Will Peacock Be Free? Yes And No

There will be a free version of Peacock available to anyone who wants to check it out. In a somewhat confusing announcement Comcast has also revealed that the service will also have two paid tiers. One will cost $4.99 and have adds, like CBS All Access or Hulu, and the more expensive paid service for $9.99 will be ad-free. Now here is where people are going to get very confused. Comcast and Cox Cable customers will get the $4.99 version of the service for free. I can already see the questions and confusing answers.

CNBC reported that Peacock Free will consist of 7,500 hours of programming, including next-day access to current seasons of first-year NBC shows, complete seasons of classic series, Universal movies and curated content such as “SNL Vault” and “Family Movie Night.”

Peacock Premium Will Have Live Sports

No not NFL Football, but what the rest of the world calls Football will have a home on Peacock. The paid service will Premium include non-televised Premier League soccer games beginning in August and Ryder Cup matches in September.

Early Late Night

An interesting perk for viewers will be the ability to watch late night programming (talk shows) in primetime. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”  will be available at 8 p.m. ET each day instead of its normal TV time of 11:35 p.m. ET and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” at 9 p.m. ET instead of waiting until 12:35 p.m. ET. That means that the highly rated shows will be competing against everything from NBC’s primetime lineup to sports on a nightly basis.

Premium will have more stuff

It was revealed that Peacock Premium will have twice as many hours of content than Free Peacock including 600 movies and 400 TV series. The service will be the streaming home for “Law & Order” and “Chicago Fire,” along with previously announced series such as “30 Rock,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Cheers,” and “Frasier.”

Overall it looks like The Free version of Peacock will feel more like the standard NBC app without a sign in required while the pay version will feel more like Hulu with its expanded TV programming and movie selections.