Comcast/NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service, Peacock, will have a version that can be accessed for free by all consumers.
Peacock will be ad-supported, and the free tier will have more than 7,500 hours of content. Matt Strauss, chairman of Peacock and NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises, said that the service will limit its ad loads to five minutes of commercials per hour.
NBCU will also sell Peacock Premium for $4.99 per month. The service will have more than 15,000 hours of content including original series. Strauss said that there will be an ad-free version of Peacock Premium available for $9.99 per month.
However, Peacock Premium will be bundled free for almost all Comcast Xfinity TV and Flex broadband customers. Premium will also be free to Cox subscribers and available on the Cox Contour box, which is a licensed version of Comcast’s X1 platform and hardware.
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The news today confirms several reports from late last year about pricing for Peacock. In December, The Information reported that Peacock would be priced at $10 per month with no ads and $4.99 per month with limited ads. In November, CNBC reported that Peacock would be free for all consumers.
Peacock’s platform navigation will combine browsing on-demand libraries along with new, curated streaming channels. Peacock Channels will feature pop-up live events, 24-hour playlists and other formats.
In October, outgoing NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said that Peacock will have a mix of originals, exclusive acquisitions like “The Office,” and a lot of non-exclusive content. But he assured investors that Comcast/NBCUniversal will continue licensing content to other platforms like HBO.
Peacock is planning to debut in April, and it will use the 2020 Summer Olympics as an “afterburner” after the launch. Burke said that NBCU will add a significant amount of content throughout 2020.