YouTube TV is so expensive now it's cheaper to un-cut the cord

Summary

With a monthly subscription up to $83, YouTube TV is no longer an affordable streaming choice.
YouTube TV joins a long list of streamers raising monthly fees.
The cable model has returned, as streamers welcome ads and commercials to make more money.

It’s time to un-cut the cord. YouTube TV, with what will be its second price in less than two years, is pushing the limits of what is acceptable for a streaming service. In bumping up its price to $83 per month from $73 per month, a more than 10% increase and a staggering 27% increase from the $65 per month cost back in March 2023, YouTube TV is taking advantage of customer’s wallets while also mocking them to their faces.

With this sudden announcement that I assume YouTube TV didn’t want a lot of attention for, it’s seriously time to reconsider not only your subscription to this service, but to all streaming services. With such a lofty monthly price required to cut the cord, now might be the moment to reestablish your original connection.

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YouTube TV

Simultaneous streams: 3
# of profiles: 6
Live TV: Yes
Price: Starts at $73 /month
Free trial: Yes, length varies

Netflix isn’t worth it anymore

If you want your money’s worth, you have to pay up, making Netflix an even harder sell.

YouTube TV is too expensive

There are no longer advantages to cord cutting

To start, $85 is a high price to pay per month for a bunch of live TV channels; channels, that I will remind you, will include ads. With prices approaching $100, YouTube TV is no longer positioning itself as a cheaper, more accessible alternative to cutting cable. Instead, it’s challenging consumers to really consider if they are getting more from their money with YouTube than they are with DirectTV or Verizon or any other local provider. For anyone of a certain age who subscribed to these companies for a long time, you will know that they often grant long-term customers pretty lofty discounts and plenty of free perks. Some may be regretting their decision to switch to YouTube TV when the prices keep increasing.

This price hike is even more offensive when considering that, just like cable packages of years gone by, you’re not going to get everything you want at the basic level. One of the draws of YouTube TV is NFL Sunday Ticket, which already was an expensive add-on. Additional packages and bundling and extra channels puts consumers back where they were decades ago. Of course, this announcement comes as the NFL regular season is drawing to a close with the playoffs and the Super Bowl on the horizon. YouTube TV doesn’t want to go another year without squeezing as much money out of these season as possible.

Amazon Prime with an emoji thumbs down rendered over the TV.

Amazon Prime Video isn’t worth it

The popular subscription service costs too much money and I don’t care enough about the content for it to be worth the investment.

‘Streamflation’ is a cause for concern

Prices are going up everywhere

YouTube TV is not alone in raising prices, but the scale of the price hike, and its sudden announcement of it, should make consumers wary. That’s because if YouTube TV makes enough money off of this move, it will set a new standard for prices in the industry, and allow others to keep inching up their costs. It’s because of other companies raising their respective prices that YouTube feels emboldened here.

This year saw a lot of price increases, which many consumers are dubbing ‘streamflation.’ Disney+, Hulu and ESPN raised prices in October, as did Netflix. Peacock subscribers saw a price increase as well (and so did Spotify members). With prices going up all around, consumers must reconsider which subscriptions they really want because it’s simply not tenable to keep paying monthly fees to four or five or six different companies.

UK TV streaming services apps on iPad screen-1

There’s only one streaming bundle that’s actually worth paying for

It’s hard to find something better than this.

The cable model is dead

Long live the cable model

It’s not just the prices that are high. Streaming content is inundated with ads. Just about every major streaming service now offers an ad-supported tier, where they can precede and interrupt what you’re watching with commercials and ads for everything from prescription medicines to new cars. It goes in tandem with the price hikes because all of these services would rather you pay less up front per month and look at ads because that makes more money for them. Your data and buying power has more value than a few extra bucks a month.

And that idea should be unsettling and deeply frustrating. It’s especially demoralizing that Netflix and Amazon and others decried the cable TV model, then destroyed it, and are now building it back up exactly as it was. Then again, that’s what these tech companies do. They see an idea that works, make it their own but don’t charge people for it, and then wait til competition goes bankrupt and then start making people pay when there’s no other option.

Fortunately, consumers still have power, and it all comes down to where you are putting your money. At some point, these price hikes have to stop, and the ads have to stop, and the only way companies are going to rethink how they spend money and make money, is when customers close their wallets. It’s time to look at YouTube TV and plenty of other streaming services and seriously consider alternatives because they are not going to stop taking as much money as they can from viewers.