For the past three years, one perk of being a Comcast Xfinity subscriber was a free subscription to Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.
The Philly Inquirer reports that ended Monday, when Comcast began a new policy — which it’s been notifying customers about for months — of charging Xfinity subscribers to access Peacock’s premium tier at a discounted rate of $2.99 a month.
A Comcast spokesperson did provide all the ways Xfinity customers can continue to get Peacock for free or for a discount.
- Xfinity internet customers with gigabit speed: Peacock Premium for free for two years
- Xfinity internet customers who are diamond or platinum reward members: Peacock Premium for free, must redeem reward here.
- NOW TV customers: Peacock Premium for free
- Other X1 or Flex customers: Peacock Premium for discounted rate of $2.99 for 12 months
- More details can be found on the Xfinity website.
Last year, former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell — who left the company after an investigation into inappropriate conduct — said making Peacock available to Comcast customers for free helped the streaming service grow its user base. But the market has pivoted away from growth toward profitability, and all streaming services are looking for ways to improve their bottom lines.
In the first quarter of 2023, NBC reported Peacock had $704 million in losses, up from $456 million during the same period the previous year. The company previously warned that it expects Peacock’s losses to hit around $3 billion this year.
“As we’ve said previously, we believe 2023 will be peak losses for Peacock and from there steadily improve,” Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said during the company’s fourth-quarter conference call in January.
On a positive note, NBC reported that the number of paid Peacock subscribers grew to 22 million in the first quarter of 2023, up more than 60% compared to the same period last year.
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