Hulu with Live TV — the streaming service's cord-cutter package — just got more expensive. A new report from Deadline says the service is informing customers that it's going up by $10 per month starting Dec. 18.
This increase will bring the Hulu with Live TV price to $65 per month, tied with YouTube TV for the most expensive service. Fubo TV is currently $60 per month. Hulu is not giving a reason for the 18% price hike.
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Right now the Walt Disney Co.-owned Hulu is probably just hoping that customers enjoy their service that much that they won't switch over. Hulu with Live TV is the only service of its kind to offer originals, a key differentiator.
The only problem is that YouTube TV does offer 20 more channels per month, which includes Viacom-owned networks such as Comedy Central and VH1. Those channels were among the recently-added additions to the YouTube TV roster around the time of that service's most recent price hike — which saw a whopping $15 get added to its monthly price back in June.
Sling still offers its $30 per month rate, but its assortment is only "more than 30 channels," while Hulu's got more than 60, and YouTube TV has more than 85.
Hulu with Live TV isn't the only streaming service to get a rate hike, but Netflix's $1 increase to its Standard plan and $2 increase to the 4K Premium plan were much less harsh.
Walt Disney Co. is likely attempting to offset loses from elsewhere in its business. Its most recent earnings call revealed that it lost money overall last quarter, as COVID-19 impacts its abilities to earn at the box office and the company continues to disagree with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who's stated that the state's theme parks will continue to be shut down to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
