Streaming services have been increasing their subscription costs for some time now, and people are starting to wonder if they can afford all the streaming services at the same time. The most recent, it appears, is YouTube TV. Its subscription fee went from $65 to $73 a month.
YouTube TV Subscription Price Increase
YouTube announced through Twitter that content costs have also increased. In order to continue investing in "quality service," the streaming service is adding $8 more to its YouTube TV subscription after three years of it being $65.
Those who are only availing of the service now will already pay the updated price set by the company. Current subscribers will see the additional charge as well if their billing day falls before April 18th as the pricing change will be implemented then.
This can prove to be a bit expensive for subscribers who also get the HBO Max add-on, which costs them another $16 a month. However, YouTube is also implementing a price decrease for their 4K plus add-on, going from $20 a month to $10.
YouTube TV started at $35 a month, which subscribers felt was the better option instead of paying for cable. The hike altered the appeal of the streaming service, especially since there are ad-tier streaming services that are free of charge like Pluto TV, as mentioned in Gizmodo.
AT&T's Fiber plan costs $80 per month for 1000 Mbps, which shows that the YouTube TV subscription is only $7 shy compared to the monthly ISP fee. Not to mention, there are cheaper ISP subscriptions which put their price below the YouTube TV subscription cost.
What's worse is that YouTube TV alternatives are also increasing in price, so even if you do switch services, you won't really be saving much and all that's left is unsubscribing to other streaming services to cut down monthly costs.
Other Live TV Streaming Price Increase
DirectTV also changed its prices this 2023. In its service launch back in 2016, it costs the same as YouTube TV's initial launch at $35. It went up to $50 by March 2019 but saw a $10 decrease by November 2019. By January 2023, it costs $75 per month for a subscription.
fuboTV at launch was priced at $35 a month as well back in 2017, which rose to $45 after the planned rebrand was implemented in 2018. It saw a $10 increase in March 2019, and four more $5 increases, resulting in the price of $75 a month for a subscription.
HuluTV started off its service with a monthly subscription fee of $40 and only increased in price on February 2019 by $5. The service implemented a $10 hike by December 2019, and another $10 by December 2020. Now, HuluTV will cost subscribers $75 a month.
The cheapest alternative would be SlingTV. Even at its service launch back in 2015, it was only at $20. Over the years it has gotten four $5 increases, which leads to its current $40 price for its monthly subscription, according to Streaming Better.
