NBC Peacock TV: Cheat sheet
• Peacock is a new streaming service that offers a free tier, news, sports and NBC’s extensive back catalogue of TV shows.
• Peacock’s had its big release date on July 15. A soft release for Xfinity subscribers had been going on since April 15.
• Peacock is free with ads, though the $4.99 (ads) and $9.99 (no ads… well, some ads) per month versions have more content.
• Peacock is getting the Harry Potter movies just not all at once…
The NBC Peacock TV streaming service is finally here, following months of a soft-launch for just Comcast customers, the rest of us now have access to the big new streaming service on the block. And that’s great news, unless your only streaming device is a Roku or Amazon Fire TV.
We’ve analyzed Peacock from all angles, including the shows available to watch now and coming soon, what movies it’s about to acquire, how good its original shows are. Oh, and don’t think Peacock is just NBC and Universal: it will offer ViacomCBS titles, including TV shows like Ray Donovan and The Affair and Paramount films including The Godfather trilogy.
Plus, we’re still keeping track of all Peacock shows and movies planned for the service, which include one down note, as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will have to wait until 2021.
In addition to more than 600 movies and 400 shows, the new streaming service will offer live and on-demand content across news, sports and late night.
Here’s what we know so far about NBC’s Peacock TV service, including its release date, pricing and shows.
Now that Peacock is here, you can download the app onto select devices, and we’ve got all the links you need — but we hope you have more than a couple of streaming devices if you want to put Peacock on your TV. Yes, even at launch, Roku and Amazon Fire TV are still missing from the Peacock apps and supported devices list.
We’re hearing rumblings that the Android Peacock app is hard to find, so you’ll want this link to download Peacock TV from the Google Play Store for Android. Also, you can get Peacock TV on the Apple App Store and that link provides the app for iPhones, iPads and Apple TV. For the remaining below platforms, just search “Peacock” or “Peacock TV” in the app store on your PS4, Xbox One or smart TV.
If you sign up through Android or Android TV, you get free Peacock Premium until Oct. 15, 2020.
On July 14, Peacock gained one more supported device: the PlayStation 4. It’s already going to be on the Xbox One, and we presume that PS5 and Xbox Series X apps will be available when those consoles arrive in the fall.
In terms of app integration, Peacock TV will grace all of Apple’s hardware, and it will be “fully integrated with the Apple TV App.”
In summary, here’s the list of where Peacock is going to stream
- Android
- Android TV
- Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD
- Google Chromecast
- Comcast Xfinity X1
- Comcast Xfinity Flex
- Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
- LG Smart TVs
- Sony PlayStation 4
- Microsoft Xbox One S and Xbox One X
- Vizio SmartCast TVs
During its initial rollout Peacock is available within Comcast devices that customers already own, including X1 and Flex hardware.
Contents
Peacock TV free trial
When you sign up for Peacock Premium, you’ll be offered a 7-day free trial, no matter if you want the $4.99 or $9.99 tier. The latter is ad-free, the former has 3 to 5 minutes of ads per hour.
Peacock TV cost and pricing info
Times are tough and our pockets are getting tighter, so it’s good that Peacock TV starts as a freebie and works its way up to a premium service.
Peacock Free, the free and ad-supported streaming tier, will house 7,500 hours of programming. That includes next day access to current seasons of freshman broadcast series; select episodes of marquee Peacock originals and tent-pole series; complete classic series; popular movies; curated daily news and sports programming such as the Olympics; and Spanish-language content. Peacock’s free streaming service will also feature genre channels such as “SNL Vault,” Family Movie Night” and “Olympic Profiles.”
Peacock Premium is $4.99 per month if you don’t have Comcast, and those subscribers will pay $9.99 per month to get Peacock Premium Plus without most ads. Those with a Comcast subscription get Peacock Premium for free.
Oh and about the $9.99 per month Peacock Premium Plus. I said “most” ads for a reason. We’ve just found out that that Peacock Premium Plus isn’t completely ad-free. according to the fine print, it will be serving advertisements in “a small amount of programming” which includes “Peacock channels, events and a few shows and movies.”
Both tiers will have access to 15,000 hours of programming, including next-day streaming of all current broadcast shows; full seasons of originals like Mindy Kaling’s Expecting and Sam Esmail’s Battlestar Galactica reboot; early streaming of NBC’s late-night lineup. Live sports (such as the returning Premiere League football) and the Olympics (in 2021) will be on both tiers.
Check out more details in our Peacock Free vs Premium face-off.
