Disney has announced that it is increasing the prices of its Disney+ and Hulu streaming services. The company is also introducing an ad-supported tier for Disney+.
At time of writing, Disney+ costs $7.99 a month for subscribers, and features no ads. Hulu costs $6.99 a month (or $69.99 a year) to watch with commercials, or $12.99 a month without commercials.
After December 8, however, if you want to keep paying $7.99 a month for Disney+, you will have to watch four minutes of ads for every hour of content you watch. To do without commercials, meanwhile, will cost you $10.99 a month, or $109.99 per year. The price of the Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ bundle is also going up, as is the Hulu + Live TV cable alternative service.
Why is Disney+ hiking their prices by 38 percent? Because the streaming arm of Disney is currently operating at a loss. Per CNBC, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ are set to post a combined loss of $1.1 billion in the third fiscal quarter of 2022.
This is despite the recent news that the three services combined have a reported 221.1 million subscribers, more than rival Netflix (though as these numbers come from Disney, we do not know if they are counting people who are subscribed to multiple services separately).
Maintaining that many subscribers, however, does not come cheap, meaning these services can end up spending more on content than they get in subscribers. This is true of Disney as well as most other streaming services.
Here's how much you will be paying for Disney+ and Hulu from December 2022.
How Much Are the New Disney+ Packages?
- Disney+ Basic (with ads): $7.99/ per month with no annual option
- Disney + Premium (no ads): $10.99 per month; $109.99 per year
How Much Are the New Hulu Packages?
- Hulu Basic (with ads): $7.99 per month; $79.99 per year
- Hulu Premium (no ads): $14.99/month with no annual option
- Hulu + Live TV Basic (includes Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ with ads): $69.99 per month
- Hulu + Live TV Legacy (includes Hulu and ESPN+ with ads and Disney+ with no ads; available to existing subscribers only): $74.99 per month
- Hulu + Live TV Premium (includes Hulu, Disney+ with no ads and ESPN+ with ads): $82.99 per month
How Much Is the Disney+ Bundle Now?
- Basic 1 (Disney+ and Hulu with ads): $9.99 a month
- Basic 2 (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ with ads): $12.99 a month
- Legacy (Disney+ with no ads, Hulu and ESPN+ with ads; available to existing subscribers only): $14.99 a month
- Premium (Disney+, Hulu with no ads and ESPN+ with ads): $19.99 a month
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