DirecTV Customers Should Brace for Price Hike Later This Month

DirecTV customers are in for a rough start to 2022 when their first bill arrives. The company announced in December that it is raising the prices of most of its plans, effective Sunday, Jan. 23. The price hike will impact most of DirecTV’s video packages, though a few of the live sports offerings will drop in price.

DirecTV published a press release last month explaining that it is raising its prices because of “increased programming costs” and “higher-than-normal inflation across our suppliers.” The company has a huge array of cable and internet packages laid out in a table on its website along with the new price for each one. The only plans escaping the price hike altogether are the “Minimum Service” and “ChineseDirect Plus” tiers. The rest are jumping by between $1 and $10 per month.

DirecTV’s Basic, Basic Choice and Family packages will all increase in price by $1 next month. The Preferred Choice package will go up by $3, while the Basico, Familiar, Mas Latino, Mas Mexico, Opcion Especial, Opcion Extra Especial, Optimo Mas, Select, Select Classic and Select Choice will all go up by $4. The Entertainment and Entertainment Classic packages will go up by $5.

The Mas Ultra, Mas Ultra Original, Familiar Ultra and Opcion Ultra Especial packages will all go up by $6. The Choice, Total Choice, Total Choice Limited and Total Choice Mobile packages will each go up by $7. The Lo Maximo, Premier, Opcion Premier, Xtra, Preferred Xtra, Choice Xtra Classic and Ultimate packages will go up by $8, and finally, the Max and Plus packages will go up by $10.

On the other hand, some customers paying for DirecTV’s Regional Sports Network (RSN) may see their bill drop by a dollar or two, as the company is adjusting those prices by ZIP code. Customers can simply enter their ZIP code to see what their new price will be – the biggest change in this area is for Regional Sports Fee Tier 2, which is dropping from $7.37 per month to $5.80 per month.

DirecTV Stream customers will see price changes of their own coming this year, showing that cable cutters are no longer safe from the industry’s infamous price hikes. Those who only take internet service from DirecTV could pay up to $10 per month more starting in January, but again, the “minimum service” tier is unaffected. See the streaming press release here for full details.

“While competitors continue to shrink their offerings, your DirecTV team maintains a steadfast commitment to carrying the most robust channel line-up in the industry and unrivalled (sic) leadership in premium sports and news content,” the company said in an additional statement published by The Verge. “In addition, we continue to invest in providing better customer service, releasing new technology upgrades that will enhance our signal reliability, and launching improved features. We are also delivering greater flexibility to watch what you want, when you want it, from virtually anywhere in the U.S.”