Welcome to another first for the site as I review a streaming service! Streaming is the biggest thing in entertainment right now and it keeps getting bigger. Ever since the rise of Netflix and the ending of the video stores, vast amounts of entertainment are at our fingertips with our remotes or game consoles. Every time we think that the next biggest streaming service has arrived another one comes around the corner and hits us with surprise.
The latest new service comes from NBCUniversal in the form of Peacock released on July 15th 2020. Peacock was announced last year as NBCUniversal wanted to get in the game as well. With Netflix, Amazon Prime, HULU, and others dominating the scene, it is no wonder that NBCUniversal wanted in on with a piece of the pie. The company announced that once the hit television series The Office had its streaming rights with Netflix expire it would have a new official home on Peacock, which divided people.
At first, I had mixed reactions to the news. Another streaming service? The point of streaming was to cut costs of cable and dish that had seen prices skyrocket the last few years. The only thing keeping cable alive is the fact they have live sports but that is for a different time. I took a look into Peacock just to see what they had to offer. I was surprised that they have three different options. They have a free option, a premium option at $4.99, and a premium option at $9.99. If you have Xfinity cable you get the service for free. The free and $4.99 premium have ads while the $9.99 option is ad free. The ads are not as bad as HULU can be as each time, I have watched something the ads are no more than a minute. Each option has different amounts of content as well.
I caved in and decided to sign up with the free option because free does not hurt. I gave it a look and was surprised in what I had seen. The app is organized in different categories. We get a channel option that each channel has a focus. For example, if you wanted to watch Hells Kitchen, they have a channel you can choose that just airs that show. The have one for The Office as well and many others. The biggest surprise was that there are live sports on the free version. For soccer fans Premier League soccer was on live. If I were a huge soccer fan, then that would be worth it alone. The release of Peacock was supposed to happen with the 2020 Summer Olympics with the service airing the games. Due to Covid-19 that never happened, but the service was launched anyway.
Next, we get the On-Demand section and for the free version it has quite the library. Universal has an extensive archive of movies and shows that range from old classics to the modern era. If you have read this site before you know I am a massive fan of the Universal Monster films. They have a great selection of these on the free version. I got excited seeing that I can view some of the films I do not own and have not seen in a while. Not only that but there are timeless classics from Alfred Hitchcock and other award-winning movies to enjoy.
Overall, I am pretty satisfied with Peacock and I am glad I gave it a shot. While the premium tiers have more content, I am satisfied with what the free version has to offer. While there are ads, it does not bother me since they only last a minute. Just getting some live sports alone is worth giving the service a shot. For a film buff like me I am looking forward to seeing all the different films and shows that it has to offer. I would give Peacock a hit.
Henry's Movie Reviews 