Hulu + Live TV will see a price increase of $10 starting from December 18.
Hulu confirmed the price increase and explained this is in line with the rising costs of offering the service.
The price increase is understood to be affecting all subscribers, both new and existing.
Why is Hulu raising the price?
Hulu says it is increasing the price so it can “continue offering all of the popular live news, sports and entertainment programming included in the plan.”
Live TV service providers have routinely argued this point when announcing plan price increases. Essentially, they are stating that as they are now being charged more, they are passing those escalating costs on to the subscriber.
Is this the first Hulu + Live TV price increase?
No, it is not. Hulu already increased the price of its live TV service once in 2019. A $5 price increase took effect in February of this year.
This makes this the second price increase to affect Hulu + Live TV since the service launched in 2017, priced at $39.99.
You can keep up to date with all the live TV streaming service price increases by bookmarking our constantly updated price increase tracker.
Is the price of Hulu’s basic plan changing?
No, this price increase only affects those subscribed to the Hulu + Live TV plan.
When the company announced its previous price increase, it did actually lower the price of its basic subscription at the same time. The price dropped from $7.99 per month down to $5.99 per month.
With this price increase, there’s no change to the basic Hulu plan which remains priced at $5.99 per month for the ad-supported version and $11.99 per month for the ad-free version.
What are the Hulu + Live TV alternatives?
In Hulu’s case, Hulu does include access to the basic Hulu on-demand subscription with its live TV plan. This is a subscription that non-live TV subscribers would normally have to pay a minimum of $5.99 per month for.
If you are thinking of switching following this latest news then this is something you will have to take into consideration.
For example, if you intend to remain a subscriber to Hulu’s basic plan, then that cost will have to be added to the cost of switching plans.
As the basic subscription is included with Hulu + Live TV, the actual live TV cost to existing Hulu subscribers is around $49.
At $49, the cost of Hulu + Live TV is directly in line with many other live TV streaming services, including AT&T TV NOW, PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV. All of which either charge $49.99 or $50 per month.
Here’s the full list of the main alternatives to Hulu + Live TV along with the current price of their base plan.
| Current price | |
| AT&T TV NOW | $50 |
| fuboTV | $55 |
| Hulu + Live TV | $45 ($55 from Dec. 18) |
| Philo | $20 |
| PlayStation Vue | $50 (closes in January) |
| Sling TV | $25 |
| WatchTV | $15 |
| YouTube TV | $50 |
