TV Answer Man, I was going to subscribe to FuboTV for $64.99 but I don’t see the $64.99 Starter plan anymore. Do you know if they increased their prices? — Stacy, Fairfax, Virginia.
Stacy, your eyes are not deceiving you. FuboTV has removed the $64.99 a month Starter plan from its available packages. The cheapest plan now available is the $69.99 a month Pro offering.
However, that doesn’t mean that FuboTV has raised its prices. Let me explain.
FuboTV this month began testing the new base price of $69.99. However, it is still just a ‘test’ and not a permanent decision by the streaming service.
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“It is always FuboTV’s mission to offer a leading package of premium sports, news and entertainment content, plus innovative product features, while also providing value and keeping costs low for consumers. As of March 14, 2022, we are testing channel plans and our signup interface. New customers will be offered the Pro, Elite and Latino plans when creating an account,” FuboTV says at its web site.
The ‘test’ does not affect current customers who can continue to subscribe to the $64.99 a month Starter package.
The more expensive plans for new customers include more channels and hours of DVR storage as well as more simultaneous streams to an account. A FuboTV official told the TV Answer Man earlier this month the company wants to determine whether consumers prefer plans that have more features.
“Over time, we’ve noticed our best-engaged customers maximize their DVR use. Given the DVR capacity is limited in the Starter package, as well as the number of concurrent streams, we’ll be testing making Pro the primary offer for new consumers to provide greater value around their DVR and household sharing experience,” the official said. “Pro offers all of the same sports, news and entertainment channels as Starter, but with upgraded DVR storage of 1,000 hours and Unlimited Screens (up to 10 device streams at home simultaneously). customers of our Pro plan can enjoy the recent addition of Magnolia Network, which was previously only available in our Elite package.”
FuboTV, which reported last month that it now has more than 1.1 million subscribers, has said it plans to experiment with different pricing and plans. The streamer last month tested quarterly-only plans prior to the Super Bowl but dropped the experiment a few days after the big game.
The TV Answer Man will monitor this situation and report back here if FuboTV resumes the Starter plan or makes the $69.99 base permanent.
Until then, happy viewing and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
Send a question or comment directly to the TV Answer Man:
Well something is wrong because I am still being offered the Starter package when I access the fuboTV website. I cleared my cache and went back to the site and all 4 levels appear on the main page. This is using a Chromium based web browser (the CCleaner Browser). When I go to the site using Edge, I am offered three packages starting with Pro. I am a current base level fuboTV customer, but as I said, when I access the site after clearing my cookies I see the base level still being offered to me.
$69.99? I know people are all about saving money by cutting the cord, but $69.99 a month is more than I pay for Directv. Spectrum where I live has been advertising bundled internet and cable for $49.99 each per month. Streaming is getting as expensive as cable.
LOL. No. You need to get out more in the real world. I will not go into detail, but here is a hint. Additional equipment charges, local broadcast fees, and the content that you wish to see all has an impact and there are a lot of people paying more for DirecTV and Spectrum. Trust me.
I’ll price out Spectrum with the channels I want and post the results.
Make sure that you include all of the equipment fees and the local broadcast fee and any franchise fees.
One thing that’s a deal breaker for me is there is no PBS on Fubo. With Directv I bought a local channel reciever from ebay, so now I have all the local subchannnels that are fully integrated with my channel guide and DVR. There are 6 PBS channels that I can now watch or record. My recording capacity is unlimited since I can swap out hard disk drives as needed. Something Fubo could never offer or even Directv Stream.
I’m still looking at the plans from both Directv (satellite) and Fubo. I noticed that Fubo charges extra to be able to share screens at $5.99 or $9.99 for unlimited screens. So it’s not like Directv has a monopoly on nickel and dimeing people. I don’t know what 4k Fubo offers, but I have a 4k receiver from Directv (for $7.00 a month). It has only limited programming that Directv offers, but last month I watched a lot of the Olympics in 4k (at no additional charge which surprised me).
So long post, sorry. I’ll write again when I can look more closely at my latest bill from Directv and do some comparisons.