YouTube TV Announces Price Hike

By Daniel S. Levine

Google's YouTube TV announced a sizable price hike for new subscribers on Thursday. The service will increase from $65.99 to $72.99 per month. The company cited the increasing costs of content as the reason for the first price hike in three years.

"As content costs have risen and we continue to invest in our quality of service, we'll be adjusting our monthly cost, after 3 years, from $64.99/mo to $72.99/mo, in order to bring you the best possible TV service," YouTube TV's letter to subscribers reads. The new price will go into effect immediately for new subscribers, and existing subscribers will see the change starting on April 18. The 4K Plus add-on will see its price decline from $19.99 per month to $9.99 per month.

"We are committed to offering a premium way for you to stream TV, but understand this new price may not work for you," the statement continued. "We do hope YouTube TV continues to be your service of choice, but we want to give you the flexibility to cancel at any time."

YouTube TV launched in 2017, costing just $35 per month. The service offers major TV broadcast networks and dozens of additional cable channels. There are also several add-ons for premium cable networks like Showtime and HBO, as well as sports packages with additional sports channels.

Earlier this week, YouTube TV announced a new feature to allow subscribers to watch multiple games at once, just in time for March Madness. The multiview feature is only available to a select group of subscribers and will show up to four games on different channels at once. Viewers can also switch between audio and captions. YouTube TV hopes to have the feature more widely available in time for the NFL season since NFL Sunday Ticket will be available to YouTube subscribers. (YouTube's deal with the NFL is reportedly worth $2 billion per season.)

"We're introducing multiview gradually and collecting feedback from subscribers along the way," YouTube TV engineering lead German Cheung said on YouTube's blog. "These insights will help inform the experience as we get closer to the NFL football season kicking off this fall. Over time, we'll refine and add more functionality to multiview, including the option to customize your own multiview streams. And, as you might have already guessed, we're looking to bring this multiview experience to the main YouTube app across TVs later this year."

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