NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, launches for Comcast subscribers

By Will Nicol April 15, 2020

Peacock, NBC’s new streaming service, launched on Wednesday, April 15, for Comcast customers, marking the network’s official entry in the crowded field dominated by the likes of Netflix and Hulu.

Contents

What exactly is Peacock?
How much will it cost?

Recommended Videos

The service will be available to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex subscribers, who can access it by saying “Peacock” into their Xfinity Voice Remote. There’s no extra cost to access the service.

Peacock is slated to launch on July 15 for everyone else.

What exactly is Peacock?

Drawing on NBC’s vast library of content, Peacock launches with more than 600 movies and 400 series. The service will also feature live news, sports, late-night TV (including a new show with Jimmy Fallon), and even reality shows.

The crown jewel of Peacock’s TV lineup will undoubtedly be The Office, the long-running sitcom that has become one of the most popular shows in the streaming world (though it won’t be immediately available at launch). Other noteworthy shows on Peacock include Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Downton Abbey, Friday Night Lights, and decades’ worth of Saturday Night Live. New episodes of current hit shows such as This Is Us will be available on Peacock the day after they air.

On the movie front, Peacock will offer films from the Universal, DreamWorks, and Illumination libraries, with titles such as Jurassic Park, Jaws, and the Fast and the Furious franchise. Peacock will also be home to new movies, including some projects by DreamWorks.

How much will it cost?

Peacock comes in two flavors: Premium and Free.

The Premium version will have over 15,000 hours of content and it will cost $10 per month, or $15 per month to make it ad-free. Comcast/Cox Communications subscribers get the ad-supported version for free with their subscription (and they can pay $5 to get rid of ads).

The Free version will have a mere 7,500 hours of content, and will be ad-supported.

If you’re looking for some non-Peacock programming to watch, check out our guides for the best shows and movies on Netflix, the best shows and movies on Hulu, or the best shows and movies on Amazon Prime.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…

Entertainment

The most surprising horror movie of the decade is streaming now on Hulu

Georgina Campbell stands in an Airbnb in Barbarian.

It's hard to genuinely surprise moviegoers these days. Many of them have seen too many movies. They know the ropes too well. That has especially become the case with certain horror genres. How does someone even try to reinvent the slasher thriller in the year 2024? Or the haunted house movie? There are too many well-known tropes now, and a lot of movies understandably try to focus less on surprising their viewers and more on exceeding their expectations in different ways.

But then there are films that still make unpredictability look shockingly easy. Perhaps no movie of the 2020s so far has done that as well as Barbarian. The horror film from writer-director Zach Cregger came seemingly out of nowhere in the late summer of 2022 and quickly garnered a reputation for being a thriller that you should go into knowing as little about as possible. That's because Barbarian is, to put it incredibly simply, a wild ride unlike any other horror movie in recent memory.

Audio / Video

What is Peacock? Pricing, content, and how to get it, explained

screenshot showing Peacock on Apple TV.

When it comes to choosing one of the best streaming services for entertainment, there are plenty of great options out there, and among the best is Peacock. Peacock is NBCUniversal's answer for what to watch next, and it houses thousands of hours of film and TV, with a mix of older favorites and new original programs. First released in 2020, it is aimed at competingwith Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Paramount Plus, and other streaming giants.

Peacock has made a splash since its launch, with 34 million subscribers as of 2024. Its easy to understand why, too, with competitive prices, a library with more than 80,000 hours of content, and access to tons of live sports events. There is plenty here to love, and even leaving the service is a breeze, should you so desire. However, before you decide whether to subscribe to Peacock, we're here to help you evaluate if it's the right choice for you.
How much is Peacock?

Entertainment

3 sci-fi movies on Peacock you need to watch in October

Jeff Goldblum in The Fly transforming into a human-fly hybrid creature.

The month of October isn’t just about cramming as many horror movies as you can into your days and nights. There are other genres that are just as fitting, from psychological thrillers to intense dramas, and even sci-fi. Some of the best sci-fi movies, in fact, teeter the line between sci-fi and horror, quenching your need for creepy content.

There are three sci-fi movies on Peacock this month that you need to watch in October. All are new to the streaming service, and they hail from two of the best decades for the genre: the '80s and '90s. Travel back in time with a Jeff Goldblum classic, feast your eyes on the story of a killer car, or revisit high school life with teenage witches brewing something bad.