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Media Entertainment

Hulu Hikes Prices of Live TV Packages by $10 per Month (variety.com) 60

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Hulu's live TV bundle is getting more expensive. From a report: The new prices are $10 per month higher than Hulu's current fees and will go into effect Dec. 18, 2020. The higher rates apply to both current and new subscribers. Hulu began notifying subscribers of the price hikes Monday. Under the new pricing, the baseline Hulu + Live TV with ads in the VOD content bundle is rising to $64.99 per month (an 18% increase) and the version with no VOD ads is rising to $70.99 per month (up 16%). Both bundles provide more than 65 live channels, including the four major broadcast networks, and access to Hulu's large on-demand library.
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Hulu Hikes Prices of Live TV Packages by $10 per Month More

Hulu Hikes Prices of Live TV Packages by $10 per Month

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  • At one time you couldn't get some sports games without LiveTV.

    But at this point, what sport does not simply have an app you can subscribe to for full game coverage?

    These Hulu prices seem kind of insane, I really wonder what it is you could get that would be worth paying that much for.

    • Re:Who would pay for this anymore? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday November 16, 2020 @04:00PM (#60731648)

      But at this point, what sport does not simply have an app you can subscribe to for full game coverage?

      Baseball basically doesn't.

      Oh, they have an app - and technically it's pretty good. But their 1940s-era blackout rules basically make the app useless to the vast majority of fans. You basically have to subscribe to your local team's traditional television channel before being allowed to watch their games using the app - which itself requires a fee.

      • But at this point, what sport does not simply have an app you can subscribe to for full game coverage?

        Baseball basically doesn't.

        This, exactly. I couldn't decide whether to reply or mod you up for this one, but as I've been harping on the baseball situation for a while I decided to go for the former.

        A while back I pointed out just how screwed up the baseball situation is. Most (perhaps all?) teams have specific agreements with individual cable networks. Many of these were under the "Fox Sports [region]" umbrella. Up through a couple years ago we had several options to pay for these networks, until they were sold to Sinclair.

        • Exactly. The only useful workaround I've found has been with a less-than-legal app available through the google play store that serves the games through other channels. It's not great, but it's better than no baseball at all.

          I subscribe to MLB.tv, then use a location faker on my iPad so I can watch the local games.

          I'd willingly pay the cable network's carriage fee (which is roughly $8/month) on top of MLB.tv's cost, in order to do all this legally. But no, you can't just subscribe to ROOT Sports NW by itself - you have to spend an additional $70/month and get all the extra channels which Comcast bundles with it. It's ludicrous.

          • I'd willingly pay the cable network's carriage fee (which is roughly $8/month) on top of MLB.tv's cost, in order to do all this legally.

            As would I, and I expect many others would too. However considering that Sinclair's increased carriage fees were enough to result in them being dropped by every streaming provider on the planet, I suspect the new carriage fees are significantly higher (I thought Sling said Sinclair wanted double what Fox charged previously for the same networks).

            But no, you can't just subscribe to ROOT Sports NW by itself - you have to spend an additional $70/month and get all the extra channels which Comcast bundles with it. It's ludicrous.

            Precisely. Hell I'd pay $20 a month happily to just get my RSN for baseball season. Even if I had to pay it on top of $30 per month for Sling that would still

          • In Canada you can get basic TV and add on the sports package with out needing to buy the full cable tv line up and you can buy the box and not be forced to rent it.

        • MLB's contract isn't up for renewal until 2028. They would be crazy to renew without keeping streaming rights all to themselves.

          • I suspect you're referring to something slightly different. MLB - as in MLB.tv - is a different enterprise than what we're referring to. MLB.tv shows varied games over the course of the season (skewing heavily towards Yankees games) and has other baseball-related programming as well. MLB.tv is part of a lot of streaming service packages.

            We're referring to the regional sports networks (RSNs), which each carry broadcast rights for one (or in a few select cases more than one) team for the year. Many of

            • I'm not referring to something different. The reason why MLB is blacking out areas is because of their agreements with the regional sports networks. The agreement with Fox Sports just got renewed in 2018 through 2028.

      • Baseball basically doesn't.

        I didn't realize the MLB app has that restriction... that does suck. I guess that explains the continued desire for LiveTV by a fair number of people then.

        Maybe some day that will change... I wonder how long the contracts around that are.

        • For what it's worth: my understanding is that - for most baseball teams, anyway - their cable contracts currently provide the lion's share of their income. Assuming that's indeed the case, it's likely they don't want to do anything to upset their cable partners. But from the consumer side it really is a sucky situation.

        • College football here.

          You can't catch all of the ones I want to catch without the cable equivalent channels. Yes, most are on ESPN networks, but not all of them.

          I like discovery channel, and others like it too. I tend to catch a lot on TCM and IFC channels for movies that are uncut.

