YouTube TV disclosed on Thursday that it’s raising its monthly base subscription from $64.99 to $72.99, marking the vMVPD’s first price hike in three years.
The price change takes effect immediately for new members, with YouTube TV saying it’s making the adjustment “as content costs have risen and we continue to invest in our quality of service.” Existing members will see their monthly bill increase on or after April 18.
However, YouTube also announced it’s decreasing the price of its 4K Plus add-on by $10, from $19.99 per month to $9.99 monthly.
The $8 increase is notable for a streaming service, and it isn’t the only update for a vMVPD. FuboTV in January raised its plans by $5 per month and tacked on additional fees to support carriage of Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs). Sling TV also implemented a $5 price hike in November.
In the case of YouTube TV, it’s lately undergone some programming changes. The service last month dropped the MLB Network from its channel lineup, though the companies are continuing to negotiate for a new carriage deal. The loss of MLB Network doesn’t mean YouTube TV users are completely missing out on league content, as select national MLB games are available on the platform via Fox, ESPN and TBS.
Sports-wise, YouTube’s biggest forthcoming content addition is the NFL’s Sunday Ticket. The sports package will be available as a YouTube TV add-on as well as a-la-carte via YouTube Primetime Channels, the platform’s recently-launched subscription streaming aggregator.
YouTube has yet to disclose how much it plans to charge for Sunday Ticket, but an NBC Sports report has suggested it may come with a hefty price tag of around $300 per season.
Separately, YouTube TV earlier this week rolled out a multiview feature, which allows users to watch up to four, pre-selected, different streams at once. The feature is currently in early access mode for select YouTube TV members, but it will eventually be available for all subscribers in the coming months.
According to YouTube's blog post, the multiview technology is based off a YouTube live streaming feature that lets content creators “co-stream” with one another.
“Instead of building something totally new from scratch, we could use what the Live team had already created and make adjustments from there for the YouTube TV platform and bring the feature to market faster,” said YouTube TV Engineering Lead German Cheung.
Cheung added YouTube plans to enable multiview capabilities for the main YouTube app later this year.