DIRECTV Stream has joined sister services, DIRECTV and U-verse, in announcing new price increases effective January 23, 2022.

The multi-channel, live streaming service has announced at its web site that it will raise the Choice plan from $84.99 a month to $89.99 a month.

The price hike has more significance than your average pay TV increase because DIRECTV Stream provides more regional sports channels than any other live streaming service. Unlike Sling TV, YouTube TV, Hulu Live and FuboTV, DIRECTV Stream carries the 19 Bally Sports RSNs as well as particularly tough-to-find local sports channels such as MASN, Altitude and SportsNet LA, among others.

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But Choice is the cheapest DIRECTV package that offers regional sports channels which means cord-cutting sports fans will have to pay $90 a month to watch their favorite teams. The streamer’s Entertainment plan, which does not include regional sports channels, will stay the same price at $69.99 a month.

DIRECTV Stream also says its Ultimate and Premier packages will rise by $10 a month to $104.99 a month and $149.99 a month respectively. (Both Ultimate and Premier also carry the regional sports channels.)

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The streaming service also announced price increases for some of its ‘grandfathered’ packages which were available when it was known a few years ago as DIRECTV Now:

$4 a month increase
OPTIMO MAS

$5 a month increase
ENTERTAINMENT (not the Entertainment package available to new customers.)

$7 a month increase
Choice (not the Choice plan available to new customers.)

$8 a month increase
Xtra

$10 a month increase
ULTIMATE
PREMIER
PLUS
PLUS W/O HBO
MAX
LIVE A LITTLE
JUST RIGHT
GO BIG
GOTTA HAVE IT
TODO Y MAS

Like DIRECTV and U-verse, DIRECTV Stream blames the increases on the escalating cost of programming, and the sudden increase in the nation’s inflation rate. (The Streamable was the first to report that DIRECTV Stream would raise prices.)

And like death and taxes, pay TV price increases have become the norm at year’s end. Dish, Comcast and Hulu Live have also recently announced they are raising prices.

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