Launched in July 2020, The Peacock streaming service by NBCUniversal has finally ended its free ad-supported tier for new users that gave access to an extensive library of NBCUniversal.
The streamer provided content that includes Parks and Recreation, The Office, and Saturday night live, along with original programming that includes Angelyne, Dr. Death, and Bel-Air.
Initially, the service promised the best free high-quality content with access to third-party and a bit of video content as free of cost. Major League Baseball, the Olympics, and Barclay’s Premier League sports coverage are all included in Peacock’s entire library of Premium paid access.
According to a spokesperson for NBCU, the company is focusing on paid plans as a part of its growth strategy for Peacock. Peacock has stopped allowing new users to sign up for the free tier since Monday, January 30. Users need to subscribe to the premium plan of $4.99 per month with ads or the Premium Plus plan of $9.99 without ads to obtain Peacock.
This information comes as NBCUniversal also intends to end the free Peacock Premium access offered to Comcast Cable and Cox customers. Compared to Netflix’s Basic ad plan, which costs $6.99, HBO Max’s ad plan, which costs $9.99, or Hulu’s ad tier, which costs $7.99, Peacock’s Premium tier still offers users one of the least expensive plans available.
The Barclay’s Premier League, one of the world’s most watched soccer leagues, MLB, collegiate sports, and every Sunday Night Football and postseason game are available on the service. Peacock’s extensive sports coverage in its Premium plans is one of its biggest draws.
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It is highly doubtful that the majority of Peacock’s over 20 million paid users will leave the service due to the removal of its free tier because the company will continue to hold licences to valuable sports content. However, only time will tell if the removal of the story will impact the service’s competitiveness, given the strong sports coverage and new acclaimed series like Poker Face and Bel-Air.
