YouTube TV has now too succumbed to the mounting pressures of programming and operational fees by raising the price of its streaming TV service to $49.99 per month.
Subscribers who came to YouTube TV through Apple are in for even bigger sticker shock. The price for members billed through Apple will be $54.99 per month. This new price takes effect April 10 for new members. The price hike will hit existing subscribers in their billing cycle after May 13.
YouTube TV previously cost $40 per month.
The price increase comes on the same day that YouTube TV has added Discovery Inc.’s group of networks including Discovery Channel, TLC and HGTV. YouTube TV also recently announced that it has coverage in 100% of U.S. TV markets.
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“We also provide complete local affiliate coverage, with local feeds from all of the four largest broadcasters in over 90% of the markets where YouTube TV is available, and three of four stations in all the rest,” wrote Christian Oestlien, vice president of product management at YouTube TV, in a blog post.
YouTube TV’s price hike follows several similar moves by its streaming TV competitors.
Last month, fuboTV said it was raising the price of its base packages by $10 to $54.99 per month for new subscribers. The recently launched Family bundle is remaining at $59.99 per month.
In January, Hulu announced a $5 price increase for its live TV product, taking it from $39.99 per month to $44.99. That change coincided with the company lowering the cost of its ad-supported streaming tier to $5.99 per month.
Earlier this month, DirecTV Now did some significant tinkering with its pricing by introducing two new service tiers that both include HBO.
DirecTV Now Plus (priced at $50/month) and Max (priced at $70/month) come with “dozens of live TV channels, including local ones, and an extensive on-demand library of great movies and TV shows.” The Max package will include more live sports channels, video-on-demand choices and HBO plus Cinemax.