YouTube TV raises prices after adding Viacom channels

YouTube TV is raising its monthly price from $50 to $65 and adding eight Viacom channels including Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET and MTV.

This new price takes effect today for new members. Existing subscribers will see these changes reflected in their subsequent billing cycle on or after July 30.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly, and realize how hard this is for our members. That said, this new price reflects the rising cost of content and we also believe it reflects the complete value of YouTube TV, from our breadth of content to the features that are changing how we watch live TV,” the company wrote in a blog post.

In April 2019, YouTube TV raised its price from $40/month to $50/month.

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YouTube TV today is also adding CMT, Paramount Network, TV Land and VH1. The company said it will add BET Her, MTV2, MTV Classic, Nick Jr., NickToons, and TeenNick at a later date.

YouTube TV also highlighted some new features it’s working on for its service. The company said it had been testing a new feature that allows users to jump to various segments within select news programs and has just launched the feature for all users.

YouTube TV also said it recently introduced a dark theme to both desktop and mobile devices to help tone down screen glare and watch YouTube TV with a dark background. The service also introduced an option to select “Mark as Watched” on desktop and mobile devices for any TV show users have already seen and updated the Live Guide on desktop so users can see what’s on now and also scroll ahead 7 days into the future.

While it’s unclear what if any impact the new price increases will have on YouTube TV’s subscriber totals, the service has already grown into one of the largest virtual MVPDs in the U.S. During Google’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Sundar Pichai said YouTube TV now has more than 2 million paid subscribers.