Peacock hikes prices by $3 as its live sports bet gets expensive

For the third consecutive year, NBCUniversal is raising prices for its Peacock streaming service, a move designed to offset its massive investment in live sports, as first reported by Vulture. The $3 monthly jump pushes the streamer’s ad-supported plan past its main competitors in price.

The fine print: Starting July 23 for new customers, the ad-supported Premium plan will cost $11 per month, with the mostly ad-free Premium Plus tier rising to $17 per month. The new rates will take effect for existing subscribers on their first billing cycle after August 22.

The sports tax: The price hike helps foot the bill for Peacock’s expensive content strategy, which hinges on live sports. The company recently locked down a major media rights deal for the NBA, adding professional basketball to a premium roster that already includes the NFL, the Premier League, and the Olympics.

Pay less, get less: For those unwilling to pay more, Peacock is also testing a cheaper, $8-a-month “Select” tier. But the trade-off is steep: the plan strips out the platform’s biggest draws, leaving subscribers with current NBC and Bravo shows but no live sports, original series, or major movies.

The bottom line: The move vaults Peacock’s pricing ahead of its rivals and signals confidence that its growing library of exclusive content can justify the cost. The company is betting that a subscriber base of 41 million is willing to pay a premium for a service that is central to NBCUniversal’s streaming future. The price hike comes as Peacock loads up on other exclusive content, including the highly anticipated The Office spin-off, The Paper, and prepares for the streaming debut of Wes Anderson’s latest film, The Phoenician Scheme.