DirecTV Now Confirms $10/Month Price Hike for Existing Users, Raises HBO From $5 to $15/Month for New Add-Ons

[MacRumors]

In the wake of reports that claimed DirecTV Now was planning to raise prices for its customers again, the streaming service today posted a new FAQ page confirming that all existing customers will see a $10/month price hike effective April 12, 2019 (via Variety). This means that if you are currently subscribed to DirecTV Now's Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, Gotta Have It, or Todo y Más packages, you will pay $10/month more than you are now.

At the same time, DirecTV Now has confirmed that it is raising the price of its premium channel add-ons, but only for legacy subscribers who are now adding these channels onto their plans. This means that HBO is increasing from a $5/month add-on to $15/month, Cinemax is increasing from $5/month to $11/month, and Starz is increasing from $8/month to $11/month. This change takes effect today, March 13.

If you subscribe to Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, Gotta Have It, or Todo y Más packages and had a premium channel add-on prior to these changes, you will keep your current lower price as long as the premium remains added on your account. So, these new premium channel prices are aimed at legacy DirecTV Now customers who subscribe to one of the five original packages, and decide to add HBO, Cinemax, or Starz onto their account as of today.

Cheap premium channel add-ons have been a major selling point for DirecTV Now, but now that the subscription tier line-up will be slimmed down and HBO will be added directly into the new DirecTV Now Plus and DirecTV Now Max plans, it appears that the company has decided to do away with this selling point. This is likely due to the new assets that AT&T gained from the Time Warner acquisition, including the HBO family of channels.

We broke down all of these changes below:

DirecTV Now Price Hike
(Affects all existing customers from April 12, 2019)
[*]Live a Little: from $40/month to $50/month
[*]Just Right: from $55/month to $65/month
[*]Go Big: from $65/month to $75/month
[*]Gotta Have It: from $75/month to $85/month
[*]Todo y Más: from $45/month to $55/month DirecTV Now Premium Channel Price Hike
(Affects existing customers who add a premium channel from March 13, 2019)
[*]HBO add-on: from $5/month to $15/month
[*]Cinemax add-on: from $5/month to $11/month
[*]Starz add-on: from $8/month to $11/month Customers who keep paying for the service on one of these packages will not see any changes to their channel lineups. For new customers, DirecTV Now will have two new plans: DirecTV Now Plus ($50/month, 40+ channels) and DirecTV Now Max ($70/month, 50+ channels). Both of these plans include HBO, as well as cable channels from WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, Disney and Fox, but they exclude channels from A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery, and Viacom.

As these new packages launch, new customers will no longer be able to sign up for Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, Gotta Have It, or Todo y Más packages, and will only see Plus and Max as options on DirecTV Now's sign up page. The company is already promoting Plus and Max on its website, and giving one month for free to new customers signing up with the promo code MARCH2019.

As a point of comparison, DirecTV Now's cheapest plans ($50/month for both Live a Little and Plus) do not compare very favorably to rival services. PlayStation Vue starts at $44.99/month, YouTube TV starts at $40/month, FuboTV starts at $39.99/month, Hulu With Live TV costs $44.99/month, and SlingTV's Orange & Blue plan is priced at $40/month (just $25/month right now). That's not to mention services which have launched to offer ultra-stripped down packages, like Philo's no-sports service that starts at $16/month.

Last summer's DirecTV Now price hike from $35/month to $40/month was in an effort to align the service with the rest of the market and "compare favorably with our competitors," according to the company. Now, DirecTV Now will have the most expensive entry-level price on the market among the main streaming TV services.

Article Link: DirecTV Now Confirms $10/Month Price Hike for Existing Users, Raises HBO From $5 to $15/Month for New Add-Ons

 

[Quu]

After telling everyone this merger would result in the same or lower fees they increase fees. No one is surprised. Consolidation rarely benefits consumers.

 

[Statusnone88]

What is AT&T doing? I understand content costs money, but they are pricing out their existing subscribers and new customers will see they can get another service for cheaper.

Randall Stephenson (or whoever pulls the trigger on these price hikes at AT&T) is either a financial genius or completely insane to make a decision like this.

Also... I’ve never run a giant company and probably have no idea what I’m talking about but it’s fun to complain.

 

[street.cory]

I lost my grandfathered $25 a month discount because my credit card on file had expired. After contacting customer service they would credit me every month and assure me next month would be different but I would always have to get a hold of customer service to get the correct discount. I saw the writing on the wall then and dumped them.

