It’s getting increasingly difficult to find an affordable streaming TV option in 2024.
Philo is the latest streaming service to announce that it will be raising prices this year.
The budget-friendly live TV streaming service will be increasing its subscription fee for new and returning customers by $3 per month in June. This marks just the second price increase in the service’s history.
But it’s not all bad news.
The price increase will be accompanied by new perks. And it won’t apply to existing customers. At least not yet, anyway.
Oh, and Philo has a cool new free streaming offering to non-paying customers, too.
Philo has been considered one of the top budget-friendly live TV services for years. This is especially true for viewers who do not place a high priority on live sports or local channels.
Will the new price change that for new customers? Or will it still be worth it to sign up? Let’s take a closer look.
Philo Announces Price Increase and Accompanying AMC+ Bundle
Beginning June 12, 2024, the monthly subscription price for Philo will increase from $25 to $28. This will impact new and returning customers.
This is only the second price increase Philo has announced since launching in 2017. The original price was $20. It jumped to $25 back in 2021.
Before you panic, there are a couple of silver linings you should know about:
1. The Price Increase Will Include an AMC+ Subscription
Philo is raising its price, but it is also adding some value to the subscription package in the process.
“We have a philosophy at Philo that when we raise the price, we should also offer more value to our subscribers at the same time,” Philo CEO Andrew McCollum said in a statement.
Last time it raised prices that value was in the form of extended time for content storage on its unlimited cloud DVR.
This time, it’s bundling the AMC+ streaming service as a part of the subscription.
If you’re not familiar with AMC+, it’s a video streaming service that features content from AMC, Shudder, The Walking Dead Universe, BBC America, IFC Films and Sundance Now. The library of shows available with this subscription includes:
- “Mad Men”
- “Into the Badlands”
- “Orphan Black”
- “Fear the Walking Dead”
- “Portlandia”
- “A Discovery of Witches”
The ad-supported tier, which is what will be included for Philo subscribers, has a base price of $4.99 per month as a standalone product.
So, if you are subscribing to both Philo and AMC+ already, you may be able to save some money via this bundling.
2. Existing Customers Won’t Be Forced To Pay More
I’d like to give Philo a lot of credit for this part of the announcement: Existing customers will be allowed to keep their existing package at their current monthly fee.
This is consistent with the way they handled their previous price hike. And it’s much different than the forced increases seen from many of their competitors in recent times.
“Like the previous time we raised our price, we didn’t want our existing subscribers to feel forced into a price increase,” McCollum said. “That remains true — current subscribers will be able to keep their current package and price. In fact, anyone who joined Philo on the first day of our launch in 2017, and kept their subscription active, is still paying the same price today.”
Philo says that customers interested in adding the AMC+ subscription as a part of their package will be able to opt in beginning in June.
Philo Announces Free Streaming TV Option for Non-Subscribers
Existing Philo subscribers probably are already aware of the growing menu of free ad-supported television (FAST) channels available on the service.
Well, as part of its announced changes, Philo says these channels now will be available to subscribers and non-subscribers alike.
A menu of more than 70 FAST channels is available to stream free via Philo without having to provide any payment information. You must access this content through this link for the time being.
And Philo offers new users a 7-day free trial for its subscription service, so if you like what you see when you’re browsing the FAST menu you can opt into a free week of the full service.
However, you will need to enter payment information and remember to cancel at the end of your week if you decide not to continue with a subscription.
What are your thoughts on this latest price increase? What are you doing to keep your streaming bill low in 2024? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.
