Peacock, NBC Universal’s streaming service, offers news, live sports, movies and on-demand TV shows with free and paid plans. Peacock is a good, and inexpensive, addition to your arsenal of streaming services, especially if you are an English Premier League soccer, NASCAR, Big Ten football, or Notre Dame football, fan. Here, we break down some of the most common questions about streaming sports on Peacock to help you decide if it’s worth your time and money.
Before we go any further, we will say that Peacock is the only place you can stream The Office. If that’s not enough to sway you, keep reading.
Peacock Pros
- Live Premier League soccer, including simulcasts of national NBC games
- EPL fans can watch every Premier League game with Peacock Premium if they are willing to wait and watch some matches on demand (streaming 24 hours after match ends)
- NFL Sunday Night Football
- MLB Sunday Morning Baseball
- Live stream Notre Dame’s home football games
- Excellent price point that is accessible for most families
- 8 Exclusive Big Ten Football Games & NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night simulcast
Peacock Cons
- Unlike Paramount+ with CBS affiliates, Peacock doesn’t carry every local NBC affiliate
- Limited major sports lineup outside of EPL matches and ND home football games
Is Peacock Free?
Peacock does have a free, ad-supported version that offers next-day access to current seasons of shows and movies as well as access to curated channels, Telemundo and select episodes of Peacock originals. But truth be told, what you get with the free version is pretty limited and it doesn’t offer any live sports.
The good news is, the paid versions are inexpensive and provide good bang for the buck. Peacock Premium costs $4.99/month (or $49.99/year) and gives you access to live and on-demand sports, including Premier League Soccer, NFL Sunday Night Football, MLB Sunday Leadoff, cycling, current seasons of WWE Originals, every WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-view event. It is still ad-supported but has less ads than the free version and if you are a Comcast Xfinity Flex or X1 customer, you get access to it for free.
If ads aren’t your thing, you can get Peacock Premium Plus, which offers you everything Peacock Premium does but with close to no ads (There is a disclaimer that says, “Due to streaming rights, a small amount of programming will still contain ads – Peacock channels, events and a few shows and movies). Peacock Premium Plus costs $9.99 per month or $100 annually.
What sports can you access on Peacock?
As mentioned above, Peacock gives you access to a slew of live sports:
- NFL – Sunday Night Football
- MLB – Sunday Morning Baseball
- Premier League Soccer
- Cycling – Tour de France
- Tennis
- Indycar
- Motorsports
- NASCAR
- WWE
- Golf
- Rugby
- Horse Racing
It’s important to note that you will not get access to very game or match in every sport, but you do have access to plenty of live and on-demand sports action.
You also might notice that the NBA and NHL are missing from the list. Currently, Peacock does not air any NBA or NHL games.
Can you watch Peacock in 4K?
Peacock offers a limited lineup of content in 4K to Premium and Premium Plus subscribers on some supported devices that are 4K Ultra HD Compatible. Content that is available will have a 4K UHD badge in the information section of the content and will automatically play in 4K Ultra HD on compatible devices.
How do you access Peacock?
You can access Peacock a number of different ways, including on most smart TVs, smart phones (iOS or Android), tablets, computers (Chrome OS, Mac or Windows PC), or by streaming through Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, Flex, Roku and Xfinity devices. You can also access Peacock on game console (Playstation 4 and Xbox One).
You do need to create an account to access any content on Peacock, but it’s easy to do. You sign up with basic login credentials and choose the plan you want. There are no contracts and it’s easy to cancel.
Can you watch your local NBC affiliate on Peacock?
No, unlike Paramount+ with CBS affiliates, cord cutters can’t watch their local NBC affiliate on Peacock.
However, Peacock offers free, round-the-clock local news for all users from select NBC-owned stations, including NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ), NBC 10 Philadelphia (WCAU), NBC10 Boston (WBTS) and New England Cable Network (NECN), NBC 6 Miami (WTVJ), NBC 4 New York (WNBC) and NBC 4 Los Angeles (KNBC).
Can you access NBC-owned regional sports networks on Peacock?
The short answer is no. NBC Sports Regional Networks have local media rights partnerships with the following teams:
- Chicago Bulls, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox (NBC Sports Chicago)
- Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Phillies (NBC Sports Philadelphia)
- Sacramento Kings, San Jose Sharks and Oakland A’s (NBC Sports California),
- Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals (NBC Sports Washington),
- San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors (NBC Sports Bay Area),
- Boston Celtics (NBC Sports Boston)
All in-market MLB, NBA and NHL games will be streamed on the respective local NBC Sports Regional Networks.
Can you watch NFL football on Peacock?
Sunday Night Football is the only NFL game you can watch on Peacock.
NFL TV rights are spread between FOX, CBS, ESPN, NBC, Amazon Prime Video and the NFL Network. Peacock and NBC have the rights to air Sunday Night Football, and while you can access the Sunday night games on Peacock, you also can access it through your local NBC affiliate.
Can you watch Premier League games on Peacock?
A subscription to Peacock Premier ($4.99/month) gives you access to about 175 live Premier League matches and every one of the 380 matches on-demand, which become available 24 hours after the match ends for 30 days only.
We should note that the matches that don’t exclusively stream on Peacock will air on NBC, USA Network or CNBC and either Telemundo or Universo for Spanish-speakers.
In addition to access to live and on-demand Premier League soccer, you also get access to Premier League studio shows, highlights and docuseries, with a mixture of US- and UK-based content from NBC Sports and Sky Sports.
What else can you watch on Peacock?
With Peacock, you get access to its library of shows from NBCUniversal networks including Bravo, Oxyen, Syfy and NBC, as well as movies from Universal Pictures and original content. Some of the original programming includes shows like Bel-Air (a dramatic remake of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Paris in Love (starring Paris Hilton), Dr. Death, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol and much more. Plus, it’s the only place you can watch the most recent season of Yellowstone.