 

[BGPL]

I've tried most of the "cord cutting" services, and Sling has been the best IMO. DirecTV Now was easily the worst, with constant interruptions and the typical horrendous customer service you'd expect from DTV.

I went to HD over-the-air and I supplement with Netflix and Hulu regular services... won't go back.

I will say I scored 3 Apple TVs from DTV, because I kept cancelling and coming back.

 

[sputnikv]

AT&T is going to be the death of HBO

 

[jetjaguar]

Well this isn't surprising at all.

 

[webbuzz]

If you subscribe to Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, Gotta Have It, or Todo y Más packages and had a premium channel add-on prior to these changes, you will keep your current lower price as long as the premium remains added on your account. So, these new premium channel prices are aimed at legacy DirecTV Now customers who subscribe to one of the five original packages, and decide to add HBO, Cinemax, or Starz onto their account as of today.

Looking at my next bill in April, this is not true. Unless there is a glitch in their billing...

Current: Go Big $40 + HBO $5 + Showtime $8 = $53
April 12: Go Big $50 + HB0 $15 + Showtime: $11 = $76 (even though it shows $78 on my next bill)

 

[DaveN]

So basically now the same price as getting cable TV service. I'll stick with over the air supplemented with iTunes, Netflix, and Prime.

 

[sinsin07]

Greed
Plain
Simple

Now merger sanctioned, they want to be cable

 

[bbplayer5]

This is a joke right? They have the worst streaming experience of all of the contenders, and they raise their prices? lol

 

[WannaGoMac]

Thanks ATT for my free Apple TV. Canceled immediately DirectTV Now once i got it

Guess ATT has to find a way to pay for the thousands they gave away

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I just checked DTVNow and two of the channels I watch, Paramount and Discovery, are not offered on either of the two new plans (PLUS and MAX). Is their MAX plan less than their previous Go Big and Gotta Have It plans?

 

[cardfan]

I'm not sure why one would give up their satellite to switch to this that sucks up your bandwidth. This isn't cutting the cord, it's about paying much more.

But any company you have to call up every 6 months to plead (threaten to cancel) for credits stinks. The calls every other week offering free premiums for a time get old. I usually just hang up. DTVNow looks to pull the same garbage now.

 

[polaris20]

Ugh. If it weren't for kids, I'd just ditch it entirely, get a digital antenna and continue to use Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. I don't think I've used the damn service once since we've gotten it.

 

[ghostface147]

Hilarious. Cord cutting isn't really too enticing for some people. It all adds up.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Wow. They really want to fail, right?

Anyway, I'll be selling my grandfathered plan with free HBO. I don't use it enough to pay $50 a month

 

[BXRich]

these prices are slowly creeping up to what the corded solutions are so either companies are finding the infrastructure to run a streaming service at the scale of a corded service carries very similar costs (unlikely when you consider the human component) or they were following the drug dealing MO and giving the first hit for "free" (a fraction of the cost of corded) and once you have them dependent start charging wild rates...I'm guessing it's the later

 

[WannaGoMac]

Ugh. If it weren't for kids, I'd just ditch it entirely, get a digital antenna and continue to use Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. I don't think I've used the damn service once since we've gotten it.

That's silly. Those three services plus an antenna are more than enough for kids.

 

[joueboy]

Makes me wonder if Ars still pro merger since Trump is against with it. I know some people will be against anything Trumps agree or the other way around.

 

[Godzilla71]

Looks like I bailed out of the service just in time.

 

[blacktape242]

wow i might have to go elsewhere now.

 

[amjustice]

I signed up for DTVN early on and had a pretty sweet deal with their largest plan for $30/month. Im now at $44/month with HBO and Showtime. If that goes up even a dollar I am canceling this. I dont use the service enough to justify. I will just go buy HBO and Showtime individually somewhere else.

 

[cardfan]

Ugh. If it weren't for kids, I'd just ditch it entirely, get a digital antenna and continue to use Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. I don't think I've used the damn service once since we've gotten it.

The only thing dtv has going for it is decent sound. Youtube tv streams at 1080p or 720p but sounds awful. I can't tell you how much I hate the on demand shows with commercials.

I still think i just prefer to buy the season i want on itunes and call it a day. But Apple makes me wonder if they're going to keep selling apple tv's later. That's the only way to view their 4k content. It may be better to switch to amazon.

 

[mjsto21]

Does anyone know if current AT&T cell phone customers will continue to receive a $15/month discount?