YouTube TV said Thursday it was raising prices for the streaming TV service because of higher content costs, following in the footsteps of other services that have recently raised prices.
The live TV streaming service owned by Alphabet Inc.'s $(GOOGL)$(GOOGL) Google said in a tweet it was raising the price for YouTube TV to $72.99 a month from a previous $64.99, for its first hike in three years.
In December, Google and the NFL signed a $2.5 billion deal making YouTube the new home of the popular NFL Sunday Ticket package. In a Twitter reply Thursday, YouTube TV said the price hike "is because of the broader rise of content costs & not specifically due to our new football offerings."
Users can create up to six individual accounts for family members, YouTube TV said, while services like Netflix Inc$(NFLX)$ are cracking down on the practice of password sharing, where multiple users can sign into the account and watch.
On YouTube TV's home page on Thursday, however, the $72.99 price was crossed out, and the service said it would charge new users $62.99 a month for the first three months in a "limited time offer." The company said the price hike for current members will go into effect on April 18, while new members will "see this new price today."
Last year, Netflix Inc. $(NFLX.UK)$, Walt Disney Co.'s Disney+ $(DIS)$, Apple Inc.'s $(AAPL)$ Apple TV+, and Hulu all raised prices for their respective services, and YouTube raised the price for its Premium, ad-free service to $22.99 a month.
Currently, Netflix runs from $6.99 to $19.99 depending on ads or no ads; Warner Bros Discovery Inc.'s $(WBD)$ HBO Max charges $9.99 a month with ads, or $15.99 with no ads; Apple TV+ runs at $6.99 a month; Disney+ is $7.99 a month with ads, $10.99 with no ads; Amazon.com Inc's $(AMZN)$ Prime Video charges $14,99 a month; and Hulu, which is jointly owned by Disney and Comcast Corp. $(CMCSA)$, costs $7.99 a month with ads, or $14.99 with no ads.