YouTube TV hikes prices in advance of NFL Sunday Ticket
YouTube TV is poised to hike its prices for the first time in three years, with the increase slated to arrive before NFL Sunday Ticket debuts on the service this fall.
In an email sent to subscribers, Google said the price for YouTube TV will rise to $72.99 a month, a $7-per-month increase. The price hike is set to go into effect April 18 for existing users, or immediately for new subscribers.
While the base price of YouTube TV is going up, Google is cutting the monthly rate for YouTube TV’s “4K Plus” add-on in half, to $9.99 a month. The net effect is that YouTube TV users who were paying the full $19.99/month price for the 4K add-on will be getting a price cut.
This news is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best streaming TV services.
In its email to subscribers, Google said it was hiking prices for YouTube TV because “content costs have risen” and “we continue to invest in the quality of our service.”
Speaking of content, we’re just six months out from the regular season debut of NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Google reportedly paid handsomely for that deal, on the order of a staggering $14 billion over seven years.
Google also just rolled out out a new “multiview” feature for YouTube TV that allows subscribers to watch up to four streams at once, a tool that should come in handy for football fans who want to keep tabs on multiple games simultaneously.
In its price hike announcement, Google said that the 4K Plus add-on (which allows for 4K viewing of “available content,” unlimited concurrent streams at home, and the ability to watch DVR recordings offline) would be available to new users for a 12-month promotional rate of $4.99 a month, while those who were already getting a sub-$9.99 deal for 4K viewing would be able to keep their discounts until their deals expire.
The last time YouTube TV hiked its prices was back in 2020, when Google raised the monthly charge for its live TV service from $50 to $65 a month.
Of course, YouTube’s live TV competitors have been raising their prices, too. Hulu + Live TV got a $5-a-month price hike (to $69.99 a month) in late 2021, an increase that included a (mandatory) bundling with ad-supported Disney+ and ESPN+. The version of Hulu + Live TV with the ad-free version of Disney+ and the ad-supported ESPN+ was discontinued, but existing subscribers were grandfathered in.
Last November, Sling TV upped the price for its Orange and Blue packages to $40 a month, $5 more than the previous $35/month price.
Updated shortly after publication to clarify that while YouTube TV’s price hike won’t go into effect until next month for existing users, it will kick in immediately for new subscribers.