Peacock to Stream First 2 Seasons of 'The Office' for Free, But You'll Need a Subscription for Seasons 3-9

On January 1, 2021, The Office will be moving to Peacock, with NBC announcing on Monday that the series' first two seasons will stream for free. 

As for seasons 3-9, those will be available through paid tiers on the service. For $4.99 per month you can get the subscription that comes with ads. For $9.99 you can stream your shows ad-free. For people who do sign up for Peacock Premium (a fancy way of saying the paid version of the streamer) you can also watch extended "Superfan Episodes" of The Office that contain formerly deleted scenes and other new footage. 

“Having ‘The Office’ back in the NBC family opens up access to a lot of extra content that we originally shot,” said series creator Greg Daniels in a statement. “You can choose to watch the classic version of the show, or the superfan extended cuts with this new footage and other deleted scenes that we are gradually rolling out, starting with season 3.”

Peacock launched back in 2020, though it did so sans Office because that show has a contract that will keep it on Netflix through the end of 2020. Assuming people haven't had their fill, that could help NBCUniversal in the streaming wars since The Office has been the most-watched series on Netflix for multiple years. A(nother) big advantage for Peacock was also supposed to be the Olympics, but that was upended, like many things, by the pandemic. 

Reports state that, in 2019, NBCUniversal topped Netflix with a bid of $10 million more per season to get The Office on Peacock. It will pay a total of $500 million for the show's 201 episodes, and will be housed on Peacock for the next five years. 

In September, NBCUniversal and Roku came to an agreement that allows for Peacock to be accessed on that distribution platform. NBCUniversal is said to be negotiating a similar carriage agreement with Amazon Fire TV.

In the same month, Comcast's chief executive, Brian Roberts, said Peacock has had 15 million people sign up for its service. Projections put forth at the beginning of 2020 estimated that 30-35 million active accounts will be up by 2024. So, uh, fingers crossed on that end for the bubble to remain un-bursted.