Not too long ago, we covered a story about Verizon mistakingly saying that YouTube TV had hiked its prices. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Google said not to expect a price increase… but anyway, YouTube TV is hiking its price.
As it stands, YouTube TV costs $72.99/month. Verizon emailed a promo saying that a subscription would be discounted to $72.99/month with a base price of $82.99/month. Google soon reached out and clarified that it was a mistake. This gave us a false sense of security, as the price has risen substantially over the years. It originally launched at $35/month, but anyone should know that this price is unsustainable. In any case, $72.99/month is still pretty high.
YouTube TV is hiking prices after all
It seems that Verizon was right after all. YouTube sent out an email to its users letting then know that the price is, indeed going up. Just like the Verizon promo, it’s rising to $82.99/month. That’s a 13% increase, and people aren’t happy about it. What makes it worse is that people were just presented with the news that prices weren’t going up.
What probably happened was that Verizon accidentally released its promo reflecting the new price early. This news was probably embargoed until YouTube made the official announcement. That’s just speculation, however.
In any case, Google will officially raise the price on January 13th. So, users only have one more month of the lower price, so they’d better enjoy it or cancel their subscriptions!
Why the price hike?
In the email, YouTube says that it’s “to keep up with the rising cost of content and investments”. As upsetting as this news is, the company has a point. We have to acknowledge that the global economy is in rough shape. Prices for streaming services have risen over the years. Hulu rose to $10/month, Disney+ rose to $10.99/month, Paramount+ is $7.99/month, and so on. YouTube TV is just another service to squeeze more money out of the user.
