YouTube notified its subscribers on Thursday that, once again, YouTube TV prices are going up.
Subscriptions to the cable TV alternative are increasing from $72.99 to $82.99 a month for the Base plan. The $10 price hike is already in effect for new subscribers, and will increase on Jan. 13, 2025 for existing subscribers. According to YouTube TV's support page, "due to the rising cost of content, we’ve updated our membership pricing to reflect the complete value of YouTube TV."
The days of cord-cutting for cheaper subscriptions to streaming platforms are long gone. But the cost of streaming subscriptions is getting to the point where it's the same — or cheaper to opt for cable. According to CableTV.com, which analyzed dozens of different plans, the average cost of cable is $83 and the average cost of cable and internet combined is $134. So it's pretty comparable if you're paying for a YouTube TV subscription on top of your WiFi plan.
When YouTube TV first launched in 2017 with a $35-a-month plan, it was a clearly appealing choice for cord-cutters. But since then, the price has crept up incrementally to the $83 price tag we have today. Unfortunately, other live TV packages are pretty much the same. The basic Hulu plan with live TV is $82 and that's without the ESPN+ and Disney+ add-ons.
If you're a football fan trying to catch every NFL game of the season, you can say goodbye to your money right now. Mashable's Tim Marcin did the math and discovered it would cost a whopping $891.36 to watch every game across all of the different streaming platforms, including YouTube TV's NFL Sunday Ticket which is an additional four payments of $95 on top of the base plan.
Football streaming aside, if YouTube TV's new price hike is too much, you can always cancel your membership. And maybe it's time to start thinking about cable again.
