Like all other live TV streaming services, Fubo has increased the price of its live TV packages multiple times over the years. Unlike many other services, however, many of these price increases have coincided with other changes to the service.
While Fubo first launched in 2015 as fuboTV, the basic version of the live TV service most people are familiar with today didn’t launch until 2017. Back then, the fubo Premier live TV package launched at an introductory price of $34.99 a month. With its cheapest plan now costing a minimum of $80 a month, the price has more than doubled since those early days.
Here’s a look at how Fubo’s price increases have increased the minimum cost of its live TV packages since 2017.
| Increase Date | Min. price |
|---|---|
| April 2017 | $35 |
| May 2018 | $45 |
| March 2019 | $55 |
| July 2020 | $60 |
| Dec. 2020 | $65 |
| March 2022 | $70 |
| Jan. 2023 | $75 |
| Jan. 2024 | $80 |
Fubo increases to $45 a month
It took around one year for the fubo Premier plan to increase in price, although it wasn’t a straightforward price increase. Instead, the fubo Premier plan was rebranded as the fubo plan in May 2018 and the new version cost $10 more each month. This change resulted in the cheapest live TV package increasing to $44.99 a month.
Considering Fubo had always maintained that the original $34.99 price was an introductory price, and the normal price would be $49.99 a month, the higher 2018 rate was technically lower than what Fubo could have increased the price to. Instead, Fubo added another tier with a richer channel lineup – the $49.99/month fubo Extra package.
Fubo increases to $55 a month
The next price increase took less than a year to arrive and this was also following more changes to the plan options. In March 2019, Fubo removed the Extra package and replaced the Premier plan with a fubo Standard plan. This rebrand also resulted in another $10 being added to the base price, taking the minimum cost for new subscribers up to $54.99 a month.
In spite of the fubo Extra plan being removed, existing subscribers encountered a $10 increase, taking their monthly price up to $59.99.
For new subscribers wanting more than what the Standard plan had to offer, Fubo introduced two premium tier options. These were the $59.99/month fubo Family plan and the $79.99/month fubo Ultra plan.
Fubo increases to $60 a month
Another year and another price increase. In July 2020, Fubo added $5 to the Standard plan, increasing the minimum cost to $59.99 a month. At the same time, the Family plan also increased by the same amount, taking the minimum cost up to $64.99 a month.
What was additionally interesting here is that existing fubo Standard subscribers were automatically transferred over to the new Family plan. This resulted in a $10 price increase and was explained away as an upgrade, as they gained a significantly better DVR and an additional stream.
While Fubo did offer existing subscribers the option to opt-out of the migration, they would have still encountered a $5 price increase by remaining on the Standard plan. Not that it ultimately mattered all that much considering the Standard plan was discontinued by December of the same year.
Fubo increases to $65 a month
With the discontinuation of the Standard plan in December 2020, those signing up to Fubo were subjected to another price increase. Following this change, the Family plan became the cheapest Fubo plan, and considering this tier cost $65 a month, new subscribers were paying $5 a month more than they would have if signing up to the Standard plan.
For reference, the Standard plan didn’t disappear completely overnight. Instead, Fubo began phasing it out much earlier in the year by removing the Standard plan from view as a main option when signing up. In spite of this, the Standard plan did remain available and accessible through the Add-ons & More section. Essentially, unless you knew it was there, you were more likely to sign up to the $64.99 Family plan.
Fubo increases to $70 a month
With what amounted to a price increase at the end of 2020, 2021 was largely uneventful in terms of Fubo price increases. However, changes in 2021 did impact a price increase in 2022. Basically, Fubo replaced the Family plan with the Starter plan in early 2021. This didn’t result in a price increase but, by March of 2022, the Starter plan was discontinued.
This was important as Fubo also introduced a new $69.99/month Pro plan in 2021. With the Starter plan removed in March 2022, Pro became the default cheapest Fubo plan, increasing the minimum cost to $70 a month in the process.
Fubo increases to $75 a month
2023 was a significant year for price increases and Fubo made an additional change that would greatly affect the cost of its plans. Firstly, the company introduced a standard price increase in January 2023. This increase affected all plans and resulted in the minimum cost increasing to $74.99 a month.
However, minimum is an important point here, as Fubo also struct a deal with Bally Sports and this resulted in an increase to the cost of its regional sports free. In addition to this, with the Bally Sports deal opening up RSNs in many more locations, significantly more Fubo subscribers were subjected to the additional RSN fee.
In the worst cases, the sports fee increased the cost of a Fubo live TV package by as much as $14, taking the actual minimum cost up to as high as $88.98 a month.
Fubo increases to $80 a month
When 2024 rolled around, so did another price increase. This increase was announced on January 10, took immediate effect for new subscribers, and resulted in the minimum cost of Fubo increasing to $80 a month. Existing subscribers were not excluded from this price increase, either. Their subscriptions increased by the same $5 a month, beginning February 1, 2024.
Along with the change to the base packages, Fubo also used this opportunity to increase the cost of its regional sports network fee by another $1 a month. This resulted in the additional fee increasing from a maximum of $14 a month to $15 a month.
Fubo price increases — discussion
Over the years, Fubo has encountered no less than seven price increases, taking the minimum cost up from $35 a month to $80 a month. However, the minimum price many homes will pay today will be even higher than $80, due to the regional sports network fee Fubo charges. A fee that has also increased in price at least twice so far.
One of the interesting things about Fubo’s price increase history is that many of the increases have, intentionally or not, been hidden behind other changes. Fubo has constantly adjusted the plans it offers and those various rebrands and discontinuations have directly resulted in the price slowly climbing higher.
Regardless of the reason for the increases, Fubo, like many other live TV streaming services, has greatly increased in price over the years, and based on the history described above, that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.
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