Apple TV+ Raises Its Subscription Price For The First Time Since Launch
Just in time for its three-year anniversary, Apple TV+ has fired the latest volley in the streaming wars, raising its subscription price for the first time since its service launch in November 2019. TV Line reports that as of Monday, October 24, 2022, the price of a monthly Apple TV+ subscription has increased from $4.99 to $6.99.
Before it debuted in 2019, Apple TV+ was originally said to be eyeing a $9.99 subscription price, so the new price is still below that and other streaming services like Disney+, which is set to introduce an ad-supported version in December along with a price increase to $10.99 for its ad-free option. This year also kicked off with Netflix announcing a price hike for the first time since October 2020, bumping up the rate for a standard subscription plan to $15.49, just a few months before reports circulated that it lost $54 billion overnight.
"We introduced Apple TV+ at a very low price because we started with just a few shows and movies," Apple told TV Line. "Three years later, Apple TV+ is home to an extensive selection of award-winning and broadly acclaimed series, feature films, documentaries, and kids and family entertainment from the world's most creative storytellers."
Subscriber bonuses and stop-and-start shenanigans
Despite the wording of that statement, the uphill battle that Apple TV+ has always faced in wooing and keeping subscribers is that it doesn't traditionally offer the same extensive streaming library that other services do. This is changing somewhat, as it has begun peddling limited-time subscriber bonuses where you can watch some movies as "companion films" to Apple Originals.
To get you in the mood for the Zac Efron-led "The Greatest Beer Run Ever," for instance, Apple TV+ will currently let you stream other war-related films like "Empire of the Sun," "Good Morning Vietnam," "Letters from Iwo Jima," "M*A*S*H," and "The Thin Red Line," for free. It also has a number of movies starring the late Sidney Poitier that you can stream as companion films to its original documentary "Sidney."
Thirteen months ago, I wrote about 10 Apple TV+ shows that justify a subscription, and since then, we've seen the release of other high-quality shows like "Severance," not to mention great movies like Joel Coen's "The Tragedy of Macbeth." I hear good things about the recent Taron Egerton series "Black Bird," too, but if we're being completely honest, even for me, Apple TV+ has become one of those stop-and-start subscriptions where I tend to watch what I want, then cancel, until they've refreshed their streaming catalog a few months later with enough new stuff to merit subscribing again.
I'll definitely be interested to check out Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" when it hits, and there's always "Ted Lasso" season 3 to think about. But on the whole, I can't really say this price increase would encourage me to stay signed up for Apple TV+ long-term without occasionally giving the old wallet a rest.