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Hulu + Live TV is celebrating its successful signup of over an estimated 2.7 million customers with a major rate increase the company says reflects the service’s true value in the marketplace.
Most customers will see their subscription price increase by $10 a month, from $45 to $55 a month.
“Today, we’re letting customers know that the monthly base price of Hulu + Live TV will increase to $54.99, beginning December 18,” the company wrote in a blog post. “The new price better reflects the substantial value of Hulu + Live TV and allows us to continue offering all of the popular live news, sports and entertainment programming included in the plan.”
Craig Moffett, a chief analyst at MoffettNathanson, told readers of his Cord Cutting Monitor quarterly newsletter that Hulu + Live TV, which combines Hulu’s on demand plan with a selection of about 60 streaming live TV networks, is likely America’s largest cable TV replacement service, topping Sling TV’s estimated 2.686 million customers.
Moffett also reported that cord cutting is becoming a more costly proposition.
“Eighteen months ago, the cheapest video packages for vMVPDs were clustered around $30 to $35 per month,” Moffett wrote. “Eighteen months later, most are in the $45 to $50 per month range, an increase of roughly 50%.”
$55 is still a good deal considering what you get, especially if you are a sports fan. Hulu + live-tv includes the Fox regional sports networks and most of the popular entertainment and news channels. The Fox RSNs have been recently dumped by Sling and Fubo, and the price for packages that include it have gone through the roof at cable companies and AT&T TV now. In my area, Cox slaps on a sports surcharge of about $13/mo and an $8/mo local network fee to your bill, and this on top of an already inflated base price. Of course this… Read more »