The NBC Peacock TV streaming service has arrived and will soon be available in not one but two tiers: Peacock Free and Premium

However, there are more complications There is also Peacock Premium, which is ad-free, and some people even get Peacock Premium for free

You are confused You're not alone; Peacock is starting out in the increasingly complex world of streaming services, but will get a lot of attention for being the only major service with a free option (although Pluto TV has been drawing people in with free streams for a while)

Hulu ($599) and Disney Plus ($699) are the cheapest premium options, while Apple TV Plus is only free if you purchase a new device that allows viewing

So let's unpack why you might want to get Peacock Premium: Why the $999 price tag? And how many more Peacock shows and movies can you watch if you pay more?

As budgets get tighter, as does the competition to become the top streaming service, Peacock has the reasonable appeal of being free to start

Peacock Free streams news and sports for free, in addition to ad-supported content from the NBC library Just like people use their best TV antennas to find broadcast TV networks over the air

Then Peacock Premium, which costs $499 per month, delivers more content and original programming This includes more sports than the main package

However, ads will still be displayed At a recent Peacock investor event, NBCU said that there will be five minutes of advertising per hour

If you can afford to spend more money, the Peacock Premium option, which costs $999 per month, allows you to turn off all ads for an additional $5

NBCUs will leverage corporate synergies to offer existing Comcast cable and Internet subscribers a free $499 Peacock Premium package These subscribers also get the option to spend only $5 per month to remove the ads

Xfinity customers can stream Peacock on Xfinity's own streaming device, but our Xfinity Flex review found that the box offers few other streaming services compared to the best streaming devices We found that it does not offer

You get what you pay for; Peacock Free starts with over 7,500 hours of content, which is only half of Peacock Premium

Free also includes series airing on NBC and other networks associated with Peacock Peacock Free also includes news and sports content Peacock Free also includes news and sports content

Purchasing Peacock Premium unlocks a full catalog of original and well-known programs that Comcast calls its "tentpole" series These titles include "Brave New World," "Intelligence," the reboot of "Battlestar Galactica" (the second film), and even a show based on the "Saturday Night Live" character McGruber

The only problem is that Peacock will not have that many originals available at launch: the exclusives and originals for the April launch are children's shows "Curious George," "Where's Waldo" and "Cleopatra in Space" limited to new episodes, with "Brave New World" and the film "Psych" scheduled to begin in July More may be added in the near future, but it is unknown

Peacock Premium also offers subscribers early access to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers

Premium also provides faster access to current shows, with episodes dropping the day after the original broadcast, much like Hulu

Peacock Free and Premium both stream movies, but Peacock Premium gets a "premium" movie tier

Peacock Free will not be the place to watch all the sports action At the very least, it will be a big deal to some once the sports leagues start filling stadiums and resuming broadcasts

Additional sports content will be available to Peacock Premium members, with the English Premier League soccer league, for which NBCU has US broadcast rights, topping the list

Comcast subscribers will be offered Peacock Premium at the April launch, but it will be difficult to convince them to subscribe (at first) if they are offered a choice between Peacock Free and Peacock Premium

Those eagerly awaiting the sequels to "Brave New World" and "Psycho" may disagree, but unless those shows become national hits, many will stick with Peacock Free The same goes for early access to late-night variety shows, which may appeal to a certain fan base, but I'm not sure how impatient people are for these shows

For now, Peacock's best bet seems to be an ad-supported tier where people can watch as many shows as they want