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AT&T Applies New Price Hikes to its TV Now Streaming Service

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Streaming services are slowly taking over the TV audience, but yet to stay in the field and ahead of the competitors, these streaming services need to apply new strategies, now and then. Despite the tough competition, AT&T’s TV Now, previously known as DirecTV Now, is yet again up to increase its prices.

AT&T at the beginning of the year had revised its streaming service plans and launched two types of streaming packages, i.e., the $50 Plus package that offers the users the access to over 45 channels, and the $70 Max package that allows the users to access over 60 channels and offers more sports coverage. But now, the company has again decided to increase the prices and that too, by 30% for the Plus package and 14% for the Max package.

It means the Plus package will now cost $65 and the Max package will be worth $80. But unlike the previous price hikes, the hikes this time will apply to both existing and the new customers, whereas in the previous price rise, the existing customers did not have to pay the extra money on their current plans.

AT&T TV now
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AT&T is not having much good experience with its streaming business, as it has not been able to attract more customers to the services, instead is losing them slowly. Yet the company has to earn some profits, so it has decided to raise the prices.

Last year, AT&T ended the year with 1.6 million customers, whereas the number of customers in Q2 2018 was 1.8 million. Today, the customer count for the service remains at 1.3 million, which is a huge decline.

Despite the loss of last year’s customers, the company isn’t much worried about how the price hikes will affect the existing ones. For the users, there is an option to stay on the service or opt-out without paying any extra charges. Though AT&T offers a number of great services through the streaming TV, i.e. live TV and original contents from companies like HBO, it is up to the users to decide whether they think the 30% hike is valid for these services or not. The price hikes will take effect starting from 19 November 2019.

HBO Max

WarnerMedia Names its Next Streaming Service ‘HBO Max’

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The subscription video services are soon going to ditch the conventional cable connection, and shortly, people will be confused as to which subscription they should opt for, and which one they should leave, as after Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and a few other such services, WarnerMedia will be bringing HBO Max as the new streaming service for people.

The company revealed the name of its upcoming streaming service on Tuesday, along with the name of a few programs that the company will be streaming through the service, including Dune: The Sisterhood, Tokyo Vice, The Flight Attendant, Love Life, Made for Love, etc. And, the company will be producing new shows under the lineup of HBO Originals to stream through the service. It will also include the collection of movies (old and new) to it.

The company has already signed a contract of four movies with Director and writer Greg Berlanti, and Reese Witherspoon will be producing at least two movies for the Max Originals.

HBO Max
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HBO Max will also be including almost all the HBO TV series, its films as well as documentaries to it. The company even revealed that content from CNN, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, truTV, TBS and TNT, will also be the part of the HBO Max video library.

WarnerMedia said the new service “is anticipated to premiere with 10,000 hours of premium content.” Among those new shows and movies, ‘Friends’, will also be a part of this service.

The company had been licensing Netflix for streaming Friends over it, and the former even paid $80 million to include the show into its library only for 2019. But the license will be over by the end of the year, and HBO Max will be among the few platforms that stream this iconic sitcom.

There are already a few streaming services operating in the name of HBO, including HBO Go and HBO Now. The AT&T acquired company, WarnerMedia, earlier wanted to launch a three-tiered service by the end of 2019. But the company dropped the idea, and now, will focus entirely on HBO Max, which the company will be introducing in the first quarter of 2020.

The company has not revealed on the prices of the packages it will be providing for the streaming service. Currently, HBO Now costs $14.99 for a month’s subscription, which is already expensive than its rivals Netflix and Hulu. So to bear with the competition, the WarnerMedia should keep the prices for the HBO Max subscription, a bit affordable.

After the U.S. Netflix Rises Prices for its Premium Plans for the U.K. Subscribers

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Netflix is the top most loved streaming service in the world, and maybe, this is the reason that it has decided to raise prices for its monthly streaming plans. According to a report from The Guardian, the company has announced that it is going to increase the subscription fees for its UK users. Earlier, in January, the company had even raised the prices for its US subscribers.

Currently, Netflix has got three different plans for its subscribers, including the £5.99 per month plan applicable only for a single screen, £7.99 per month HD plan to stream on two devices at a time and the £9.99 a month Ultra HD plan available to stream on four devices at a time.

According to the report, the basic plan, applicable for a single screen will remain the same, whether the company will hike the price for both the HD and Ultra HD, i.e. for the two screens and the four screen plan. After the change in the price, the HD plan with a rise of £1 will cost £8.99 per month, and the price of Ultra HD will be increased by £2, i.e. £11.99 per month.

After the US, Netflix has raised the prices for the UK, giving the reason that it is working on new projects to bring original content to the platform. The company is also pushing hard to get the license for the popular shows to be streamed on Netflix, including Friend. Noticeably, Netflix is already streaming Friends on the platform under a $100 million deal, which will be over by the end of 2019.

Amid the risen competition from the contemporaries like Disney, Amazon, BBC, and the other emerging streaming services, Netflix is well aware of the steps that it needs to take in order to stay ahead of the competition.

The company has already invested hundreds of millions of pounds into UK content, so by raising the price, it is only trying to get a stable position in the market and bring more good content to the platform. The price rise has already come into effect, as the old subscribers will be charged with the new prices on the renewal of their plans, and the new users will need to pay the new subscription fee for joining the plans.

