacock to Spectrum video and broadband customers. These offers have not yet begun.
Pricing at Peacock's competitors is extremely varied.
Hulu is the only service with an ad-supported option, costing $6 per month with ads and $12 per month without. CBS All Access charges $6 for its ad-supported tier and $10 for its ad-free tier.
By comparison, Netflix, which is ad-free, offers its entry-level plan for $9 per month and its most popular plan for $14. Monthly fees for Apple TV Plus are $5, Disney Plus is $7, and HBO Max is $15. None of them contain advertisements.
And none of these competitors – whether with or without advertisements – offer a free tier comparable to Peacock's.
What product features does Peacock have?
- A single account can stream Peacock to up to three devices concurrently.
- Peacock will not initially support high-end formats such as 4K resolution, high dynamic range, and Dolby Atmos sound, but they are planned to be added in the future.
- Peacock will not require accounts to register devices, nor will it restrict the number of devices that a single account can stream.
- It will not yet support profiles, a feature that typically enables members of a household to keep their viewing and recommendation activities separate. Peacock confirmed that this feature is also on the roadmap.
- Mobile downloads are available to Premium Plus subscribers.
- A PIN is used to manage parental controls.
- The app's user interface will be available only in English. Peacock's programming will accommodate any language audio or subtitle tracks associated with a specific title. It will launch with some content that includes Spanish language tracks and subtitles.
What devices support Peacock?
Peacock is available online at peacocktv.com and is supported on the following platforms:
- Roku devices
- LG Smart TVs.
- Android phones and tablets
- Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices.
- Vizio SmartCast TVs.
- Xbox One consoles.
- Android TV devices
- Sony PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro consoles.
- Apple devices like iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K
- Amazon Fire TV
