YouTube has announced that it will increase the price of its YouTube TV subscription to $72.99 per month. The new monthly price is an $8 increase from the current monthly fee of $64.99. New members will see the new price starting today, while existing members will see the price change starting April 18. The Google-owned company blames a rise in “content costs” for the change. To soften the blow, the company announced that it is lowering the price of its 4K Plus add-on from $19.99 per month to $9.99 per month.
“As content costs have increased and we continue to invest in our quality of service, after 3 years we will adjust our monthly costs from $64.99/month to $72.99/month to provide you with the best possible TV service,” , the company said a tweet.
YouTube TV notes that this is its first price increase in three years. In July 2020, the price for YouTube TV increased from $49 to $64.99. The service debuted in 2017 for $35 per month.
“We are committed to providing you with a premium way to stream TV, but understand that this new price may not work for you,” the company said in a statement. a tweet. “We hope YouTube TV remains your preferred service, but we want to give you the flexibility to cancel at any time.”
YouTube TV recently announced a groundbreaking streaming deal with NFL Sunday Ticket, previously only available through DirecTV in the US. The multi-year deal is reportedly worth $2 billion per season. Starting next season, the NFL Sunday Ticket will be available from two of YouTube’s subscription companies as an add-on package on YouTube TV and standalone a la carte on YouTube Primetime channels. Unfortunately, with YouTube TV becoming the new home for NFL Sunday Ticket this fall, the price hike doesn’t come as a shock.
It’s worth noting that YouTube TV isn’t the only service to introduce a price hike recently, as its competitors have done the same. Sling TV increased its plans by $5 last November, and FuboTV also increased rates by $5 per month in January. In addition, DirecTV Stream implemented rate increases from $5 to $10 in January, while Hulu increased the cost of the Hulu Live TV bundle from $64.99 per month to $69.99 per month in December.
The price hike comes the same week YouTube TV launched early access to “multiview,” an option that allows viewers to watch up to four different pre-selected streams at the same time.