Streaming service price hikes are spiraling out of control Paramount Global is the latest offender, announcing Monday plans to raise prices on most Paramount Plus subscriptions beginning this summer

The price of ad-free Paramount Plus with Showtime will increase by $1, from $1199 to $1299 per month This new price will be effective August 20 for new customers Existing customers will have a bit of a reprieve and will not see the new rates on their bills until September 20 or later

Also, as of August 20, new subscribers to the ad-supported Paramount Plus Essential plan will see their rates increase by $2 per month, from $599 to $799 However, existing subscribers will not see a price increase at this time

Finally, subscribers to the existing Paramount Plus Limited Commercial plan will see their rates increase by $1 to $799 per month after August 20 Although this plan has been discontinued, Paramount continues to offer it to subscribers who have a valid account and sign up while it is still available

Just one year after the last Paramount Plus price increase, the tiers were consolidated into ad-supported Paramount Plus Essential and ad-free Paramount Plus With Showtime A third tier that removed ads and included CBS but not Showtime, the $999 Premium, was also eliminated in the reorganization The same was true of the stand-alone Showtime streaming app, which, as the name implies, was incorporated into the Paramount Plus with Showtime tier

Unfortunately, the surge of price hikes from the best streaming services does not appear to be slowing down any time soon Earlier this month, Max raised subscription prices for its ad-free tier and annual plans A few months earlier, Peacock decided to raise the price of both its ad-free and ad-supported plans by $2 per month starting in July, just ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics

Meanwhile, Netflix last year replaced its $999/month basic subscription with a new standard tier It also recently raised the price of its premium plan by $3 from $1999 to $2299

The Paramount Plus price increase comes after merger talks with Skydance Media fell apart earlier this month The streaming service got off to a strong start, gaining 37 million subscribers and surpassing 70 million subscribers in part because CBS aired the Super Bowl on Paramount Plus However, it still loses millions of dollars each year Although Paramount's streaming losses have narrowed from $511 million this time last year to $490 million in the last quarter of 2023, the company told Wall Street that it does not expect to turn a profit in the US until the end of 2025 at the earliest

In the meantime, subscribers will continue to foot the bill with increasing subscription fees Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of reasons to subscribe to "Paramount Plus

Thankfully, the company makes it very easy to cancel service The company typically sends incredible deals to subscribers who try to cancel For example, when I tried to cancel after the Super Bowl, I scored a one-month free trial of Paramount Plus