With Youtube TV once again raising their subscription price by $10 a month, I think it’s time to admit that “Cutting the Cord” was the biggest scam ever

USA Today – YouTube TV announced Thursday that the price of its subscription service will increase again.

In an email to customers, YouTube TV announced that it will raise its prices by $10 starting next year, “to keep pace with the rising cost of content and the investments we’re making in the quality of our service.”

Starting January 13, 2025, YouTube TV’s monthly price for a basic subscription will increase from $72.99 per month. month at $82.99 per month.

YouTube TV told USA TODAY that users can pause or cancel their subscription service.

“We don’t take these pricing decisions lightly, and we give all members the flexibility to cancel their membership at any time,” said Allison Toh, a YouTube spokesperson.

Toh also shared that the new price is effective today for new members. All existing YouTube TV members will see the new price in their next billing period on or after January 13, 2025.

After its launch in 2017, YouTube TV gained popularity for its cheap entertainment service that attracted many people to cut the cord of their cable.

“Cut the cord” they screamed. Internet TV and streaming is not only the wave of the future, it is drastically cheaper, they condescendingly lectured us. And like idiots we obliged.

“Cutting the cord” was supposed to be the move that saved us all. Back in 2017, the pitch was simple: Ditch the greedy cable companies and their $200-a-month bills, sign up for a nifty little streaming service, and enjoy all the glory of your favorite channels for half the price. Enter YouTube TV, the hero we didn’t deserve but absolutely needed, slipping into our lives for a cool $35 a month. Fast forward to today and YouTube TV has just announced that they are raising their price again. Starting January 13, 2025, you’ll pay $82.99 per month for their basic plan.

Spare me the company quips about “increasing costs of content” and “investment in quality service.”

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? When YouTube TV launched, it was a disruptor, the Robin Hood of streaming services, offering live TV for $35 a month. In 2019, that number jumped to $49.99. In 2020, it crept up to $64.99. Then 2023 brought us $72.99 and now we’re looking at $82.99. At this rate, it will hit triple digits before we even get a proper NFL Sunday Ticket package. They’ve added Spanish-language networks, sports packages, and other bells and whistles, but here’s the kicker: not everyone asked for it.

A few years ago Chief mentioned this on twitter and I agreed. I felt like a clown.

Not only was I bogged down every month by the 100 different streaming networks I had to have just to watch the shows I used to be able to find in one place – but now, instead of searching for what you were looking for in Comcast or DirecTV’s home screen, we have the hassle of having to exit one app and then find and open another. And god forbid if you were logged out of your account and need to log back in.

But I digress.

My friend, scholar and gentleman Rear Admiral jumped in the answers to tell me I was crazy.

He took it to text to tell me I couldn’t pay that much and that streaming was the biggest thing to happen since technicolor TV.

The original appeal of cutting the cord was simplicity. Pay less, see what you want, no extra nonsense. Now we are drowning in subscription services. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock, Apple TV+ and god knows what else. Want to watch all your favorite shows? Great, just cough up $15 here, $20 there, another $10 for the ad-free “premium” version, and boom, you’re back to spending more than you ever did on cable.

I’m no mathematician, but here are some basic numbers-

83 USD/mo. for YouTube TV

21 USD/mo. for HBO

$23/mo for Netflix

$13/mo for Paramount

$16/mo for Disney+

$15/mo for Prime

$10/mo for AppleTV

And that’s just the basic packages.

If you actually want to see things crystal clear on your 100,000, billion megapixel television, that’s an extra $9.99 a month.

Not to mention the sports packages and what not for your TV service.

Not to mention what it costs to watch the NFL across the 30 different services they’re showing games this season-

And it’s not just the money; it’s the trouble. Remember flipping through cable channels? Easy, airy, done. Now you have to dig through five different apps to find out who owns the streaming rights The office this month. Want to watch live sports? Good luck. Half the games are blacked out and the other half are on some obscure service you didn’t even know existed.

YouTube TV’s price increase is just the cherry on top of this absurd sundae. They charge more while providing the same product. Meanwhile, executives are probably popping champagne in a boardroom and celebrating their “flexibility” while we’re stuck deciding which streaming service to cancel next.

And where does it end? That is the real question. What are our options? It’s not like there really is anyone. All services are pretty much in line with each other in terms of price, so you’re pretty much left playing musical chairs as to which service to jump to while you figure out what you stand to lose vs. will win. We are at their mercy, same as we were with the cable companies, now expect it to be more spread out. They can keep raising fees and we can’t do anything about it.

“Cut the cord,” they said. “Save money,” they said. It’s a scam, folks. Cable may have been a pain in the ass, but at least it didn’t require a damn spreadsheet to keep track of your subscriptions. The revolution promised us freedom, but instead we got a buffet of fragmented, overpriced options. If this is “progress”, we failed big time. We should have known. Something that seems too good to be true always is.