Apple Raises Prices of TV+, Arcade, One, News+

Apple is increasing the prices of some of its subscription-based services, including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple News+, in the U.S. and many other countries around the world. The higher prices are shown on Apple's website. The price changes in the U.S. are as follows: Apple TV+: $6.99 per month to $9.99 per month
Apple Arcade: $4.99 per month to $6.99 per month
Apple News+: $9.99 per month to $12.99 per month

For those who subscribe to Apple TV+ on an annual basis, the price has increased from $69 per year to $99 per year accordingly. Prices for the Apple One bundles that include these services are also increasing as a result:
Individual: $16.95 per month to $19.95 per month
Family: $22.95 per month to $25.95 per month
Premier: $32.95 per month to $37.95 per month.

Timely

[boulat]

Oh good, just in time for me to continue not using them.

Re:

[StormReaver]

Yep. If this were Cable TV, it would be part of a "take it or leave it" bundle. With streaming, I can continue subscribing to the services I want and not subscribing to the services I don't want.

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[account_deleted]

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[93 Escort Wagon]

As far as I can tell, the new SVOD Boss is just as bad as the CATV Boss of yesteryear, (snip)

Well, of course it is - pretty much the same people who were in charge of the individual cable channels before are running the streaming services now. And the cable company is still in the mix, just at a different point.

I wonder how long it'll be before "cutting the stream" becomes a widespread phenomenon?

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[account_deleted]

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[Gilgaron]

That and bundling. I think T-Mobile bundles AppleTV, otherwise the AppleOne service includes it like Amazon Prime includes Prime Video. I have Verizon and have a Hulu/Disney+ bundle for free. Not being bundled with a service provider will leave the other streaming platforms more victim to rotating subscriptions and binging content before moving on.

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[killmenow]

Cable TV and Streaming services all suck. You can have exactly the series & movies you want, commercial free, without bundling and having to pay for a bunch of crap you don't want...so long as you're willing to pirate the content. It's unfortunate that a service most people would willingly pay for is not offered by businesses because it gives the consumer too much control, freedom, and power.

Would a model like this cause quality programming to suffer? People surely like to say so, but I've yet to see

Re:

[leonbev]

Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll get another "free" three months the next time that you buy another Mac or Apple iDevice.

They don't really release a lot of new content, so you can pretty much binge your way through everything worth watching in their back catalog in about a month.

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[sit1963nz]

100% agree.
I too have zero subscriptions, and will continue to have zero subscriptions
I have dumped software that has gone to subscription models , in app purchases , or micro payments.

Makes me more likely to rotate services

[ardmhacha]

At the moment I have Apple TV+ for "free" through my T-Mobile cell plan. However if I was subscribing directly this would make me more likely to subscribe for a month and binge everything I want to see and then unsubscribe for a few months.

This may be why they are looking to add sports packages that don't work with binge watching. Currently they have MLS, and got a boost when Messi signed for Inter Miami, there are also rumors that they are looking in to other sposrts.

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[account_deleted]

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[GlennC]

... there are also rumors that they are looking in to other sports.

Apple TV is looking into other sports. They were looking at adding collegiate sports featuring the Pac-12 conference (a group of larger universities in the western United States).

The result of this proposed deal is that the majority of conference members are leaving for other conferences that have more conventional broadcasting deals, and the conference will likely cease operations at the end of the scholastic year.

Source: https://theathletic.com/4752583/2023/08/05/pac12-apple-tv-deal-college-football-rea [theathletic.com]

Well it's worth it

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

just for Jon Stewart.

Re:Well it's worth it

[jacks smirking reven]

Got some bad news for you then:

Jon Stewart’s Apple TV Plus show ends, reportedly over coverage of AI and China [theverge.com]

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

I'm guessing Mr. Coltrane was making a joke on that very point.

Re: Well it's worth it

[ihavesaxwithcollies]

Jon Stewart was going to say mean things about communist China. Apple loves communist China because they also want a one party dictatorship. China could cut off access to all that sweet money to the market, which gives tim cook or the current CEO big ol chubbies.

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[account_deleted]

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[HBI]

Totalitarian control has been in place for a long time; the Snowden thing should have been the tipoff, if nothing else.

It's gotten so bad they barely hide it now. [racket.news]

So this 'committment to free speech' isn't very strong, lemme tell you. When you're a two-bit whore, selling out to China seems easy.

Re:

[Gibgezr]

AppleTV tried to censor Jon (because China), so he told them to fuck off and has left the platform.

Outpacing inflation. Gee Thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Outpacing inflation causes inflation. Just say no.

i guess Apple is hurting financially,

[Darth Technoid]

i guess Apple is hurting financially,
and needs to move from Trillion dollar valuations to Gazillion dollar

Re:

[drhamad]

Yes please. Then I can retire.

Tim Cook Now Dishing Out Inflationary Pressure

[theodp]

"We are seeing inflationary pressure," Tim Cook complained to CNBC in Jan 2022 [cnbc.com]. But since then, Cook and Apple have been relieving themselves of some of that inflationary pressure by passing it on to Apple TV+ subscribers, first in an Oct 2022 rate hike [macrumors.com] from $4.99 to $6.99 and now in this Oct 2023 rate hike from $6.99 to $9.99, a 100% increase in pricing in just 12 months. Hey, when life gives your corporation inflation lemons, make jacked-up-prices [usatoday.com] lemonade!

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[doubledown00]

Jacking up prices is easier than, I don't know, innovating and coming up with new shit people want.
Tim Cook's CEO tenure being adjacent to Steve Jobs just makes his ineptness look that much more stark.

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[killmenow]

Jacking up prices is easier than, I don't know, innovating and coming up with new shit people want. Tim Cook's CEO tenure being adjacent to Steve Jobs just makes his ineptness look that much more stark.

I signed up for Apple TV+ for Ted Lasso. Watched a couple other things that were OK. But it's got literally less than 10 things worth watching. Why the fuck would I pay MORE for it. I just cancelled my sub.

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[doubledown00]

Seems to me you're describing just about every streaming service out there. New shows have very short seasons (7 - 10 episodes). And abundance of 3 episode "series". Once you get through the new and legacy content, there just isn't much let to watch let along pay more for.

Shame on you!

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare you not buy more iPhones +1, more iPads +1, and more M++ Macbooks. You have failed our saviors, those that have so graciously locked us into the iApple-verse, where we are blessed with an overpriced dumbed down experience. They had no choice but to raise their prices for even bigger profit margins. Shame on you!

Keep jacking up the prices so we can all opt out

[shubus]

The content that Apple offered at the lower prices wasn't worth the money then and is now worth even less with the new higher prices so if you haven't opted out of Apple's offerings, this latest price gouge is a great opportunity to JUST SAY NO.

Apple News+

[bimbo69]

Apple News+ is innovative at least. You subscribe to it for the privilege of getting to double-subscribe to access content.

God dammit!

[registrations_suck]

God dammit!

So with smartphone sales dwindling.....

[Computershack]

They appear to have not learned the lessons from the poor performance of their ridiculously priced iPhone sales, that people generally don't have as much money as they did before 2023, and decided that upping subscriptions by 40% to 50% is a good way to make up for drop in revenue. No doubt there'll be the usual platitudes about funding new content etc etc....