HOUSTON — If you're a fan of streaming services, brace yourself for bigger bills. Some of the most popular ones are raising their rates in December.
Streaming TV shows used to be a much cheaper alternative to cable. But you might want to cut back when you see the 2023 prices.
Jim Richardson loves watching streaming shows with his three children. But his streaming bill is almost as expensive as his old cable bill.
"We do YouTube TV for our live, it just went up to 70 bucks a month," Richardson said. "We also have Netflix. And we also have Disney+ which the kids love."
- Netflix already raised its most popular plan to $16 a month.
- Disney+ is going up to $11 a month in December.
- Apple TV+ will soon raise its price to $7 a month.
- Hulu Live+ will go up from $76 to $83 a month in December.
"It's really difficult for a normal person to figure it out," Joan Solsmon with CNET said.
She said one option is to look for free seven-day trials and binge-watch your favorite shows during that free week. Another option is to join for one month, then cancel before 30 days.
"You can cancel anytime with these services. You don't have to worry about committing to one year," Solsmon explained.
With talk of a recession on the horizon, about half of American households plan to cut back soon.
"I think we'll keep no more than two or three streaming services. That was the whole point of signing up for these services," Richardson said. "We don’t want to turn around and get the whole bill all over again."
Like so many other families, the Richardsons are also starting to reach the point of streaming fatigue, where you subscribe to so many different streaming channels it's hard to remember how many you have.
"You start to forget which shows are on which service," Richardson said.