What you need to know
- A Disney Plus “Price and Plans” support document details the upcoming price increase for several standalone plans and bundles on October 21.
- Both of Disney Plus’ standalone plans will go up by $2 to $3, as well as its Hulu/HBO Max bundles.
- The service is raising most of its Hulu/ESPN bundles, as well.
Disney Plus is preparing to hike up its prices, a song and dance consumers have been through time and time again.
The service started updating its Price and Plans support page this week, per 9to5Google, informing consumers about the looming price hike. All price hikes are said to go into effect on October 21. Both of the standalone Disney Plus plans are going up, moving from $9.99 to $11.99 for its basic with ads plans and $15.99 to $18.99 for its Premium (no ads) version.
When we get to the Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max bundles, those are set to go up, too. The support page states that the bundle with ads, currently for $16.99 a month, will rise to $19.99 per month on October 21. This hike extends to the no-ads version, going from $29.99 per month to $32.99.
The final major bundle, the one with Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN, isn’t getting a price hike everywhere, but there are still changes consumers should know. Disney isn’t increasing the monthly charge for its “Disney Plus, Hulu Bundle Premium,” “Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle,” or the “Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle Premium.”
Price hikes will fall into the following bundles:
- Disney Plus, Hulu Bundle (with ads): $10.99 to $12.99
- Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle (with ads): $16.99 to $19.99
- Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle Premium (no ads): $26.99 to $29.99
- Disney Plus Premium, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle Legacy (no ads on Disney): $21.99 to $24.99
Oh, yet again…
The publication shed some light on a report by The Verge regarding this Disney Plus price hike. The post highlights Marisa Kaba (journalist) on Bluesky, who had an alleged inside scoop about this, and it seems the recent removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which has since returned to ABC, caused the service to drop subscribers at an incredible rate. Moreover, Kaba reports that Disney and ABC moved to quickly bring the late-night show back because of this planned price hike.
Kaba adds, “With subscriptions hemorrhaging since last week, they couldn’t risk losing more users with this announcement.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Disney Plus subscribers have gone through this price hike scenario, and it’s all feeling like a time loop by this point. The service raised prices in December 2022 for its Premium plans, Legacy bundles, and other Hulu, ESPN bundles. Fast-forward to 2023 and the service raised prices—again—for its bundles and other ad-free plans.
The only thing consistent, other than the fact that the past few years have had price hikes, is that Disney tends to do them late in the year, between October and December. While these hikes have been confirmed on its support page, the service is sure to begin emailing users or informing you in the app about how the hikes will affect your specific plan.
