Peacock, the streaming service from NBCUniversal, recently announced that it will be getting rid of its free tier, leaving only its premium subscription options. This decision has left existing subscribers wondering what this means for them.

First, let’s look at what Peacock’s free tier offered. The free tier included a limited selection of NBCUniversal’s library of shows and movies, as well as access to live news and some sports programming. However, the free tier also featured ads, which could be quite disruptive to the viewing experience.

Now that Peacock is removing its free tier, existing subscribers will be able to choose between two premium subscription options: Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus. Peacock Premium costs $4.99 per month and includes access to all of the content on the service, including live sports and original shows like “Brave New World” and “The Amber Ruffin Show.” Peacock Premium Plus, which costs $9.99 per month, includes all of the same content as Peacock Premium, but without ads.

If you are an existing subscriber to Peacock’s free tier, you will be automatically upgraded to Peacock Premium at no additional cost. This means that you will not lose access to any of the content that you were previously able to watch for free.

However, if you were using Peacock’s free tier primarily for live news and sports programming, you may be disappointed to learn that these features are now only available as part of the premium subscription options. If this is the case, you will need to decide whether the cost of the premium subscription is worth it for you to continue watching these programs.

Overall, Peacock’s decision to remove its free tier may be disappointing for some users, but it ultimately reflects the growing trend among streaming services to offer only paid subscription options. Existing subscribers should be mindful of the changes and weigh the costs and benefits of upgrading to a premium subscription.