YouTube TV this week completed its nationwide rollout and is now available in every television market in the United States, with Glendive, Montana marked as the final area gaining the service (via The Verge). The end of the rollout comes two months after YouTube TV expanded to cover 98 percent of U.S. markets.
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Now, YouTube TV will be even more of a competitor in the live TV streaming market, where rivals include Hulu with Live TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, SlingTV, FuboTV, and more. Although YouTube TV is available in every market, not every area will have all four major local networks, which is an issue some users have with many over-the-top services.
At the same time that YouTube TV completes its expansion, FuboTV this week announced its first price hike in over a year (via CordCutters). With this change, FuboTV's base backage, Fubo Standard, is now priced at $54.99/month. Previously, this entry-level package was priced at $39.99/month for the first month and then $44.99/month afterwards, so this is a $10/month price hike.
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Fubo Standard includes 82 channels, a 30 hour cloud DVR, and two-screen streaming. According to Fubo, the reason for the price increase is because of the addition of popular channels over the past year, like AMC, CNN, TBS, and others. The change takes effect today for new customers signing up for Fubo Standard (with a $10 discount for the first month), and also coincides with a reorganization to its plan tiers that emerged earlier in the week.
Price hikes for live streaming TV services have been quite popular this year, most infamously for DirecTV Now. Earlier in March, the AT&T-owned company confirmed a $10 price hike for all its customers on every plan, meaning that the cheapest DirecTV Now tier is $50/month. The service also changed up its subscription plan lineup for new subscribers and increased the prices for its premium channel add-ons for existing customers.
Just under a year ago DirecTV Now increased its base "Live a Little" tier from $35/month to $40/month to be in line with the market, because most OTT services hit the $40/month price point. With all of the recent price hikes, $50/month is now closer to becoming the standard entry level price for these services, and FuboTV now has one of the most expensive entry level plans.
- SlingTV - $25/month for "Orange and Blue" with limited-time discount
- Hulu With Live TV - $44.99/month
- PS Vue - $44.99/month for "Access" tier
- DirecTV Now - $50/month for "Plus" and "Live a Little"
- FuboTV - $54.99/month for "Standard"
For a deep dive into FuboTV and DirecTV Now, check out our comparison guide on the two streaming platforms.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)As for streaming cable I wish someone would have a truly À la carte channels subscription where I could only pay for the 4 channels I watch. Even at $5 a channel, it would be cheaper. Instead I’m left paying $50 for 4 channels and 47 channels I never ever watch.
This seems to miss that the primary part of cord-cutting was not wanting to pay a high monthly fee for a bunch of channels they dont want. Slowly raising the price $10 at a time until they were better off keeping cable.
Agreed. In my view, this isn't cord cutting at all because it's still paying a very high monthly fee for ad-supported, linearly scheduled, mostly pre-recorded programming. It's the cable bundle over a different protocol.To me, the ultimate cordcutting means everything is either (1) cost-free, (2) on-demand and ad-free, or (3) truly live (e.g., sports).
This seems to miss that the primary part of cord-cutting was not wanting to pay a high monthly fee for a bunch of channels they dont want. Slowly raising the price $10 at a time until they were better off keeping cable.
That's because these services are nothing more than cable packages without the cable company. The holy grail has always been a-la-carte pricing, where you say "I want VH1, CNBC, CNN, TBS, USA, Comedy Central, ABC, FOX, but absolutely no ESPN, NBC Sports, etc". Under this type of model, people who absolutely want zero to do with sports can opt out of those ridiculously overpriced channels like ESPN, and pay for what they do want. The content providers are deathly afraid of this, because they know the only way they can push the trash on everyone is by forcing them to pay for it to get the content they really want. Until someone figures out a way to get by the channel pricing, "cord-cutting" will just continue to be a term for "buying cable from someone who is not the cable company".Just think what $600/year could buy instead to keep your mind active, instead of turning it off watching tv.