Netflix is Testing Cheaper Mobile-only Subscription Plans in Selected Countries

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Reportedly, Netflix is testing its cheapest mobile-only subscription plan in a few selected countries, including India. The company will be reducing the costs of its plans up to 50 per cent, i.e. the basic plan provided by Netflix will now cost $3.63 a month.

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Image Source: fortune

The cheapest Netflix plan in India costs Rs. 500 per month, which will now cost Rs. 250 per month, maintaining the quality of videos purely SD. The cheapest plan will work only on a single mobile device, and there is no option for HD video streaming.

Even though the prices have been reduced by 50 per cent, Netflix still is the most expensive streaming plan in India. One of Netflix’s competitor in India, Hotstar offers a yearly subscription of Rs 365, which is way cheaper than Netflix, offering Re. 1 per day streaming. On the other hand, Amazon Prime is available for Rs 1000 per year, Zee5 for Rs 1188 per year, and AltBalaji Rs 400 per year.

“We will be testing different options in select countries, where members can watch Netflix on their mobile device for a lower price, and subscribe in shorter increments of time. Not everyone will see these options, and we may never roll out these specific plans beyond the tests”, stated a Netflix spokesperson.

However, the original content has been tempting many Indians, who are already paying the ‘expensive’ monthly charges to access it, and Netflix itself has expressed earlier that the company is not facing any pricing issues in India. So people who are already using it will be the happiest, and the ones who wanted to get the subscription, but were not convinced to pay the costly fee every month, may also get their hands on it now.

But, currently, the cheaper plans are only being tested, and only a few Indians have got access to them. And, only if the tests go right, the company will make those changes permanent. Till then, we can only hope for the prices to lower down for every subscriber.

Disney Plans to Expand in Streaming Business; Plans to Acquire 10% Hulu Stake from AT&T

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Reportedly, Disney is in talks with AT&T to acquire a 10 per cent stake that the latter holds in the streaming service media company Hulu, in order to expand its control over the company. AT&T carries the 10 per cent stakes in Hulu through its subsidiary WarnerMedia unit. Disney, currently, owns 30 per cent of shares in the streaming service and is already close to acquiring another majority stake in the same from the 21st Century Fox, which owns the rest of 30 per cent shares in the company.

Clearly, after the acquisition from 21st Century Fox and AT&T, Disney will be a 70 per cent stake owner in Hulu, and there will be only one other owner left with 30 per cent of the stakes in Hulu, i.e. the subsidiary of Comcast, NBCUniversal.

AT&T is in the process of settling off its extreme debts, and in 2018, it had announced that it would pay down at least $20 billion worth of debt in 2019, alone. Selling off the Hulu stakes is one of the major moves that the company has taken in order to settle its debts. It was in 2018 when the company announced that it is interested in selling its 10 per cent of shares it owns in Hulu. According to the reports, the deal between Disney and AT&T may close at $1 billion, which may help the latter to pay down its excessive debt to an extent.

Hulu has been providing its streaming services since 2007 but has always failed in front of its rivals including Netflix. But last year, the company started streaming its original content and gained much popularity among people. Also, the company registered 8 million new users in 2018. This increased client base has also increased the company’s worth. But still, it needs more focus and good content.

Disney already is looking forward to expanding its business in the streaming services and is working on its own home project for it, the Disney+. Disney+ will be a streaming service that will carry exclusive Disney movies and TV shows and will be launched by the end of this year. Initially, the service will be available domestically.

Hulu Updates Per Month Subscription Prices Soon After Netflix’s Price Hikes

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The American entertainment company, Hulu, has announced that it is going to cut down the prices for the base subscription plan of its monthly streaming service. The announcement has just come after a week of its rival company Netflix increased the prices for all of its subscription plans.

hulu
Image Source: engadget.com

Hulu, which is an ad-supported streaming service, has reduced the cost of its base plan, to $5.99 per month, down from the current cost, i.e. $7.99. Previously, for the purpose of promotion of its internet streaming service, the company was offering the same plan for this same price, and we must say that it was a brilliant strategy to drag more consumers towards. Now again, when one of the top streaming services, Netflix, has increased its prices, Hulu might take the advantage from it, by reducing the prices.

Netflix last week escalated the prices of all its subscription plans, starting with its most popular HD streaming plan, which is now $13 per month. Even having owned one of the prime streaming services worldwide, the company shared a fell just under 1 per cent, soon after the price increase on Wednesday.

Though Hulu is an ad-based service, having subscribers half of the Netflix’s, the prices it is offering to its customers is making them abandon cable and satellite services in favour of streaming.

Last year, the company reported that it had over 25 million subscribers, and it was a good number as, the number of subscribers had increased by 48 per cent, as compared to the number of users it had in 2017.

Although the company is lowering the prices of the base plan of the streaming service, it at the same time, is also hiking prices across its other subscription tiers. It has announced to is boost the prices of Hulu Live TV, a cable-TV-like a package, by $5 more per month at $44.99. Why such wide gap between the two? Hulu explained that the Hulu Live TV is offering more channels and services, including the full on-demand product, as compared to its internet streaming service.

Still, to overcome the gap, Hulu is lowering its fees for the live TV service’s optional add-ons, including the DVR and expanded multiscreen viewing packages. Now the company will offer the two at a price $9.99 per month.

For the new subscribers the new prices will take effect from February 26, and the older consumers will automatically be shifted to the new subscription prices in their next billing cycle after February 26.