AT&T’s subsidiary DirecTV is raising prices across the board for all current users, who will be seeing a $10 price hike on their selected streaming plan starting April 12, 2019.

At the same time, new subscribers will now have access to the new $50 per month Now Plus package with 40+ channels and the $70 per month Max package with 50+ channels.

Both of these include cable channels from WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, Disney and Fox, as well as HBO. Cable channels A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery and Viacom are not included in the Now Plus and Max packages, according to Variety.

Existing customers on Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, Gotta Have It, or Todo y Más packages will not see any changes to their channels. If you’re new to DirecTV, however, you’ll only see the latest Plus and Max packages.

DirecTV’s FAQ notes that legacy subscribers will be now paying more for channel add-ons: HBO went from $5 per month to $15 per month, Cinemax went from $5 per month to $11 per month while Starz is going from $8 per month to $11 per month. These higher-priced add-ons take effect today, March 13.

MacRumors broke down all of these price changes:

New DirecTV prices

  • Live a Little: from $40/month to $50/month
  • Just Right: from $55/month to $65/month
  • Go Big: from $65/month to $75/month
  • Gotta Have It: from $75/month to $85/month
  • Todo y Más: from $45/month to $55/month

These prices are scheduled to go into effect starting April 12, 2019.

New channel add-on prices

  • HBO add-on: from $5/month to $15/month
  • Cinemax add-on: from $5/month to $11/month
  • Starz add-on: from $8/month to $11/month

These increased prices affect all current DirecTV customers who add a premium channel from March 13, 2019.

MacRumors analyzed DirecTV’s new price structure to rival offerings:

As a point of comparison, DirecTV Now’s cheapest plans ($50 per month for both Live a Little and Plus) do not compare very favorably to rival services.

PlayStation Vue starts at $45 per month, YouTube TV starts at $40 per month, FuboTV starts at $40 per month, Hulu With Live TV costs $45 per month and SlingTV’s Orange & Blue plan is priced at $40 per month (just $25 per month right now).

That’s not to mention services which have launched to offer ultra-stripped down packages, like Philo’s no-sports service that starts at $16/month.

To entice people to subscribe to DirecTV, they’re now offering one month for free to new customers signing up with the promo code MARCH2019.

This is a second major price hike since AT&T officially introduced the DirecTV Now streaming bundle in November 2016. The first price change was last August when DirecTV Now raised prices across all its packages by $5 to stay “in line with the market.”

Image top of post courtesy of Reddit user plgdg