All virtual MVPDs started in the last decade as skinny bundles priced at under $40 a month, before an aggressive sports programming arms race doubled that bill for services like YouTube TV and Fubo.
Bundling just over 70 entertainment channels and eschewing sports altogether, Philo has been the one to hold the line on price ... until it just can't anymore.
The startup, which touts just over 1 million subscribers, went years before upping its monthly bill from $20 - $25 in June 2021. And it just announced its first price increase since then, with new and returning subscribers paying $28 a month for the Philo "Core" package starting June 12.
"We’re proud to say that this is only the second time in the seven-and-a-half years since we launched that we have raised our price," Philo founder and CEO Andrew McCollum said in a blog post.
That pride is earned. And Philo is also offering plenty to soften the blow for its customers. For one, the price change doesn't impact legacy customers who don't take the Core bundle. If you signed up for the service, say, at launch in 2017, and you haven't cancelled or upgraded to the Core tier, you're still paying $20 a month.
Secondly, and here's a decent perk, Core subscribers will now receive the $8.99-a-month AMC+ service as part of their programming bundle.
Also in Wednesday's press release ... Philo said it has built up a collection of more than 70 "carefully curated" FAST channels, which are available to both subscribers and non-subscribers.
