Peacock is now a major destination for Premier League live games and highlights in the United States. While a good number of Premier League games are still shown on NBC and NBCSN, anyone wanting access to all EPL coverage during the season will need a Peacock subscription. Here’s what you need to know about streaming Premier League on Peacock, including the cost, how fixtures work, accessing on demand replays, and just generally getting started.
Prior to the start of the 2020-21 season, most Premier League matches were shown on NBCUniversal-owned channel, including NBC and NBCSN. However, in recent years, some games were reserved for NBC’s Sports Gold Premier League Pass. With the launch of Peacock in early 2020, NBCUniversal not only shifted all of the Premier League Pass games to the streaming service, but also a significant number of matches that would have typically been shown on NBC or NBCSN.
In the 2020-21 season alone, 175 games will be exclusively shown on Peacock, along with additional post-match coverage, including analsyis and full replays of all games. Overall, Peacock is now a major access point for Premier League coverage in the U.S.
Peacock Premium Premier League cost
The first thing for Premier League fans to be aware of is the cost. Technically, Peacock can be accessed for free. However, the free tier does not include any Premier League coverage, let alone any of the exclusive matches. Instead, this content is reserved for the Peacock Premium tier.
Priced at $4.99 per month, Peacock Premium unlocks all of the exclusive content, additional highlights, and full on demand replays. However, there is also a Peacock Premium Plus tier. Upgrading to the $9.99 Premium Plus doesn’t improve the access to Premier League coverage. Instead, the Premium Plus subscription simply removes ads.
While beneficial in its own right, the upgrade to an ad-free experience won’t make any difference to the live games shown on Peacock, due to the nature of live TV. In other words, paying for Premium Plus will still result in ads before, after, and during the half-time interval.
With the $4.99 Peacock Premium plan providing the exact same level of access to Premier League content as the $9.99 Premium Plus tier, those specifically interested in soccer are best going with the cheaper plan and saving on the monthly cost. Speaking of which, there is also the option of paying annually for additional savings.
Paying annually for Peacock Premium costs $49.99, bringing the cost down to around $4.15 per month. As the soccer season is not year-round, Premier League fans may find they are still better off subscribing on a monthly basis, and canceling the subscription when the season ends.
Peacock Premier League fixtures
The Premier League season typically takes place between August and May each year and during that period, a total of 380 live matches happen. With Peacock live streaming 175 of those games, 205 matches are still broadcast on traditional NBCU channels.
With a little under 50-percent of all games during the season available through Peacock, every team will see some of their fixtures exclusively shown on the streaming service, making a subscription necessary for fans of any Premier League team that want live access to all of their team’s games and highlights during the season.
In terms of which exact fixtures are shown on Peacock, that’s something typically only announced one or two weeks ahead of time, due to scheduling. However, with 175 of 380 matches shown on the service, it should be expected that many of the games each week will only be available through Peacock. For example, if ten matches are scheduled between Saturday and Monday, then four-to-five of those ten will require a Peacock subscription. What’s more, all ten of those matches can be watched through Peacock, thanks to its commitment to replays.
Peacock Premier League replays
Besides access to 175 live matches, one of the other major Premier League selling points for Peacock is the on demand replays for all 380 matches. However, as these are only replays, those wanting to watch the 205 non-Peacock games as they happen will still require a live TV subscription with access to NBC, NBCSN, and so on.
If watching every minute of every half as it unfolds is less important, the Peacock Premium subscription for $4.99 per month is a great option. With the ability to watch every game during the season, albeit on a delay, the Premium plan can potentially remove the need for a live TV subscription altogether.
Peacock Premier League Replays can be found under the “Sports” section. Open the app or head to the Peacock website, tap or click on the “Sports” tab and then scroll down to the “Premier League Replays” row.
The one major caveat with on demand replays is the delay between the live broadcast and the Peacock replay. For example, any match shown today on NBC or NBCSN won’t become available for on demand streaming through Peacock until 9PM ET (6PM PT). Furthermore, replays do not remain permanently available, as they can only be streamed through Peacock for the first 30 days.
Once the 30-day period has elapsed, the games will no longer be available to watch and with no cloud DVR option available with Peacock, there’s not much option for saving favorite or unwatched games for later.
Peacock Premier league summary
175 of 380 Premier League matches will be shown exclusively through Peacock, although all 380 games can be streamed as on demand replays. While Peacock is free to access, those wanting to watch any Premier League content will need a Peacock Premium subscription. Available at $4.99 and 9.99 per month, Premier League viewers only need the cheaper Premium subscription for unlimited access to all the soccer content available through Peacock.
Premier League replays are available for every game during the season, but they won’t become available until much later in the day, and only remain available for the first 30 days.
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