Hulu is hiking up prices for its live TV streaming offering. Beginning Dec. 18, subscribers will have to pay $10 more per month (from $54.99 to $64.99), which represents an 18% increase.
Hulu’s Live TV subscription includes all four broadcast networks and a slew of cable and premium networks (the latter of which costs extra), as well as Hulu’s main on-demand service. Hulu has more than 4 million subscribers for Live TV bundle, in addition to more than 32 million that subscribe to the regular Hulu.
The new price puts Hulu on par with YouTube TV, which also raised its prices earlier this year. Smaller streaming bundles like SlingTV and Philo are cheaper, but offer fewer channels.
When Hulu first launched its Live TV offering in 2017, it cost $40. But that has become a theme for streaming TV bundles, which initially presented themselves as a cheaper and easier alternative to expensive pay-TV packages that often required customers to sign contracts. While the contracts are still not a part of streaming bundles, thus making it easier for users to go from one to the other with no obstacles, the prices are now more in-line with what a normal pay-TV package would cost.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek described Hulu + Live TV as a way for the company to retain cord-cutters during the company’s earnings call last week: “It really gives the utility that consumers might normally find from the cable or satellite subscriber and be able to get it over-the-top directly to their homes.”
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