C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- NBCU’s Peacock app now includes code referencing a still-unannounced Apple TV Plus bundle deal.
- While pricing is not yet available, the app promises savings over separate subscriptions.
- Users will have to manually cancel their existing subscriptions first if signed up through third parties.
You’d be forgiven for wincing a little anytime you see the name of one of your favorite streaming services pop in a news feed, as how often is it good news? If it’s not upcoming shows being shelved over fears of upsetting just the worst people, it’s news of price hike after price hike driving up your monthly bills. Today we’d love to break from that pattern with some actual good news — even if we don’t quite have all the salient details just yet.
We’ve already got multiple ways to subscribe to most streaming services, and in addition to just a regular account from the actual provider, you can do things like adding HBO Max to your Amazon Prime through Prime Video Channels. Or maybe you get a deal through your cable provider, like Xfinity StreamSaver bundling Netflix, Peacock, and Apple TV Plus.
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Today we’re looking at version 6.9.31 of the Peacock app for Android, and digging through the code, we’ve found several strings that appear to reference a new bundle deal between Peacock and Apple TV Plus:
Code
<string name="immersive.bundle.lm.bullet1">Pay one monthly bill and save compared with buying Apple TV+ and Peacock separately.</string>
<string name="immersive.bundle.lm.bullet2">"You'll have a different account for each streamer."</string>
<string name="immersive.bundle.lm.bullet3">"Have an existing Apple or Peacock account? We'll move them to the bundle so you can keep your viewing history."</string>
<string name="immersive.bundle.lm.bullet4">For more information, visit peacocktv.com/apple </string>Before you ask, yes, we’ve already checked, and that URL is not yet live. But at some point it presumably will be, and include all the details we don’t yet have (like the all-important question of pricing) about how this bundle works.
For now, all we have to go on, then, is the string’s promise that the bundle will save viewers money over maintaining separate Apple TV Plus and Peacock memberships. Looking further through the app, we find some additional warnings about making the transition to this bundled billing arrangement:
Code
<string name="legalInterstitial.bundleParallelEntitlement.bullet1">"If you're billed by Peacock directly, we've got you! Your current plan (and any add-ons) will end on your next billing date."</string>
<string name="legalInterstitial.bundleParallelEntitlement.bullet2">"If you're billed through someone other than Peacock or Apple, you'll need to cancel with them to avoid multiple charges (here's how: peacocktv.com/cancellation). Add-ons will cancel automatically."</string>
<string name="legalInterstitial.bundleParallelEntitlement.bullet3">Heads-up: there are no refunds or credits for overlapping subscriptions.</string>That sounds reasonable enough, if not a little aggressive with the preemptive “no refunds” warning.
Without the actual bundle pricing yet this is all still a bit of a tease, but we’re nonetheless excited at any chance to save a few dollars on our streaming bills. We’ll keep an eye on the app to see if there’s any further motion towards making this offer available, and hopefully filling in that big blank.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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