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Apple TV Streaming Service Receives Price Increase

I didn’t think anyone actually paid them for it. I thought you got it free whenever you updated a device and there’s not much on there to watch anyway.
 
coolkid93 said:
Everything goes up but your paycheck anymore.
Click to expand...

U.S. nominal wages are up around 3.5% versus a year ago (July 2025 to July 2026).

usafacts.org

Are wages keeping up with inflation? | USAFacts

Yes. From July 2025 to July 2026, wages grew 0.09 percentage points faster than inflation. Nominal wages — the literal dollars earned regardless of cost of living — increased by 3.5% while inflation stood at 3.4%. When wage growth outpaces inflation, it indicates that workers are experiencing an...
usafacts.org usafacts.org
 
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actcyclist said:
I didn’t think anyone actually paid them for it. I thought you got it free whenever you updated a device
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You get a free 3-month trial with an Apple device purchase. I think it's supposed to be one free trial per Apple Account/ID but some may have been able to get it more than once.


actcyclist said:
and there’s not much on there to watch anyway.
Click to expand...

As far as whether there is much to watch, it has around 315 shows and movies plus some live sports. It's a small catalog compared to other major streaming services.
 
I think they should start charging per show/series instead of monthly. Or at least allow the option.

What if I just wanted to stream every season of Better Call Saul (I know, not Apple)? And not have access to anything else?
 
actcyclist said:
I didn’t think anyone actually paid them for it. I thought you got it free whenever you updated a device and there’s not much on there to watch anyway.
Click to expand...

They’ve changed that now. When recently I bought a new iPad, I noticed that the offer was not “3 Months free” but “40% off your first Annual Subscription”. I saw it was 59.99 euros for 12 months, down from 99.99 euros normally for the year, and thought at 5 euros a month that’s a good deal and decided to get it.

This was on the 25th, so before any price increase.

But there is actually a good selection of shows on there now. Severance, Pluribus, Foundation, Silo, For All Mankind just to mention a few of the sci fi shows I am interested in. Also thrillers like Slow Horses and comedy like Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
 
CharlesShaw said:
Makes sense, as more of us are only subscribing for a month or two a year to watch favorites and new stuff (Widow's Bay).
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I'm still waiting for the day when that catches up with people that do that because it definitely will once they figure out how and a company (probably Netflix again) actually implements it. I'm sure that's the other thing besides account sharing that's on their radars for big hits to their potential earnings. I would imagine it will be like yearly contracts where you pay a yearly fee broken up over 12 months. If you cancel early, you pay a high cancelation fee. If you want month to month, it will be double the price, if they even still offer that at all. At that point, it will be completely like cable/satellite again. I think the only reason they haven't done it yet is because the numbers don't quite work out in their favor and hopefully never will.
 
techfreak23 said:
I'm still waiting for the day when that catches up with people that do that because it definitely will once they figure out how and a company (probably Netflix again) actually implements it. I'm sure that's the other thing besides account sharing that's on their radars for big hits to their potential earnings. I would imagine it will be like yearly contracts where you pay a yearly fee broken up over 12 months. If you cancel early, you pay a high cancelation fee. If you want month to month, it will be double the price, if they even still offer that at all. At that point, it will be completely like cable/satellite again. I think the only reason they haven't done it yet is because the numbers don't quite work out in their favor and hopefully never will.
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Good points. I think nobody wants to go first and watch everyone else market against them with "no contracts, no lock in, just month to month cancel whenever over here!"

With something like ATV, despite many reasonably good shows, I'm still not sure they have the juice to command an annual sub without discounting it pretty heavily to make it quite attractive.

I suspect they will try at some point.
 
techfreak23 said:
If you want month to month, it will be double the price, if they even still offer that at all.
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Honestly, I'd be fine paying $50 for a single month of Apple TV per year rather than $300 for 12 months or even a 12-month discount of $200 or whatever, as there simply aren't enough new/ongoing shows I like on Apple TV (or HBO or Disney/Hulu) so it's very satisfying for me to watch for a month and wait until next year to watch the next batch it shows/seasons on the table I keep in the Notes app based on podcast reviews and word of mouth grouped by streaming service and identifying when the season ends (so I can time it accordingly. Thanks IMDb).

Besides, the shows I like will still be good years down the road. Stuff like Slow Horses is timeless.
 
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Apple TV is probably the subscription I use the most (Though I just subscribed to Disney+ and have been watching Andor) so I don't necessarily mind this price increase. I get great value from what they provide, not to mention they still have MLB and Silo is a great series.

