$83/mo price lines up with Hulu TV Live, and not as far below traditional cable.
Credit: Getty Images
YouTube TV, now one of the country’s leading cable (or cable-ish) television providers, is starting to act like it. The service told customers in an email this morning that prices are going up in the new year, from $73 per month for the Base Plan to $83 on January 13, 2025—just days after suggesting that wasn’t happening.
“We don’t make these decisions lightly, and we realize this has an impact on our members,” Google’s email to subscribers read. “We are committed to bringing you features that are changing the way we watch live TV, like unlimited DVR storage and multiview, and supporting YouTube TV’s breadth of content and vast on-demand library of movies and shows.”
Google cited “the rising cost of content and the investments we make in the quality of our service” in announcing the price increase. It noted that customers can pause or cancel their subscription in their Settings and that current trials and promotions will be honored and unchanged.
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The move comes just days after a Verizon promotion on Facebook suggested that customers could save $10 per month on YouTube TV, in which the “Current subscription price of $82.99/mo applies.” As seen on 9to5Google, the verified TeamYouTube account responded on X (formerly Twitter) that it was aware Verizon promoted “the incorrect price for the YouTubeTV Base Plan.” It’s true that the price was incorrect—for three days, or about five weeks, depending on how you count.
Ars has contacted Google for comment on this post and will update it if we receive a response.
It’s getting tougher for YouTube TV to push itself as a more cost-effective version of traditional cable TV. In October 2023, the National Advertising Review Board demanded that the service drop its “$600 less than cable” campaign, after a March 2023 price hike to its current $73 brought it to what Charter/Spectrum contended was only $219 less per year.
YouTube TV launched for $35 per month in 2017. It rose to $40 in 2018, $50 in 2019, $65 in 2020, and then $73 in March 2023. Google did decrease the cost of upgrading from HD to 4K to $10 per month with its last price hike.
U.S. News & World Report, citing CableTV.com’s analysis of 381 cable packages, suggested a range of prices from $20 to $150 per month for TV-only service, with an average of $78.58 per month. It’s a tricky comparison, given that most people bundle Internet with cable for savings. Bundles average $129 per month for Internet and cable.
YouTube TV’s new $83/month price aligns it with Hulu Plus Live TV, though Hulu’s package includes ad-supported Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. Hulu raised its prices in October.
