Verizon keeps reshuffling its deck of various and sundry streaming bundle deals, aiming for new ways to appeal to bargain hunters — and to cater to particular sign-up goals of its content partners.
The telco’s newest offer: Verizon customers who subscribe to the annual plan of NBCUniversal’s Peacock Premium (with ads) at the new, higher rate of $79.99 per year — just a little over a week before NBC’s Paris Summer Olympics onslaught — can receive one year free of Netflix Premium, regularly priced at $22.99/month (for a total value of $275.88 per year).
Netflix’s Premium tier provides ad-free viewing on up to four devices at once with content available in up to Ultra HD quality. The Verizon offer is currently scheduled to start July 18 and end Aug. 31, 2024.
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The Netflix-Peacock offer is available through Verizon’s +play hub for buying and managing content subscriptions, which is available to all Verizon wireless and home internet customers.
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For NBCU, the goal of the Peacock-Netflix bundle offer through Verizon is to give users an additional incentive to take a full year of Peacock, just as its prices are increasing. That comes as NBCU plans to present some 5,000 streaming hours of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on the platform, the most it’s ever put on streaming.The financial terms of the agreements aren’t being disclosed, but Verizon is likely paying some per-subscriber wholesale rate to both NBCU and Netflix.
For streaming fans, is it a good deal? It depends on what they’re looking for. The proliferation of streaming bundles that have popped up has made it more confusing than ever to figure out the best deals. The streaming platform providers like bundles because they boost subscriber numbers and can reduce churn rates, and consumers like them if they’re able to save money.
The new Peacock-Netflix Premium offer joins other Verizon discounted streaming deals. Those include several add-ons each priced at $10 per month: Netflix and Max (both with ads); the Disney Bundle (Disney+ with no ads, Hulu with ads and ESPN+); YouTube Premium; and Walmart+ membership with an included Paramount+ subscription.
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Meanwhile,Comcast’s StreamSaver package combines Peacock Premium (with ads), Netflix Standard with ads and Apple TV+ for a discounted price of $15 per month. And Dish is dangling two years of Netflix with ads for free, if you commit to a two-year agreement.
There are trade-offs with any of these bundled deals. If you’re willing to prepay for a full year of Peacock — which is stocked with more than 80,000 hours of ad-supported NBC and Bravo shows, live sports including NFL “Sunday Night Football,” Premier League soccer and the Olympic Games — and you find the Netflix Premium package attractive, the latest Verizon +play deal might be a smart move. Well, at least until the 12-month promotional period rolls off.