I do wonder when the bubble will burst. Everything only goes up and when will it actually show that people have had enough (Not just with ATV, but all of them).
 
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Apple TV launched at $4.99. It’s now $14.99 — a 200% increase in seven years, with four separate price hikes.
And now Apple One Individual goes up too. This is exactly how subscription creep works: raise it by “just a couple of dollars” often enough and eventually you’re paying triple.
But sure, keep telling everyone it’s “only a few cents a day.” That attitude is exactly why companies know they can keep doing it.
 
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coolkid93 said:
Everything goes up but your paycheck anymore.
Click to expand...
True and false.
webkit said:
U.S. nominal wages are up around 3.5% versus a year ago (July 2025 to July 2026).

usafacts.org

Are wages keeping up with inflation? | USAFacts

Yes. From July 2025 to July 2026, wages grew 0.09 percentage points faster than inflation. Nominal wages — the literal dollars earned regardless of cost of living — increased by 3.5% while inflation stood at 3.4%. When wage growth outpaces inflation, it indicates that workers are experiencing an...
usafacts.org usafacts.org
Click to expand...
If you mean just wages then true but the article states not factoring in the cost of living.
Might be safe to assume that coolkid93's statement did factor in cost of living.
Heck, I was just thinking out loud lol.
 
Simmias said:
To me, watching streaming TV is one of the most boring pastimes ever. Apple TV has a reputation for having high quality content (compared to Netflix, Prime, Hulu, etc), but even those shows can't hold my attention for more than a few minutes. They're full of padding and questionable writing and just feel watered down and not compelling.

As a result, I cancelled all these streaming services several years ago and haven't missed them (occasionally watch movies on Tubi or use my friend's Hulu login). So it's surreal to see them keep raising prices for content that I didn't find worthwhile at half the price. In fact, I think the constant price increases are a reflection that the audience for these services is barely growing, so raising prices is the only way to increase revenue.
Click to expand...
I've heard that some people like things that other people don't
 
ralph_sws said:
Apple TV launched at $4.99. It’s now $14.99 — a 200% increase in seven years, with four separate price hikes.
And now Apple One Individual goes up too. This is exactly how subscription creep works: raise it by “just a couple of dollars” often enough and eventually you’re paying triple.
But sure, keep telling everyone it’s “only a few cents a day.” That attitude is exactly why companies know they can keep doing it.
Click to expand...
You had to have known that $5 a month was never going to be sustainable for a video streaming service.

That's the problem with trying to subsidise your offerings upfront, IMO. You condition customers to expect quality service at a fraction of the actual price, and then the problem comes when it's time to finally raise price in a bid to cover costs and make a profit.
 
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I do think they have the best shows. It wasn’t always that way, but it’s really improved in the last couple years. The price is still a bit high though.
 
CarAnalogy said:
I continue to believe Apple TV isn't worth it, and this just cements that.

Everyone says it's the new HBO but I just don't see it. I do like the choice of some of the scifi series they've chosen to make into shows but...something about all their productions has this sameness to it and I don't like it. Hard to define.
Click to expand...
Might be partly due to the prominent display of Apple products (iPhones, Apple Watches, Macbooks, etc.) in series where such devices are used. I wouldn't have been entirely surprised if some Foundation characters had worn Apple Watches.
 
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ralph_sws said:
Apple TV launched at $4.99. It’s now $14.99 — a 200% increase in seven years, with four separate price hikes.
And now Apple One Individual goes up too. This is exactly how subscription creep works: raise it by “just a couple of dollars” often enough and eventually you’re paying triple.
But sure, keep telling everyone it’s “only a few cents a day.” That attitude is exactly why companies know they can keep doing it.
Click to expand...

Apple TV+ launched with around 9 shows/movies and no live sports at that $4.99/month price. It now has around 315 shows/movies plus live sports. Today's TV+ has around 3,400% more titles than that $4.99/month service did, plus live sports. You really can't directly compare the two. I also think Apple, and other streaming services, used penetration pricing to try to attract/hook customers. Apple is still losing money on TV+.

Whether or not today's TV+ with all of the extra content is worth $14.99/month or $119/year is a matter of personal preference. TV+ clearly has a smaller catalog than other major streaming services.
 
AL2TEACH said:
If you mean just wages then true but the article states not factoring in the cost of living.
Might be safe to assume that coolkid93's statement did factor in cost of living.
Click to expand...

That's what "nominal" means here i.e., actual money paid without adjusting for things like inflation. However, the article also pointed out that wages grew faster than inflation, even if only slightly.
 
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