If you’re used to getting your local NBC station over the air or through a live TV package, you may find you end up with a slightly different NBC channel when using Peacock. Whether or not this can be fixed depends on the reason why you are getting the wrong NBC station to begin with.
One of the big updates to Peacock in the last year was the addition of NBC affiliates. Now, anyone subscribed to the $11.99 a month Peacock Premium Plan can access their local NBC station without the need for any additional hardware or a live TV plan.
Generally speaking, all Premium Plus subscribers should get access to their correct local NBC station. However, Peacock uses the geolocation of a device to determine the subscriber’s location and the NBC channel that they should get access to. This is where a problem could come in.
Unlike over-the-air channels, which are determined by distance and signal strength, or a live TV plan, which typically uses a subscriber’s ZIP code to determine local channels, Peacock relies on information received from the device.
While smartphones and other mobile devices can provide additional cellular information, most streaming devices only relay network-based information. In other words, information provided by an internet provider.
Due to this, any homes that are getting the wrong NBC channel with their Peacock subscription are likely getting the wrong channel because Peacock is receiving the wrong location information from the internet provider.
For those that use a mobile-based Home internet service, like T-Mobile Home Internet or Verizon 5G Home Internet, an incorrect location could be even more likely. It is not so much that these internet services are relaying the wrong location information to Peacock, but more a case of them not relaying exact enough location information for Peacock to deliver the right local channel.
In these cases, the Peacock subscriber is likely to get access to an NBC local station that is near them, even if it is not the station that’s the absolute closest one to them.
Local NBC channel on Peacock is totally wrong
For those Peacock subscribers that find they are getting a totally wrong local NBC station, the problem is likely to be caused by something else.
As the availability of local NBC depends on the location shared by the streaming device (and internet provider), it is also subject to change. For example, those living in Los Angeles and traveling to a different city will see the local NBC channel for that city when accessing Peacock while away from home.
Obviously, using a VPN is designed to relay different location information to the user’s location, so the use of a virtual private network is almost always going to result in the wrong NBC channel when using Peacock.
If not away from home or using a VPN, then the issue is likely to be the result of something else. In these cases, it is probably worth reaching out to Peacock to see if they can help identify why the NBC channel provided is so far away from the subscriber’s physical location at the time.
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