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NBC’s Peacock streaming service launches in July with free, $5, and $10 tiers

Allison Matyus
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During a Comcast investor meeting on Thursday, January 16, the company — which owns NBCUniversal — announced that the Peacock streaming service will debut later this year with three pricing tiers from free to $10 per month. 

Only one of the tiers will be ad-free. Peacock Free will have ads, but subscribers will have access to 7,500 hours of content, including parts of the 2020 Olympics. 

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Peacock Premium will be $5 and while it will still have ads, subscribers will be able to access more content (about 15,000 hours worth) and mobile access. Premium subscribers will have access to full seasons of Peacock original series, whereas the free subscription only gives you select episodes of original series. 

Premium subscribers can upgrade to an ad-free experience that will cost $10 a month. 

For those that opt for the free subscription, you’ll have to deal with the ads. Peacock gave some insight into how the ads will work, including that “every ad will look as good as the premium content it’s paired with,” and that you won’t be hit with the same ad over and over. NBC said it would limit ads to just five minutes of every hour that someone watches the service.

Xfinity X1 and Flex customers get early bird access to Peacock Premium on April 15. The rest of the world will be able to access the streaming service beginning July 15. 

Read more: Peacock? More like Poppycock. I already hate NBC’s new streaming service

“Peacock will provide consumers with a destination that goes beyond movies and television, aggregating a variety of content that fans want on one service,” said Matt Strauss, Chairman of Peacock and NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises, in a press release. “By delivering timely and topical content like breaking news, live sports, and watercooler moments from late night, Peacock is uniquely bringing a pulse to the world of streaming that does not exist in today’s marketplace.”

The company said in the press release it expects to reach 30-35 million active accounts by 2024.

Peacock hopes to set itself apart from competitors like Netflix or Hulu by offering not only movies and TV shows, but also sports, news, and live content. In all, the service will have more than 600 movies and 400 TV series.

NBC Classics  

Of course, NBC original shows you know and love will be available on Peacock. These include The Office, Parks and Recreation, Will & Grace, Downton Abbey, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, House, and more.

The streaming service will also offer early access to popular late-night shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers. These “Late Night Early” shows will debut on the streaming service at 5 p.m. PT and 6 p.m. PT, respectively. On regular cable, these shows are normally on at 7:35 p.m. PT and 8:35 p.m. PT, respectively. 

In addition, Dick Wolf Entertainment shows, which include Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med will be available to watch. 

You’ll also be able to watch the Olympics on the streaming service, including this year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo. 

Peacock Original Shows

Peacock will debut with several original series off the bat that were made specifically for the streaming service. 

MacGruber: Co-written and starring Will Forte, the show will be a comedy based on the famous character from the SNL parody sketch.

Clean Slate: Co-written by Laverne Cox and George Wallace, this comedy is about a man hoping to reunite with his son after 17 years only to find that his child is a trans woman, played by Cox.

Expecting: Comedy produced by Mindy Kaling about a woman obsessed with her work who decides to finally have a baby and asks her gay best friend if he’ll be the sperm donor.

Division One: A coming-of-age comedy about a women’s soccer team co-written by Maggie Carey and Julia Brownwell and executive produced by Amy Poheler’s Paper Kite Productions.

The Adventure Zone: A fantasy animated comedy series based on the Dungeons & Dragons podcast.

Hatching Twitter: The anthology drama series will first take a look at Twitter and how it came to be. Other series will focus on the true stories of other tech companies and their ramifications on our society.

Girls5Eva: A Tiny-Fey produced series about a pop girl group from the 90’s that reunites. 

Intelligence: A comedy from Sky Studios starring David Schwimmer. 

Code 404: A comedy from Sky Studios. 

Hitmen: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Sky Studios teamed up to produce this racing series.

Hart to Hart: Produced by Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud network, the show will be a series of short-form comedy content.

Angelyne: A drama series based on The Hollywood Reporter’s piece on the “billboard bombshell” in L.A.

Armas De Mujer: A new dramedy series led by Mexican superstar Kate del Castillo.

Battlestar Galactica: The series will explore a new story within the Battlestar Galactica franchise.

Brave New World: Based on the novel of a utopian society, starring actors like Demi Moore and Alden Ehrenreich.

The Capture: A conspiracy thriller about surveillance.

Dr. Death: Based on the podcast, this drama is about Dr. Christopher Duntsch’s crimes featuring Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater.

One of Us is Lying: Based on the novel about a school detention and a murder.

Movies 

Popular movies from Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation are slated on the initial lineup for the streaming service. These include a slew of movies like Bridesmaids, Back to the Future, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Jaws, The Breakfast Club, and the Fast & Furious franchise. 

We reached out to Peacock to find out if any original movies are slated to be made for the platform. We’ll update this story once we hear back. 

News

Peacock will offer coverage of live breaking news, trending news, in-depth investigations, political and election news, and more. Prominent news shows like NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and Meet the Press with Chuck Todd will be available to stream, as well as full episodes of Dateline.

Olympics

Since NBC is home to the Olympics, Peacock will have a bunch of Olympics content for this summer’s 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The streaming service will feature live coverage of the games, as well as three daily shows: Tokyo Live, Tokyo Daily Digest, and Tokyo Tonight. In addition, more than 1,000 hours of exclusive coverage from the Tokyo Paralympics will also stream on Peacock.

Once the games are over, Peacock will have a dedicated Olympic Channel where you can see winter athletes prep for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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Allison Matyus
Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
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