Apple is raising the price of a handful of subscription services led by Apple TV+, which will now cost $9.99, up from $6.99. An annual subscription moves from $69 to $99 as the giant company is the latest to announce streaming price hikes.Apple News+ is also jacking up its price, to $12.99 from $9.99. Apple Arcade gaming moves from $4.99 to $6.99. And the price of Apple One bundles will see individual plans at $19.95 (from $16.95), family plans at $25.95 a month (from $22.9) and premier plans at $37.95 ($32.99 previously). Prices will increase in the U.S. and select international markets beginning today. Existing subscribers will see these price increases 30 days later, on their next renewal date, Apple said, noting it is “focused on delivering the best experiences possible for our customers by consistently adding high-quality entertainment, content, and innovative features to our services.”Apple last raised the price of Apple TV+ about year ago, tacking on two dollars from its initial launch price of $4.99 to $6.99 a month. The service had been among the less expensive.Apple TV+ original titles includes Ted Lasso, The Morning Show and Severance along with the 2022 Oscar Best Picture-winner Coda and live sports programming with MLB Friday Night Baseball and Major Leage Soccer. Parent Apple doesn’t reveal subscriber data or break out information for any of its streaming platforms. They’re part of Apple’s Services division, which posted over $21 billion in revenue last quarter, and often gets a shout out on earnings calls by Apple CEO Tim Cook.Streaming platforms have been tapping subscribers recently as the industry considers a new price-value calculus and looks for higher revenue. Netflix most recently raised its premium plan pricing last week to $22.99 a month, up $3 bucks. Its basic service rose to $11.99 a month from $9.99. Over the summer, Disney raised prices for ad-free Disney+ and Hulu, and NBCUniversal did the same for Peacock, the first price hike since its 2020 launch.In a statement, Apple said, “Since launching four years ago, Apple TV+ has made history for streaming services by crossing major milestones in a short span of time, thanks to its extensive selection of award-winning and broadly acclaimed series, feature films, documentaries, and kids and family entertainment.’“Apple Arcade continues to offer players unlimited access to hundreds of incredibly fun games — nearly tripling the titles available when the service first debuted in 2019 — with exciting new games and updates added monthly. Since launching, Apple News+ has added more than 100 top newspapers and magazines to include a total of over 450 publications, a catalog of narrated audio articles from News+ publishers, local news collections in over 20 cities and regions, and a daily crossword and mini crossword puzzle.”
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