YouTube TV has hiked its prices after adding a whole bunch of new channels.
The service, which came to Apple TV earlier this month, now hosts Turner networks like CNN, Adult Swim and Cartoon Network — but for an extra $5 a month.
If you’re a cable cutter, services like YouTube TV are a blessing. You can catch the shows you want to watch on the networks you love, without having to fork out extra for a plethora of channels you’ll never watch. But for new subscribers, YouTube TV now costs more.
YouTube TV hikes prices
Starting March 13, YouTube TV will cost $40 a month — up from $35 a month. Those who sign up before this date will secure the lower $35 fee going forward. But new customers who sign up later will be charged the additional $5 a month.
The price changes come after YouTube TV confirmed the addition of a bunch of Turner networks. It now hosts Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, CNN, TBS, TNT, truTV, and Turner Classic Movies — all of which are available with the core monthly package.
YouTube TV is also getting NBA All Access and MLB.TV “in the coming months,” but these will be optional add-ons that cost extra.
The new $40 a month price tag puts YouTube TV in line with competitors like Hulu and Sony PlayStation Vue. However, much more affordable offerings are available — albeit without the same channel selection — with the likes of Sling TV starting at just $20 a month.
YouTube TV is also expanding its reach. As of today, you can subscribe in Lexington, Dayton, Honolulu, El Paso, Burlington, Plattsburgh, Richmond, Petersburg, Mobile, Syracuse, Champaign, Springfield, Columbia, Charleston, Harlingen, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
3 responses to “YouTube TV hikes prices after adding new channels”
So really its just like cable. Annual price hikes seem like a reasonable bet
It’s nice to have more options and hopefully more competition. But it appears to me this is just turning into cable again. And those channel fees are what makes cable so expensive and they are just building the same thing all over again.
I much prefer the concept of streaming shows vs watching channels.
I would think producers would LOVE streaming apps vs linear tv since you are forced to watch commercials and can change the commercials for the same episodes even when they are old. Plus, anyone can watch your product anywhere on anything.
It’s those cable fees that are the primary barrier to easier access and more focused content purchases. These channels are so addicted they put barriers up everywhere even making it difficult even for actual cable subscribers to acces content off the cable grid.
I tried it after canceling Hulu out of annoyance that after almost half a year of ignoring them, they still kept pushing Hulu shows at the top of my feed and their suggestions were way off the mark. I liked it a lot less than Hulu and had a hard time accessing Olympic videos that were part of my subscription. I guess, I’ll give SlingTV and DirectTV a shot.
It’s not as bad as cable yet. And the headline was misleading. They didn’t “raise” pricing. They added new channels for an upgrade fee.