Comcast is ending Peacock‘s free ride on Xfinity in the next few months.
Since the streaming service launched in 2020, the cable giant has provided access to the ad-supported version of Peacock Premium (regularly $4.99/month) to Xfinity TV and broadband customers for no extra charge ever. However, as of June 26, 2023, Peacock Premium will no longer be bundled in for free for Xfinity customers.
An NBCU spokesperson confirmed the change to PvNew, some details of which were first posted on Reddit. Comcast is beginning to notify customers that in late June Peacock Premium will no longer be included as part of their existing Xfinity service, and that they will be able to purchase a subscription as an add-on at a discounted rate (the price for which is still TBD). As of April 3, new Xfinity customers will be eligible to get Peacock Premium free for six months after which they also will be able to subscribe at the discounted rate.
The move to end the Peacock Premium free deal for Xfinity subs comes after Peacock last month stopped allowing new users to sign up for the free, ad-supported tier. NBCU CEO Jeff Shell said at an investment conference in June 2022 that the media company was planning to end the Peacock bundling offer for Xfinity at some point, after crediting the deal with helping Peacock gain traction in its first few years.
The NBCU rep said the plan was always to phase out the Peacock no-extra-charge offer for Comcast subs, and that as part of Peacock’s long-term strategy the company’s focus is shifting to paid subscriber growth. As of the end of 2022, Peacock had 20 million paid subscribers, more than double from 9 million a year earlier. And the 20 million figure doesn’t include free or promotional accounts.
The amount of content on Peacock Premium will continue to grow in 2023, ultimately reaching nearly 100,000 hours of programming across original series, licensed TV shows, movies, and live sports and news, according to NBCU.
Original series on Peacock include “Poker Face,” “Bel-Air” and “Dr. Death,” with upcoming originals including “Mrs. Davis,” “The Continental,” “based on a True Story” and “Bupkis.” The service includes popular library TV content like “The Office,” “That ’70s Show” and “Yellowstone.” Pay-1 window movies from Universal Pictures coming to Peacock include “Tár,” “M3GAN” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” Live sports coming to the streamer in 2023 include the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Big 10 football.
In addition, Peacock now offers next-day streaming of NBC and Bravo shows following their linear TV premiere, after NBCU clawed back those rights from Disney’s Hulu in 2022.
While Comcast hasn’t announced the discounted rate Peacock for Xfinity subscribers, it’s worth noting that DirecTV Streamhave the option to subscribe to Peacock Premium with ads for $2.99 per month (a 40% discount from the retail price).
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