          So far, I find YouTube TV the best deal, even with their recent raise in price...the unlimited DVR, etc...it suits my watching needs and schedule.

          Still worth it to me, but with many more increases, well, I"ll start to conside

      • Stop giving them your business then.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Or just stop watching baseball and find another sport that doesn't abuse its fans.

    • We here in Canada do not care. We have Crave instead.

    • It seems massively excessive in cost. Even $10 for live TV is too much as most of it is actually broadcast for free anyway and paid for by advertising. So $65 for TV that comes with advertisements, it's bizarre. I cut the cord when satellite only cost me $75, so hiking the prices back up for the extremely limited service that Hulu has is bizarre.

    • I am sure their prices are aimed at people who miss paying $60 or more dollars a month for a cable bill and are too stupid to install a digital antenna

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      But at this point, what sport does not simply have an app you can subscribe to for full game coverage?

      Aren't most leagues like this, from MLB to NHL and NFL?

      You get all the games EXCEPT the local games (or ones that feature the local team, even when away). Which of course are generally the ones you want, save for the few big name tournaments like Super Bowl and such.

      • Aren't most leagues like this, from MLB to NHL and NFL?

        I thought some major leagues like the NFL and NHL let you watch all games in app...

        I had thought the same was true of the MLB though, apparently not. So maybe all of them are that way.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ahodgson ( 74077 )

          You can watch all NHL games in the Sportsnet app in Canada for, I think, $30 a month. Such a deal. Not.

  • For reference, there’s a good channel comparison here: https://www.cnet.com/news/t-mo... [cnet.com] We don’t watch sports, so we’re good to go.

  • Netflix raises their price, and the rest follow (Score:3)

    by blahbooboo ( 839709 ) on Monday November 16, 2020 @03:59PM (#60731638)
    Hulu follows Netflix. Just like with the airline companies, once one does something, the rest do the same.

    • Re:Netflix raises their price, and the rest follow (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Junta ( 36770 ) on Monday November 16, 2020 @04:15PM (#60731722)

      Well, in this case Hulu's live tv package costs about as much as cable, with less value.

      It's an offering for cord cutters that must have forgotten why they were cutting the cord in the first place.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      One difference here is that with Hulu, it's the live TV (aka cable TV) portion that is going up. They haven't raised their streaming prices in quite a while. I really don't get why anyone is surprised these over-the-top cable packages keep going up. They are beholden to the networks just like regular cable and now that the services are becoming popular, the networks are raising their wholesale prices when the contracts come up for renewal. Anyone who didn't see that coming was really fooling themselves.

      • Well, the streaming side has been a wasteland and only has gotten worse over time. We originally got it for watching stuff like the daily show and other Comedy Central stuff, but that disappeared. The movie selection has been laughable at best forever. So when my wife's couple shows wrapped up for the season in Spring we ditched it and have not missed it at all. Also maddening was the every expanding list of "Limited Commercials" despite paying for an Ad-Free tier. WTF? If I can't pay to go Ad-Free I

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )

          Also maddening was the every expanding list of "Limited Commercials" despite paying for an Ad-Free tier

          That list, as far as I know, never expanded, it only shrank. The shows on that list had deals in place before they rolled out the ad-free plans and didn't want to play ball when ad-free was rolled out. It was a handfull of shows and it's been going down as the shows end.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          Oh, as for Comedy Central, blame the dickhead in charge over there at the time who decided it was a good idea to double-down on the cable TV model and pulled their shows. If it wasn't for Southpark having some control over their rights that show would have been pulled then too. Now everyone rolling their own service is starting to chip away at Hulu and with NBC and FOX (TV network not owned by Disney, not studio that is owned by Disney) out of Hulu I expect it to just get worse. Shame too, Hulu was a nice w

    • Hulu follows Netflix. Just like with the airline companies, once one does something, the rest do the same.

      Actually, YouTube TV announced their price hike [slashdot.org] first (back in June 2020), followed by Netflix [slashdot.org] (October 2020), and now Hulu.

      I expect the cable companies (looking at you, Comcast) to hike their prices soon... probably in December if not January, like they did in December 2019 / January 2020 [consumerreports.org], and in early 2019 [slashdot.org], and in early 2018 [usatoday.com],....

      It's the same story, year after year.