Peacock TV shows and originals
In addition to the aforementioned Brave New World, other Peacock originals include The Capture, a conspiracy thriller chock full of espionage and questionable news, starring Callum Turner (War & Peace), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), and Famke Janssen (X-Men). For laughs, there’s the UK series Intelligence, which sees David Schwimmer (Friends) as NSA agent Jerry Bernstein, who joins the cyber crime fighting team across the pond, and it doesn’t go swimmingly. There’s also the film Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, bringing James Roday and Dule Hill back to TV.
There’s even sports content to try and fill the void of leagues on hiatus. In Deep With Ryan Lochte is an examination of the disgraced olympian trying to redeem himself. Dale Earnhardt Jr. hosts Lost Speedways, a docuseries about the iconic racing stadiums of years past.
New series Cleopatra In Space, and original shows starring Curious George and Where’s Waldo round out the kids content.
Check out our every Peacock original show and movie ranked guide to see which of these are actually worth your time.
Peacock TV classic shows and movies
But much like Disney Plus, Peacock’s biggest weapons (for now) are in its vault. Peacock will start off by offering lots from the library of NBC and its sister networks’ classic shows. That includes beloved sitcoms like Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock, as well as Saturday Night Live, and Cheers. There’s also a lot of older programming for going retro, including The Johnny Carson Show, The Carol Burnett Show and The Greatest American Hero.
Peacock will also stream all of the Harry Potter movies, but don’t expect them to be presented to be marathoned. In a press email, Peacock announced “all eight Harry Potter films will be available to stream in windows over the next six months starting later this year and into 2021.”
You also get a ton of Law & Order shows in a strong mix of drama programming that includes Friday Night Lights, House and Battlestar Galactica (the original, not the upcoming series). Also Parenthood and Monk, as well as other older shows such as Murder She Wrote, Columbo and The Rockford Files.
Reality TV is getting space on Peacock, bringing The Real Housewives of Dallas, Bethenny Ever After, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Very Cavallari and WAGS (and many more) to the streaming service.
Obsessed with True Crime? Peacock’s got Forensic Files, Unsolved Mysteries, Aaron Hernandez Uncovered, The Case of Caylee Anthony, Dahmer on Dahmer: A Serial Killer Speaks, The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway and many more.
And then there are the movies. You’ve got mega-blockbusters like the Jurassic Park franchise and E.T., as well as hits including Meet the Parents, Schindler’s List and Shrek. I’m more excited about films such as Lost in Translation, Reservoir Dogs, Children of Men and Moonrise Kingdom.
Plenty of kids content too: Peacock will pack in new and exclusive episodes of Curious George, Where’s Waldo? and Cleopatra in Space, as well as shows from the library including including Woody Woodpecker, Top Chef Jr., New Adventures of He-Man
We’re gonna have to wait for some stuff: The Office arrives on on Peacock TV in 2021, and the Peacock Originals are scheduled for later this year (and into 2021). Those series include a new adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, A.P. Bio, Dr. Death, and Real Housewives Mash-up.
Plus they’re making all of those remakes you’ve heard of, for Saved By the Bell and Battlestar Galactica, which have TBA release dates. The Fast & Furious library is also expected to hit Peacock at some point.
The big bad news: You might think of Friends as an NBC show, but it’s on HBO Max.
What’s up with that? Oh, and Peacock is also lacking Seinfeld, which is currently on Hulu. Its absence is utterly perplexing.
Peacock TV talk shows
Unlike Netflix, HBO Max and Hulu, Peacock will have nightly talk shows, with access to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Myers.
Peacock Premium subscribers get the best end of the deal. They can watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Myers” three and a half hours early.
Peacock TV sports programming
Peacock is going to differentiate itself from the pack by pushing hard on sports. Not only will it have the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, there will be complete coverage of the build up to the 2022 winter games.
Over the span of the 2020-21 season, Peacock Premium will be the exclusive home (in the U.S.) for more than 175 Premier League matches.
Peacock TV reviews
In our Peacock review, we noted that Peacock is great for watching classic TV, and we were delighted by how Xfinity customers get Peacock Premium for free. That being said, the lack of originals and a sparse “trending” section made it feel a little hollow.
Over at CNET, they commended the service for its free tier, having fewer ads than Hulu, and its inclusion of news and late-night shows (two things that the other streaming services don’t offer). Overall, though, CNET was negative about the service because of the lack of originals and how its back catalogue was missing many seasons of some key shows, such as Saturday Night Live, and regular Law and Order.
The folks at Decider say that “Everything is fine” for Peacock, but “there are many, many miles to go,” (emphasis theirs). Decider also joined the chorus that say they’ll “likely never use Trending,”
Peacock TV ads
NBC is pretty confident in its ad-supported approach because it’s going low on the amount of ads — with only 5 minutes per hour at the most. Yes, we all love to fast-forward through commercials to get to TV, if said TV is free, the success of Pluto TV shows that NBC is onto something here.
