https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180705/10215140179/streaming-video-sees-wave-price-hikes-apparent-bid-to-mimic-cable-embolden-piracy.shtml

One of the major benefits of cutting the traditional TV cord and switching to streaming video services was supposed to be the lower cost of service. But because broadcasters dictate the licensing cost of content for both services, it was inevitable that the sector would increasingly mimic its traditional cable counterparts. As a result, numerous streaming video services used the July 4th holiday to obfuscate an industry wide price hike, driving up the monthly subscription costs of services like AT&T's DirecTV Now, Sony's Playstation Vue, and Dish Network's Sling TV.

AT&T's price hike, a $5 bump for all of the company's DirecTV Now streaming TV tiers, is likely getting the most attention because it's the precise type of hike AT&T repeatedly stated wouldn't be happening if regulators signed off on the company's $86 billion merger with Time Warner. AT&T lawyers repeatedly claimed during the recent court battle with the DOJ that the deal would lower prices, not raise them: