Just when you thought streaming couldn’t get pricier, this one proves you wrong

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Peacock is doing it again. Just like clockwork, yep, for the third year in a row, the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service is hiking prices. It started with a small bump in 2023, another round in 2024 and now, surprise surprise, we are getting hit with yet another increase.

According to a new report, if you are on the ad-supported Peacock Premium, get ready to pay $10.99/month instead of $7.99. And if you are on the Premium Plus plan (the one without ads), your new bill is going to be $16.99/month, up from $13.99. That is a $3 jump on both plans.

New subscribers will see the updated prices starting July 23, while existing ones will be hit with the higher fees on or after August 22, depending on their billing cycle.

Annual plans aren’t safe either. Premium is going from $79.99 to $109.99 per year and Premium Plus from $139.99 to $169.99. And if all of this sounds too pricey, NBCUniversal says it is testing a new $7.99 “Select” tier – still ad-supported – that’ll give you access to NBC, Bravo and a few other titles.

Once this kicks in, Peacock’s ad-supported tier will actually be more expensive than similar plans from Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and Paramount+. And for that kind of money, Peacock really needs to prove it’s worth the cost.

Now, of course, whether or not it is worth it comes down to personal taste. I don’t really find much value in what Peacock offers – too many reality shows for my liking – but hey, they are clearly doing something right. The recent season of Love Island USA did big numbers and Love Island: Beyond the Villa is already off to a strong start, too.

Right now, Peacock offers over five thousand movies and shows. | Image credit – NBCUniversal

To be fair, Peacock has been steadily growing its library. There is original stuff like Poker Face, Dr. Death, and yes, Love Island. Later this year, it’s also getting into sports big time – we are talking NBA games, Sunday Night Football, WNBA, the Premier League, Big Ten, and even the FIFA World Cup in Spanish.

NBC also scored the rights to air Super Bowl LX, the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend and the Winter Olympics in 2026. NBCU claims Peacock will stream more live sports in 2026 than all its rivals combined – including Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV.

And that might explain the price bump, but whether users will stick around for it? That’s the big question. Right now, Peacock says it has 41 million paid subscribers, up from 36 million at the end of 2024. So clearly, something’s working – but the real test will be whether people stick around once the new prices kick in.

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