• YouTube TV will cost nearly $83 per month after a just-announced price increase.
• That’s a far cry from the $35 per month when it launched in 2017.
• However, YouTube TV is still attractive compared to some other pay TV offerings.

YouTube TV prices are rising again – and internet cord cutters are in an uproar.

Google announced Thursday that its popular pay TV service will now cost $82.99 per month for new users (up from $72.99). For existing users, the price increase begins on January 13th, so some may not pay more until February.

The service’s last price increase occurred in March 2023.

YouTube TV is now roughly equivalent to a typical pay TV package and costs the same as rival service Hulu + Live TV, which includes ad-supported versions of Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.

YouTube TV’s price has risen dramatically in the nearly eight years since its launch, but that’s largely because the service was initially undervalued compared to what it had to offer.

Before this increase, YouTube TV was generally cheaper than many competing streaming TV packages from competitors like Hulu + Live TV, Fubo TV, Spectrum and DirecTV. (Many pay TV services have different plans, so it can be difficult to truly compare apples to apples.)

YouTube TV also has a sleek interface that appeals to many cord cutters.

These factors helped YouTube TV grow to 8 million customers as of the beginning of the year, leaving its digital competitors far behind.

Although YouTube TV’s price increase has been staggering, prices for pay-TV services — from cable to satellite to streamers — have generally outpaced inflation, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This also includes the largest increase in inflation in decades.

As cable bundles became more expensive, millions of households cut the cable. TV networks make less money when pay-TV subscriptions decline. So, to keep investors happy, they have increased the amount they charge TV providers, who then pass these costs on to customers.

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In other words, when fewer people pay to watch TV, remaining subscribers pay more. This has created a flywheel effect, with customers fleeing the bundle even faster and turning to streaming services, social media or other forms of entertainment instead.

When reached for comment, a YouTube TV spokesperson issued a statement acknowledging this dynamic: “In order to keep pace with the rising cost of content and the investments we are making in the quality of our service, We are increasing the price of our basic YouTube TV plan from $72.99/month to $82.99/month.”

Google could also have increased YouTube TV prices to cover its investment in NFL Sunday Ticket. The tech giant won the right to distribute the premium out-of-market package starting in 2023, pricing it at $379 per season for YouTube TV customers and $479 for others. Even at these prices, Morgan Stanley media analysts don’t think the service is profitable.

Despite the price increase, YouTube TV may still be one of the better deals in town for those who want a large channel package. And it has another advantage: it’s easy to cancel and resubscribe.

“We give all members the flexibility to cancel their membership at any time,” the YouTube TV spokesperson said in its statement.