Since its official launch in 2020, NBC’s Peacock streaming service has been offering thousands of hours of programming, consisting of classic movies and television series, curated channels, live sports coverage, and next-day access to current series for free, with limited ads. You can also upgrade to a monthly Premium plan for even more exclusive content.
Whether you’re interested in trying Peacock or just want to know how it compares to other platforms, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about Peacock.
What is Peacock?
NBC’s comprehensive Peacock platform sets itself apart from every other streaming service by offering a free, ad-supported tier for users. The free tier includes access to about two-thirds of Peacock’s library — roughly 13,000 hours of ad-supported programming — including a limited selection of movies, news, live sports, and skit-style clips.
How much does Peacock cost?
In addition to the free tier, Peacock offers a Premium ad-supported tier for $5 a month, which increases the content library to over 80,000 hours. The top-tier Premium Plus plan costs $10 a month and boasts all of the interruption-free content that your heart desires. Included in both of the Premium-level plans is next-day access to current seasons of all NBC series, early access to late-night shows, and expanded access to Peacock Originals.
For the entire month of September 2022, you can also sign up and get your first 12 months of the Premium plan for just $1.99 per month. This deal is only available to new customers, but if you’ve been waiting for the right time to join the streaming service, it doesn’t get much better than this.
In which countries is Peacock available?
Peacock is currently only available in the United States and the following U.S. territories: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marian Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, NBC promised at launch that it is striving to “give consumers broad access to Peacock across web, mobile and connected-TV devices.” There have also been rumors that NBCUniversal plans to expand the service into the UK in the near future.
Until NBC expands the service, viewers outside the U.S. who want to take advantage of the offerings on Peacock will have to access the streaming platform using a VPN, which lets you encrypt your Internet connection and circumvent certain international restrictions while still keeping your information secure.
What devices support Peacock?
Peacock is now available on Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, iPhone/iPad, Web Browsers, Android Phone/Tablet, Android TV, Xbox, VIZIO Smart TV, Samsung Smart TV, and LG Smart TV.
While the Peacock App wasn’t initially available on Amazon TV devices, it’s now available on the brand’s entire Fire TV lineup, including the Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick Lite, and Fire TV Smart televisions. It’s worth pointing out, however, that the streaming service is still missing on Nintendo Switch.
If you plan to access PeacockTV.com via a browser, the streaming service is also compatible with Chrome OS, macOS, and Windows PC desktops and laptops.
| Platform | Peacock |
|---|---|
| Android phones/tablets | ✔️ |
| Android TV | ✔️ |
| Chromecast | ✔️ |
| iOS & iPadOS | ✔️ |
| Apple TV (with tvOS 13 or above) | ✔️ |
| Fire tablets | ✔️ |
| FireTV devices | ✔️ |
| Roku (select models) | ✔️ |
| Xbox One/X/S | ✔️ |
| PlayStation 4/5 | ✔️ |
| Nintendo Switch | ❌ |
| Smart TVs | Samsung via AirPlay LG VIZIO Sony Bravia Xfinity Flex Xfinity X1 |
| Browsers | Chrome 75+ (Windows/Mac) Firefox 88+ (Windows/Mac) MS Edge 80+ (Windows/Mac) and Safari 12+ (Mac) |
What shows and movies are on Peacock?
Among the content that Peacock subscribers have access to are classic NBC series, like The Office and Law & Order, and fresh Peacock originals, such as the Love Island USA and the new series The Resort. A selection of series that originally aired on CBS, Showtime, The CW, and BET are also streaming on Peacock. As stated above, users who opt for the Premium or Premium Plus tiers will have access to more content.
Regarding film content, Peacock is also home to a rotating lineup of over 900 Universal and Paramount films, including recently-released Hollywood films like Jurassic World: Dominion and The Black Phone
Unique to all three tiers of the Peacock platform is the impressive lineup of live and on-demand sports coverage. Specifically, subscribers can stream episodes of sports talk shows such as The Dan Patrick Show, The Rich Eisen Show, and Brother From Another.
While YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV also offer a selection of live programming, Peacock is the exclusive United States hub for live Premier League matches and on-demand replays. Currently, 175 games per Premier League season are exclusive to Peacock.
Sports on Peacock
In addition to the sports coverage listed above, NBC was the go-to streaming hub for the entire 2022 Winter Olympics, including live and on-demand domestic and international competitions of seven winter Olympic sports: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and biathlon events.
Other sports-related content on the streaming service includes Paralympics coverage, U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, and Ryder Cup golf, as well as the Dale Earnhardt, Jr.-hosted Lost Speedways and In Deep with Ryan Lochte.
Back in March 2021, Peacock subscribers also gained access to all content produced by the WWE Network, which is now part of the streaming platform. While select episodes are accessible on the free tier, most of the WWE Network programming is only available to Peacock Premium and Premium Plus subscribers.
Premium members also get access to live pay-per-view events like Wrestlemania and SummerSlam as part of their upgraded membership. Additionally, the ad-free Premium Plus tier, which costs $9.99 per month, includes the ability to watch select titles while offline.
Themed channels on Peacock
One of the biggest difference between Peacock and its competitors may be that NBC’s platform offers “channels” of TV. These channels aren’t direct live streams but function as curated, themed feeds featuring shorter programming or full episodes of shows that have previously aired on television.
An example would be the Today All Day channel, which serves as a digital extension of the NBC’s hit morning show, or the Dateline 24/7 channels, which airs previous episodes from all 30 seasons. Subscribers will also see curated channels centered on WWE, Below Deck, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, among other series.
Account limits, profiles and parental controls
In addition to being compatible with various streaming devices, Peacock allows subscribers to stream content on up to three different devices. Peacock also allows each account to host up to six separate profiles, so that individuals with access to the same account can create their own profiles and save their streaming preferences.
Peacock subscribers have the ability to limit the TV shows and movies that children may access by setting parental controls. Just navigate to the Settings section and turn the Parental Controls feature to “ON.” You’ll then be asked to create a PIN, which will be required before content at or above the age-related rating you have selected can be viewed.
New customer? Try Peacock for free
While Peacock’s content library is considerably smaller than the likes of Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video, the fact that a large portion of it is available for free makes it a worthy contender. Even Hulu doesn’t offer that. Exclusive access to popular NBC series and WWE Network, as well as live Olympics and other sports coverage, also help Peacock stand out.
Until November 2021, Peacock had been offering a 7-day free trial. Now the only way to enjoy NBC’s content library without paying a dime is through the ad-supported free plan, which isn’t too shabby considering the rising costs of the competition.
