Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Peacock does away with free tier for new subscribers

Peacock has pared back its available subscription options to two — and they’re now both of the paid variety. As first noted by The Streamable, the free Peacock tier no longer is available, and the $5-a-month Premium and $10-a-month Plus plans are now the options for new subscribers.

Those who currently are on the free tier won’t immediately be forced onto one of the paid options, with Peacock’s website saying “If you already have a Peacock account but do not have a paid plan, you can watch a limited amount of content for free.”

Related Videos
Peacock plans on a TV.

The change wasn’t officially announced but is apparent on the Peacock website as well as inside streaming apps. And while it’s a hit to those who flat-out don’t want to pay for streaming video, it also doesn’t change the fact that the best content available on Peacock always has been on one of the paid tiers. That’s true for shows that stream the day after they were broadcast in primetime, as well as live sporting events like the Premier League.

And the biggest distinction between the Premium and Plus plans remains the absence of advertising in the on-demand content if you go for the more expensive option. (You’ll also be able to download shows for offline viewing, as well as get a stream of your local NBC affiliate.)

There still are some savings to be had, too, if you opt to pay for the service annually instead of monthly. Under that plan, you’ll get the Premium option for $50 a year, or Plus for $100 a year — that’s about 17% savings.

Peacock is the streaming arm of NBCUniversal and is available on all major streaming platforms, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV, Android TV, on various smart TVs, and in a web browser.

Editors' Recommendations

YouTube TV price hike is a reminder that you have to do the math
Dark theme on YouTube TV.

The news that YouTube TV — the largest streaming provider of live TV in the U.S. with more than 5 million subscribers — is getting more expensive is neither welcome nor surprising. It's just the latest price increase among multi-platform video distributors, which is industry parlance for services like YTTV, Hulu With Live TV, FuboTV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream. And prices for four of those five providers are dangerously close to what you'd pay for traditional cable.

But in a slightly strange turn of events, the monthly bill for some YouTube TV subscribers — myself included — actually will go down slightly starting in April, when the new rates take effect.

Read more
The best live TV streaming services: Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and more
best streaming TV service

If you're thinking of cutting the cable cord, it's never been a better time, and networking and streaming giants are falling all over themselves to provide the best alternatives for live TV streaming. From Hulu with Live TV to Sling TV to YouTube TV, there are a number of ways to watch televised events live or catch up on your favorite network shows without paying for cable.

Each of these services has its own price tag and list of special features to stand out from one another. However, differentiating between them as a consumer can feel overwhelming. We’ve done our best to simplify the shopping process for you and explain the best live TV streaming services available today.

Read more
YouTube TV: plans, pricing, channels, how to cancel, and more
The YouTube TV on a Roku TV.

When you think of streaming video, you think YouTube. And so YouTube TV — Google's live TV streaming service — very much just makes sense for a lot of people. Designed for those who want to cut the cord and ditch their cable or satellite subscriptions (and known in the industry as a multichannel video programming distributor, or MPVD), YouTube TV competes in the same arena as other streaming television services like DirecTV Stream (formerly known as AT&T TV Now and DirecTV Now), Sling TV, FuboTV, and Hulu With Live TV.

And YouTube TV offers a unique mix of features that make it very appealing, so much so that it's now the No. 1 service in the U.S. in terms of the number of paid subscribers, with some 5 million subscribers as of June 2022 — up some 2 million from the last time the service gave an update in October 2020. The popularity is due to several factors. YouTube TV is easy to use. It's got a selection of channels that's competitive with all its rivals. And the YouTube TV price is competitive, too. You're able to watch YouTube TV on pretty much any modern device. And the fact that parent company Alphabet (aka Google) has been marketing the heck out of it the past few years certainly hasn't hurt, either.

Read more