Comcast is ending a free streaming perk affecting many of its Xfinity video and Internet customers.
Starting June 26, Xfinity customers with X1 video packages or Internet service with a free Flex streaming TV box will no longer get complementary access to Peacock’s premium tier of service. Instead, those customers will have to pay $5 a month for ad-supported access or $10 a month to remove commercials from on-demand videos and movies offered on Peacock.
Existing customers who receive Peacock Premium for free will automatically have their subscription canceled on June 26, and won’t be charged for Peacock Premium unless they re-subscribe to the service.
Additionally, new customers won’t be offered free access to Peacock Premium starting April 3. Instead, new customers with eligible video or Internet-only packages will get a six-month free trial; after their trial ends, their plan will automatically convert to a paid one.
#BREAKING: Comcast will stop offering Peacock Premium for free to new Xfinity X1 and Flex customers in early April; existing X1 and Flex customers will stop getting free access to Peacock Premium in June, The Desk has learned.
— TheDesk.net (@TheDeskDotNet) February 12, 2023
The changes come less than a month after Comcast dropped its free tier of service, which offered a limited, curated selection of TV shows and movies that were available to stream with ads. Also in January, Comcast ended its free Peacock Premium promotion for customers of Cox video and Internet service.
The move to end free access to Peacock Premium was not unexpected: Last June, an executive with Comcast’s TV subsidiary NBC Universal affirmed the company was exploring ways to convert its free subscribers into paid users.
Comcast launched Peacock on Apple TV, Android TV and Flex devices in April 2022, with the app available on Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices a few months later.
As of January, Peacock was said to have around 20 million paying subscribers
