Philo is updating the price of its service for customers who choose to be billed through Apple, the company confirmed to The Desk on Wednesday.
Starting this month, Philo subscribers who choose to have their plans billed through the Apple App Store — which includes customers who set up their Philo subscriptions to be paid using their Apple ID — will be charged an extra $4 in addition to their monthly subscription price. Customers who pay for Philo through Apple began receiving notifications about the change last week.
The upcharge only applies to Philo subscribers who are billed through Apple, a spokesperson confirmed via e-mail. Those who pay for Philo directly through the company, or through another third-party processor like Amazon Pay, will continue to be billed at the normal rate of $28 per month.
Philo did not offer a reason for the adjustment, though it almost certainly has to do with the fact that Apple takes a 30 percent commission when subscriptions are activated through its app store. Other services like YouTube, Hulu and Spotify have raised their subscription prices for those billed through Apple in order to offset the loss of revenue from Apple’s app store commission; some — like Netflix — have moved away from allowing customers to pay for their plans through Apple entirely.
Philo streamers who pay for their subscription via Apple can avoid the $4 price increase by opting instead to have their plans billed through Philo directly. To make the change, a customer first needs to cancel their subscription via the Apple App Store, and then switch to direct billing through the Philo website.
Opting for direct billing comes with a number of other perks, including the ability to pay a separate fee to remove ads from AMC Plus content (the ad-supported version of AMC Plus is included with Philo’s base subscription), the option to pay for add-on packages like Starz and MGM Plus, and improved billing assistance through Philo’s customer support. Customers who opt for direct billing will still be able to watch Philo on their Apple iPhones, iPads and Apple TV devices, just as they can on other platforms like Roku, Samsung, LG, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.
That said, Apple’s app store offers a convenient way for customers who use iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs to start and stop subscriptions using the same billing information that is on file with the tech giant. For this reason, some may still prefer to have their Philo subscriptions billed via their Apple accounts — and the company is going to continue to support those who prefer to pay that way. They’ll just have to pay a little more going forward.
