Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A live TV streaming service has upped the price on its subscriptions.
Fubo announced that all three tiers of its English-language service will see a subscription increase for 2024. And, to make matters worse, Fubo also will be increasing the fees attached to your subscription.
New customers will find the new pricing already effective upon signup, while existing customers can expect to see an increase on an upcoming bill.
As a consolation prize for paying more, Fubo announced it will be offering customers unlimited cloud DVR storage in the months ahead.
Let’s take a look at the details.
Fubo Announces 2024 Subscription Price Increase
Fubo announced that it will be raising the price of its Pro, Elite and Premier subscription tiers by $5 per month. The Latino package will remain unchanged at $32.99 per month.
Here’s a look at the new pricing breakdown:
| Subscription Tier | Old Monthly Price | New Monthly Price (Effective January 11, 2024) |
| Pro | $74.99 | $79.99 |
| Elite | $84.99 | $89.99 |
| Premier | $94.99 | $99.99 |
Note: The Ultimate subscription tier, which Fubo no longer offers to new customers, also received a $5 increase from $99.99 to $104.99.
Fubo Piles Additional RSN Fees on Customers Alongside Price Increase
The subscription price increases aren’t the only bad news for 2024. Fubo also announced that it will be increasing the fees associated with regional sports networks (RSNs).
Fubo says if you receive one or more Regional Sports Networks with your Fubo subscription, your Regional Sports Fee will increase by $1 per month.
For most customers who receive an RSN, this means you’ll see either an increase from $10.99 to $11.99 or $13.99 to $14.99 on top of your subscription increase. Brutal.
And you can’t opt out of this. The RSN fee is not optional for customers who live in a ZIP code that receives in-market broadcasts of these channels.
Additionally, subscribers to the STARZ add-on package will see an increase from $8.99 to $9.99 per month. You can simply cancel this one if you want to opt out of the higher price, though.
Why Is Fubo Doing This?
The streaming TV market is in a period of transition. In the early years, the name of the game was customer acquisition as competitors jockeyed for market share.
Many streaming services were keeping prices unsustainably low to acquire customers. Money expert Clark Howard has often referred to the previous years as the “goldmining era” for streaming TV.
But, now, streaming services have shifted focus to paying their mounting carriage bills and attempting to reach profitability.
That necessitates some price increases that are getting so extreme that some people find streaming to now be as expensive as cable TV.
In Fubo’s letter to subscribers, it attempted to explain why the price of the service has increased so much and to quell anger by promising a boost to unlimited cloud DVR:
“In 2023, we added more than 70 sports, news, and entertainment channels to our base package – including 10 new radio channels – with more on the way. Additionally, in the coming months, we’ll update your Cloud DVR to include unlimited hours, meaning you’ll no longer need to worry about managing your recordings.”
Is Fubo Still Worth It In 2024?
As a fallout of this latest price increase, you may be wondering if a Fubo subscription is still worth the cost.
With the cheapest subscription now costing most customers more than $90 per month after applicable regional sports fees, it may leave some cord cutters wondering if cable TV was actually a more affordable option.
Popular live TV streaming services YouTube TV ($73 per month) and Hulu + Live TV ($77 per month) have experienced price increases of their own in recent times, but they are now comfortably cheaper than Fubo. The Sling Orange + Blue package is just $55 and maybe a more affordable solution for many.
Of course, they don’t offer the RSNs that Fubo promises many local sports fans, either.
If you’re looking for a much cheaper live TV streaming experience, you could ditch local channels, live sports and some of the popular news and opinion channels to opt for the more palatable $25 monthly fee from Philo.
Are you planning to drop Fubo following this price increase? Which service would you use instead? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.
