Fubo raises price of all plans, including Essential by $5
Fubo raises price of all plans, including Essential by $5
Despite launching less than two months ago, Fubo is raising the price of its new Essential package alongside those of its other plans.
Fubo had the best price for a large-scale live TV streaming channel package on the market… for around seven weeks. Its Essential plan, introduced in early December and priced at $80 per month was less expensive than DIRECTV STREAM, Hulu + Live TV, or YouTube TV, but after about a month and a half, the service has already raised the price. Fubo has raised subscription prices by $5 per month on all its English-language plans for new customers, including the Essential package.
Key Details:
- The least-expensive Fubo package now costs $85 per month.
- The company says that increased programming costs have led to the price changes.
- The Essential plan offers all channels found in Fubo’s Pro plan, but cuts out the regional sports networks to help viewers save money.
The price changes at Fubo mean that as of Friday, the streamer’s Essential plan is now $85 per month. That’s the least expensive offering from Fubo currently, but its Pro plan also runs $85 monthly. However, the difference is that the Pro plan comes with a full suite of regional sports networks (RSNs), which can cost up to $16 per month, depending on the number of RSNs in an individual market. Additionally, Fubo’s Elite plan’s regular price has increased to $95 per month, plus the applicable monthly regional sports fee.
“The regular prices of the English-language plans have increased $5 due to rising costs from our programming partners,” a Fubo spokesperson told The Streamable. “We only make adjustments when necessary, and we’re committed to keeping Fubo competitive while ensuring our subscribers have access to the channels, features and live events they enjoy.”
Fubo launched its Essential plan in early December, as a way to give its customers more flexibility. The channel package includes all the networks found in the Pro plan except RSNs, allowing customers to skip the potentially $16-per-month fee associated with those channels if they wish.
Fubo’s Essential and Pro plans come with essentially the same number of channels (between 210 and 215), but the major differentiator is that the Pro plan offers market-specific RSNs, including FanDuel Sports Network channels around the country and Marquee Sports Network in Chicago. As Fubo prides itself on being a sports-centric streamer, the ability to stream your favorite local MLB, NBA, and NHL teams on the service is a huge bonus for sports fans, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to find those channels.
The reason that many cable, satellite, and streaming companies are either dropping RSNs altogether or moving them to higher-priced tiers is due to their rapidly escalating price. As the Fubo representative told us, these price increases are due to the “rising costs from our programming partners.” These extra costs mean that the Pro plan will actually cost at least $100 per month, plus regular taxes and fees, while the Elite plan will be $110 and up all-in.
Currently, Fubo is offering significant savings to new customers across all of its channel packages. Subscribers will get $25 off their first month of service on the Essential plan, meaning that they will only pay $60 for the first 30 days. Both the Pro and Elite plans will come with a $20 discount, bringing their first-month total down to $65 and $75 respectively, plus the regional sports fees. Even the Spanish-language Latino plan offers an $8 savings, bringing the cost down to $25 for the first month.
The price increase, first pointed out by The Streamable reader Richard, comes ahead of that company's planned merger with Hulu + Live TV. The two announced their intentions to combine in early January, and though both services will continue to be offered as separate products, Disney will assume 70% ownership of the new company.
YouTube TV was the last live TV streaming service to raise prices, increasing its monthly subscription rate to $83 per month for new customers in December. The Streamable predicted that Fubo would be one of the services that raised its prices in 2025, and now that prediction has been borne out, even if it was sooner than we had anticipated.
Fubo
Fubo is a live TV streaming service offering a robust lineup of approximately 150 premier channels, with plans starting at $63.99 per month. This entry-level package provides access to local broadcast affiliates 18 of the leading 35 cable channels channels, and valuable regional sports networks (RSNs).