Peacock review: The best free streaming TV service with ads.
With a ton of TV shows and movies available free of charge, NBC Universal’s streamer stands out from the pack.
Peacock, the streaming service from Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, is an experiment of sorts. Its tiled interface and big-name network make it look like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and HBO Max. But unlike those services it actually has a version that’s completely free, providing a wealth of live news and sports and a large back catalog of TV shows and movies.
In that respect, it’s similar to free streaming services such as Pluto TV, Tubi and Roku Channels, but it has a better selection of exclusive, familiar shows and movies.
Peacock.
How it stacks up.
Strong free version Large back catalog of shows and movies Live news and next-day access to some NBC shows Live sports like WWE and the Tokyo Olympics.
Don’t Like.
Full access to major shows, originals and live sports isn’t free Few original series or movies from the past decade Channels and Trending sections are confusing Missing features like mobile downloads for all tiers and 4K HDR.
Peacock’s free tier offers about 13,000 hours of ad-supported content. You’ll find shows, movies, news, live sports and skit-style clips, with standouts including Modern Family, 30 Rock and The Bourne Identity. The Office moved from Netflix to Peacock in January, but you can only watch the first two seasons on the free tier – you’ll need to upgrade to Peacock Premium at $ 5 a month to binge it all. The same is true for Parks and Recreation.
You’ll also only get two episodes of new original series, such as Brave New World, if you upgrade to premium. The original Psych movie sequel, the popular series Yellowstone.
Peacock’s live sports offering is a strength, although again the biggest events require a Premium subscription. It has English Premier League soccer, NHL hockey and WWE wrestling – all of which are restricted to Premium – and for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo it will stream gymnastics, track
At launch, Peacock lacked a number of features, including compatibility with the popular Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices. But in September, NBC and Roku reached a deal, and the Peacock app is now on Roku devices. The same happened with Amazon in June, and the Peacock app is now on TV devices, too.
The service has also added the ability to create user profiles, and mobile downloads, but the latter only for its most expensive subscription plan. Peacock still doesn’t offer mobile downloads for its cheaper tiers or 4K HDR streaming – both of which are available on the paid competition like Netflix and Disney Plus.
Peacock has three subscription tiers: Free, $ 5 a month for ad-supported premium and $ 10 a month for ad-free premium.
If you upgrade to the Premium tier ($ 5 a month or $ 50 a year, with ads) or the Premium Plus tier ($ 10 a month or $ 100 a year for no ads), you’ll get access to the full catalog of 20 Fashion in Ethiopia,000 hours of content, including every episode of The Office and its original series. You’ll also get next-day access to new episodes of all current NBC shows (as opposed to just freshman series on the free tier), and even early access to Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the night they air.
If you’re a big fan of NBC’s stable of shows, want to catch up on some past hit movies or just don’t want to shell out the cash for Netflix or Hulu, the free version of Peacock is great. But whether you’re willing to pay $ 5 to $ 10 a month when you already have the other major streaming services will depend on how much you want to watch The Office, Yellowstone and live sports like the Olympics.
Streaming compared.