How to watch Peacock: Device support and costs for NBC's TV streaming service

(Image credit: Comcast/NBC)

Now that it's here, it's time to figure out how to watch Peacock TV. Unless you're a Comcast Xfinity subscriber, who have been watching Peacock since April, the steps to this process that are all pretty easy.

Peacock, which made its nation-wide splash today (July 15), offers a surprising set of features for a premium streaming service. There's going to be a free tier (Peacock Free), a ton of classic TV and movies daily news content and sports — it's a different kind of variety than Netflix offers.

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In fact, Peacock feels like it could be the best streaming service for people who have had a hard time cutting the cord. It'll have all the stuff some people need (the Today show clips, The Office re-runs, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Matrix movies and others) and it'll all be for free if you're OK with ads.

How to watch Peacock online

1. Be in the United States

how to watch Peacock - it's limited to the U.S. — (Image credit: Comcast/NBC)

Right now, Peacock is exclusive to the folks in the United States. Sorry, rest of the world!

NBCUniversal has plans to bring it to the U.K., but there's no time frame.

2. Own a streaming device that isn't Roku or Fire TV

You'd think Peacock would want to hit the ground running with every potential subscriber able to watch Peacock on their TV. That's not the case as, annoyingly, Peacock isn't on Roku or Fire TV as of the time of publishing.

Here's the current list of Peacock's supported devices:

Android and Android TV
Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD (4th Gen)
Google Chromecast
Comcast Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex
iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
LG smart TVs
Sony's PlayStation 4
Microsoft's Xbox One S and Xbox One X
Vizio's SmartCast TVs

3. Pick a price tier

There are three levels of pricing for Peacock, so you'll need to make a choice for how much you want to pay for the service.

how to watch Peacock - pick a price — (Image credit: PeacockTV.com)

$0 per month for Peacock Free: Peacock's not-so-secret weapon in the streaming wars is its free price tier. For a total of no dollars and zero cents per month, you can watch on-demand episodes of a lot classic shows. Those include NBC's most beloved sitcoms (30 Rock, Parks and Recreation), Saturday Night Live, and dramas including Friday Night Lights, Downton Abbey, Battlestar Galactica and Murder She Wrote. Peacock Free even comes with episodes of current NBC shows, added one week after they air. Peacock Free has ads.
$4.99 for Peacock Premium: You'll only need to wait a day to watch new NBC shows with Peacock Premium, but the arguably bigger draw is complete access to the vault of series such as Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, Two and a Half Men and Everybody Loves Raymond. Premium members also get to watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Kimmel and Late Night with Seth Meyers at 8 p.m. ET, hours before they normally air. Peacock Premium is free for Comcast Xfinity subscribers and has ads at its $4.99 tier.
$9.99 for Peacock Premium Plus: Take that $4.99 tier and strip out all the ads -- except the select rare ads that Peacock supposedly can't not play, due to streaming rights. This $5 bump from Peacock Premium will likely be popular among people who already pay $12 per month for the ad-free YouTube Premium.

To find a discount, take a look at our Peacock TV promo codes page.

Now that Peacock is live, you can sign up for a Peacock Free account, or get a monthly or annual plan for either of the Peacock Premium plans, at peacocktv.com.

Peacock Premium costs $4.99 per month, or $9.99 per month for Peacock Premium Plus, which has no ads ... except when it does. Yes, as the fine print on the Peacock sign-up page reads "a small amount of programming will still contain ads," that programming is listed as "Peacock channels, events and a few shows and movies".

But if you're ready to commit to watch Peacock for a whole year, you can a year deal that shaves 2 months of payments off the overall price. Yes, that means $50 annual Peacock Premium packages and $100 Peacock Premium Plus packages.

5. Download the Peacock TV app

Now you're ready to grab Peacock TV on the Google Play Store for Android, or to download Peacock TV from the Apple App Store for Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. If you're installing Peacock on a smart TV or console, just search "Peacock TV" in that app store to find and download the app.

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Henry is a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.