While Peacock originally offered a free, ad-supported version of its paid subscription service for the first few years in business, it removed this option in the winter of 2023. Peacock’s executives claimed it was simply not a smart idea for them to continue offering the free version of the service, as it would keep them from truly competing with the top streamers in the business. (In other words, it was losing NBCUniversal too much money to be worth the cost anymore.)