What a world in which Walmart became the underdog after Amazon’s ascendance. It doesn’t take a King of the Hill episode to illustrate how recently it was that Walmart was the big, bad jerk that crowded out so many independent retailers and mom-and-pop operations.

Now, well, it still does that. But Amazon does it with more gusto, thanks in large part to the rampant profitability of its Prime membership program. In an attempt to sweeten the deal of its own Walmart+ membership, Walmart is offering subscribers to the $98-per-year program a free membership to either Peacock or Paramount+, their choice.

practically pays for itself

Both streaming networks run $8 per month for their basic, ad-supported membership tiers. So, a little math… that’s $96 per year. Ok, all right. You basically end up with Walmart+ for $2 a year, supposing you’d be interested in either Peacock or Paramount+ enough to subscribe to them anyway.

Walmart really wants those members, it seems. Amazon Prime runs $139 per year, and it includes the Prime Video streaming channel. It’s an affordable way for these companies to sway would-be consumers (like you), but at least Amazon owns Prime Video and is just offering its own channel as a freebie.

Walmart’s a separate entity from both NBC, which owns Peacock, and Paramount+. How much meat is left on the bones for Walmart on these Walmart+ memberships with this deal in place?

Never mind. That’s not a very Big Box Store way in which to look at things. The deal goes live on September 15, so if you’ve been procrastinating this long, you may as well procrastinate a little longer.

Not sold on the idea of signing up for Walmart+ when you might be paying for Amazon Prime already? You can get a 30-day free trial of Walmart+ before you commit to paying. You just don’t get the free Peacock or Paramount+ memberships until you do. Trust me. We tried.