Please Don’t Talk About DIRECTV’s Upcoming Price Hike

DIRECTV is raising its prices on Oct. 5, but the company would really appreciate if you don’t talk about it. The only mention of it on their website is a cryptic notice buried on their support page. If you want to know the amount of the increase, you have to log in. Not a subscriber? Then please don’t get curious – this is a private matter between a streaming service and its customers.

How Much Is DIRECTV’s Price Increasing?

Because DIRECTV knows how badly this will go over, they’re simply notifying customers individually by email. Here’s what we can piece together.

• Entertainment is going up $6
• Choice is going up $9
• Ultimate is going up $11
• Packages with a regional sports network will face a $2 increase on the RSN fee
• The DIRECTV Movies Extra Pack will be renamed “Movies Extra Pack + Peacock” and the price goes up from $4.99 to $9.99/month
• MGM+ will go up $1

Even DIRECTV’s normal prices are difficult to pin down because of short-term and long-term promotions. Take their entry-level Entertainment package, for instance. The big font on their page says it’s $49.99/month. But the smaller print below announces mysterious “taxes & fees” that add another $10. So it’s really $59.99. But that’s only the first month.

If you sign up, you’ll get a 24-month price lock at $89.99. And then there’s a built-in $5 increase in your 25th month. It’s likely the true increase will be even higher because two years is an eternity in streaming video time.

If you choose a package with regional sports fees, expect an even more confusing experience.

If we had a functioning government, it would be nice to have a law where these providers would have to plainly state their prices on their first page. But more providers are choosing to hide their true costs behind multiple sign-up pages.

You shouldn’t have to create an account and provide your credit card number just to see the price of something.

I really like DIRECTV. It has a great user interface and the best channel lineup around. But the lack of price transparency is exceptionally frustrating. For all its faults, a service like YouTube TV does a decent job of laying out the entire price.

Ultimately, if a company is trying to hide its true price, it’s becaue they know that price is higher than most of us are willing to pay. For DIRECTV, Oct. 5 may be the day they realize they’ve finally gone overboard.