YouTube TV Hikes Monthly Subscription Price; How Much Will You Have To Pay Now?

KEY POINTS

Subscribers will now have to pay an additional $8 per month
YouTube cited higher content costs as the reason for the hike
The latest price rise comes days after it announced the testing of a multiview feature

YouTube TV has hiked the monthly subscription of its streaming services by $8, citing higher content costs.

"As content costs have risen and we continue to invest in the quality of our service, we are updating our price to keep bringing you the best possible service," the streaming service owned by Google said in the email sent to subscribers Thursday, reported USA Today.

The monthly subscription cost has been hiked by around 12.3%, from $64.99 to $72.99. It is the streaming service's first price increase in three years. The price change will be effective for current subscribers starting April 18 and for new customers from Thursday.

An update for our members. As content costs have risen and we continue to invest in our quality of service, we’ll be adjusting our monthly cost, after 3 years, from $64.99/mo to $72.99/mo, in order to bring you the best possible TV service.
— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) March 16, 2023

"We are committed to offering a premium way for you to stream TV, but understand this new price may not work for you. We do hope YouTube TV continues to be your service of choice, but we want to give you the flexibility to cancel at any time," the company said in a tweet.

YouTube started the service in 2017 for $35 per month. The last price hike from the streaming service was in June 2020, when it increased the cost of the base plan from $50 to $64.99 per month.

The latest move comes days after YouTube TV started testing its multiview feature that would allow subscribers to watch up to four pre-selected games simultaneously. The platform also announced that its 4K Plus add-on plan would see a price drop from $19.99 to $9.99 per month.

YouTube TV is not the only streaming service that has hiked its prices recently. Dish Network's Sling TV raised the cost of its monthly service by $5 in November, while Hulu hiked its Live TV bundle price from $64.99 to $69.99 per month in December. In January, FuboTV increased rates by $5 a month and DirecTV Stream doubled its rates to $10, reported Tech Crunch.

In December, Google signed a seven-year deal for the exclusive rights of NFL's Sunday Ticket, paying around $2 billion per year to carry the package. The streaming would be provided as an add-on to YouTube TV subscribers starting with the 2023 football season.