  • Wow I just dropped all streaming (Score:4, Insightful)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Monday November 16, 2020 @04:10PM (#60731698)
    because of pricing(hulu and others) and what content was provided. And the commercials, commercials, more commercials even paying the extra 10 bucks to cut commercials down. In fact I have no idea what commercials I was not seeing, nothing seemed to change.
    Also, didn't hulu just do this same thing several months ago from 55 to 65 now they are doing 65 to 75 + taxes and all the other add on charges.
    Hell, If I do streaming again at all. I will just pay Comcast because their content is "much" better along with quality and cost being nearly the same now ;)
    On the other hand, I find doing no streaming video at all. I just play music I have and it is great. It is amazing, once you cut video out, the things you get done and the extra time you have available.
    Video is such a pita time waster.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      The no commercials on Hulu is for the Hulu SVOD, not live TV (not even sure how that would work, elevator music during breaks?). One thing is you need to be sure you are using the Hulu SVOD and not the network VOD services, which still have ads, even when they are presented via the Hulu interface. It's kind of a mess and the reason I don't do live TV services at all. I don't care about sports and if I need live news, I have an antenna I can use to watch local and national news OTA. I have Hulu with no ads a

    • Terlevision is an instrument to control the population Panem et circenses as romans said. Unplug from the tv and notice how much you have time to do things , get ahead in life , get involved with the cimmunity , politics , human relations .. even more time for wild and unhibited sex .. Let go of tv and witness your life changing.

  • This is where installing a proper high-quality outdoor antenna is useful. Even outside of major metros, you can at least get SOME live tv for the cost of the antenna and/or the installation. In south-central Pennsylvania, with a rotatable antenna I can receive local broadcasts from Harrisburg PA, Baltimore MD, and one from DC. Rural areas require more expensive and larger gear, but it can still be done in many places. Money well spent if you need broadcast TV.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kryliss ( 72493 )

      I built my antenna for less than 5 bucks (Not counting the $10 for coaxial cable.) It's really easy to do and better than almost anything you can buy.

      • I built that same antenna you're talking about, but I used brass rods instead of coathanger wire, cut insulators from a plastic kitchen cutting block, stainless steel fasteners to put it all together with, and used a chunk galvanized steel wiring conduit as a pole to mount it all on. I never could get it to work properly with the reflector grid behind it but it worked well enough with it off. I did however find that it seemed to be tuned more to the low end of the UHF TV band, though, SNR seemed to drop off

        • The only downside to most of the DIY antenna builds out there is they don't do much for the VHF spectrum. In this market there are 4 major channels that are in VHF. Worse, Philly ABC6 is still on VHF6, right in the low band of VHF. Pulling that channel in without a full size VHF capable antenna is difficult depending on location. That being said, I've always wanted to try making a DIY 8-bay antenna in the mold of the Channel Master 4228.
          Stellar Labs make some stupidly cheap high gain design Yagi Antenna

    • height is critical. get the antenna as high as you can before investing in a different antenna. The higher up the more coverage you get.remember TV is line of sight to the antenna.

  • Another HUGE problem for the (Score:3)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Monday November 16, 2020 @04:40PM (#60731860)
    streaming providers is lousy content. 90+% of all new content is just low budget, poorly done, warmed over content cuts from other stuff (for High budget prices). Amazon, Hulu, etc, etc Disney, Netflix they have volume but a vast majority is crap with the real content sprinkled in.
    I mean the Mandalorian? Just week after week of warmed over sameness, over and over and over. And this can be applied to most everything that is being streamed currently.
    Heck I do not even watch the news anymore. Nothing but pure one sided propaganda so I no longer even see that as a necessity.

  • Will the cubs, Sinclair / fox RSN be back? With this new price?

  • I will never understand "cable cutters" - they either pay more, get less, or both.

    • ...they either pay more, get less, or both.

      1) 6.99 for Disney Plus (Mandalorian is the only thing of interest until the Marvel stuff kicks in)
      2) 15.99 for Netflix (hit and miss, but enough to keep me happy)
      3) 13.54 for Amazon Prime. Got it for the shipping, so this is essentially free.

      Grand Monthly Total: $36.52.

      There is no Cable package on the planet that can match it. Not having to pay for the useless sports crap is a HUGE bonus. Back when I subscribed to Cable, I told the sales person that I would pay extra to get rid of the sports channels. Obv

  • Well, it's back to Sling, I guess.

  • Cable TV 2: Hulu Boogaloo.
  • DVR makes you watch ads. Too many ads in VOD content. Second price change in +/- 1 year. Bye Hulu.

  • ... all of your local channels for $5/mo for a non-profit.

  • Traded one cord for another, I see. It's now as expensive for y'all as cable or satellite.
    Free OTA for the win. :-)

  • Hulu is terrible (Score:3)

    by bomb_number_20 ( 168641 ) on Monday November 16, 2020 @07:38PM (#60732488)

    I had a subscription for awhile and eventually rage-cancelled it after getting sick of the commercials. I'd never seen so many commercials in my life. And you have no choice but to let them play out. 90 seconds here, 2 minutes there, it was completely, utterly ridiculous. Then they announced another $10/month price increase and I had enough. There was no way Hulu was worth paying that kind of money for. And now _another_ increase? Good luck with that.

  • There you go. Enjoy.
  • Do your research and you can watch any game/show off the internet for free ! F@#k paying. !

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