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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s happening again, folks. Just like clockwork, YouTube TV is getting another price increase. Starting January 13, 2025, you’ll be shelling out $10 more per month for the base plan, bringing the total to a hefty $82.99. Ouch.
In their email to subscribers, Google explains that this price jump is necessary to “keep up with the rising cost of content and the investments we make in the quality of our service.” They assure us they don’t make these decisions lightly, but let’s be honest, it’s starting to feel a bit like the good old days of standard cable.
To be fair, YouTube TV has been steadily adding features and channels over the years. Awesome features like unlimited DVR storage and the game-changing multiview feature that lets you watch multiple streams simultaneously are investments that don’t come cheap on the back end. But the question remains: are these perks enough to justify yet another price increase? For reference, here’s the timeline of YouTube TV’s price hikes over the years:
- 2017: $35
- March 2018: $40
- May 2019: $49.99
- July 2020: $64.99
- April 2023: $72.99
- January 2025: $82.99
As you can see, the price has more than doubled since its debut. It’s hard not to feel like we’re being nickel-and-dimed a bit, especially with so many streaming alternatives popping up left and right. Personally, the dream of a pick-and-choose streaming TV lineup looks all but gone at this point, and for me at least, local news and live sports are the only thing keeping me tethered to a cable-ish service like YouTube TV for now.
I’ve thought of ditching YouTube TV and just subscribing to each individual streaming service instead, but the sports and local TV channels keep holding me back. With this price hike, however, my research into how it would all work without YouTube TV has officially begun. There’s a lot of streaming I could be doing for that sort of cash.
VIA: 9to5 Google
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