Peacock may increase the cost of its monthly and annual subscriptions again
It appears Peacock is raising prices again for the second time in less than a year. According to Varietythe monthly Premium with Ads subscription will “increase by $2 to $7.99,” officially making it more expensive than Netflix’s Standard with Ads option. The platform’s Premium Plus (which the report notes is “mostly ad-free”) will see a similar increase, as it will cost $13.99 per month. Variety states that the “Peacock’s Premium annual price” will soon become $79.99, “while Premium Plus will go from $119.99 to $139.99 for this year.”
These changes apparently take effect at different times for different groups. For new customers, they will see the increase on July 18. Current subscribers will not see the increase until after August 17. It depends on “their next billing date”.
So the main question on everyone’s mind is: “Why?” Why are they doing this again so quickly? No one knows for sure. NBCUniversal has yet to make an official announcement for the second price increase. However, if you look online, people are pointing fingers at the Olympics.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris start on July 26 and last until August 11. NBCUniversal bought the rights to broadcast the games in the United States “with coverage likely to spread through Peacock TV and its family of TV channels.”
Recent updates
The timing of the rumors seemed suspicious to many, as the Games are only a few months away. Granted, Peacock has made content updates in 2024 that might charge users more. For example, the platform acquired exclusive rights to stream Oppenheimer back in February.
But other features, such as the introduction of Multiview and live actions are too big to ignore. If you’re not familiar with it, the former allows you to watch up to four different Olympic sports at once. The second allows viewers to continue watching an event instead of “moving on” to another event. On top of that, Roku revealed it’s partnering with NBCUniversal to introduce the new NBC Olympic Zone, where people can enjoy the summer games on their “Roku TV or device.”
We reached out to NBCUniversal for clarification and asked if they would comment on the rumors. This story will be updated if we hear back. Hopefully the rumors will remain rumors forever.
If you’re excited about the Olympics and are thinking about buying a new display, check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best TVs for 2024. We have lots of recommendations at different price points.