DirecTV may have promised no hidden fees following its spinoff from AT&T, but it’s not shy about raising the prices themselves. Variety reports the TV provider will hike the prices of most current and legacy streaming packages on January 23rd, 2022. Only “minimum service” offerings will remain untouched. Everything else is going up. Some increases are modest, such as for Optimo Mas and Choice ($4 and $5 respectively), but grandfathered users subscribed to tiers like Ultimate or Premier will pay $10 more per month.
The move raises the base pricing of DirecTV’s Stream Choice to $90 per month, while Premier will cost $150 per month. Satellite customers won’t be immune to increases, either. Outside of minimum service and ChineseDirect Plus, you’ll see increases on January 23rd between $1 (for most Basic and Family plans) to $10 (for Max and Plus). And while some regional sports fees are dropping in price, there’s now a fifth, $12 per month tier on top of the previous $10 maximum. You may see a price drop or increase depending on your ZIP code.
The firm wasn’t shy about its reasoning. While hikes like these are frequently pinned on steeper programming costs, DirecTV said “higher-than normal inflation” from suppliers was also to blame. It costs more to offer service, and the company is passing on at least some of those costs to its customers.
These increases are common in the TV industry, and that includes streaming rivals. Hulu recently revealed it would raise its Live TV pricing by $5, and YouTube TV now costs $65 per month where it started at just $35. DirecTV is relatively expensive, though, and the higher prices might not help matters.
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