YouTube TV increases its monthly prices by $8 – is now the time to switch?

By Simon Cohen March 16, 2023

YouTube TV has raised the price of its monthly subscription by $8, from $65 to $73. The move comes on the heels of its announcement that it will be adding a multiview feature for sports channels. The change in price will hit current subscribers on April 18, however, the streaming service, which is owned by Google, has already started charging new customers the higher price.

YouTube TV on Apple TV. — Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

It’s been a while since YouTube TV last raised its prices. That was in 2020, when the streaming service increased subscriptions from $50 to $65. When the service first launched in 2017, it only cost $35 per month.

Related Videos

Current subscribers will see the price changes beginning on April 18, while new subscribers will begin at the new price points. Those on promotional or trial plans will not see those discounts changed.

It’s not all bad news. If you value the addition of 4K resolution, YouTube TV has actually lowered the price of that add-on by 50%: 4K Plus is now just $10 per month, instead of $20. If you’re new to the 4K Plus plan, your first year is just $5 per month.

Why the increase in prices? “As content costs have risen and we continue to invest in the quality of our service, we are updating our price to keep bringing you the best possible service,” an email to subscribers said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s impossible to ignore the fact that some of those increased costs must be associated with YouTube TV’s recent acquisition of the rights to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket games. Coverage of those games begins in the fall, but pricing for the add-on has yet to be determined.

If this price increase feels like it puts YouTube TV out of contention for your choice of live TV streaming, check out our guide to the best YouTube TV alternatives.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Audio / Video

NFL Sunday Ticket: how to watch on YouTube and YouTube TV

NFL Sunday Ticket info for YouTube TV as seen on a phone.

Now that Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have been crowned the winners of Super Bowl LVII and closed out the 2022-23 season, it's time to turn our attention to next season. Because there are going to be some massive changes. First, there's no more Tom Brady. And second is that NFL Sunday Ticket will no longer be on DirecTV and is making the leap to YouTube and YouTube TV.

That's a big deal for a couple of reasons. It'll make NFL Sunday Ticket — which lets you watch pretty much any NFL game you want every week — available to far more people because it no longer will be shackled to satellite TV. Dish TV has slowly been losing subscribers and was down to 7.6 million as of October 2022. Meanwhile, YouTube TV last reported more than 5 million subscribers in mid-2022. (The company doesn't regularly give updates on subscription totals.) And then there's YouTube proper, whose availability and popularity are hard to quantify in the same terms as traditional television numbers because it's just there.

Audio / Video

NFL Sunday Ticket may get typical YouTube community features

NFL on YouTube TV.

The 2022-23 NFL season is about to wrap up with the Super Bowl, and there are many months until the next installment. That also means there's quite some time before we see NFL Sunday Ticket make the leap to Google-owned YouTube and YouTube TV.

But we're already starting to glean a few more details as to the future of NFL Sunday Ticket, which until this year has lived solely on DirecTV.

Giveaways

Celebrate our 1,000,000 YouTube subscriber milestone with us and win!

YouTube Subscriber Giveaway

Digital Trends 1,000,000 YouTube Subscriber Giveaway!

We did it! On November 27, 2022, the Digital Trends YouTube channel reached a major milestone: 1 million subscribers! We’ve been counting down for weeks, and now that the moment has finally arrived, we’re ready to celebrate with those who helped us get here (you!) by giving away more than $4,500 in prizes!