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Have You Canceled A Streaming Service Over A Price Increase?
- Yes
- No
- No, but I am considering it
- I don't subscribe to any
Disney+, the streaming video platform that boasts more than 150 million users, is raising the price of its monthly subscriptions beginning Thursday, Oct. 17, the company said. The spike comes as Disney said it will crack down on password-sharing, Variety reported.
The House of the Mouse announced earlier this year that prices for its most basic package with advertisements will climb from $8 to $10 monthly. Disney+ Premium will also rise by $2 to $16 monthly. Yearly plans will jump up $20 to $160 a year, the company said.
Hulu, which Disney owns, will see a $2 monthly increase for its most basic package that includes ads, making the monthly fee $10. The premium service that lets viewers avoid the ads will get a $1 bump to $19 a month, Disney said.
Hulu + Live TV with ads will now cost $83 a month, up from $77. Users who want to avoid ads must shell out $96 monthly, a $6 increase.
However, the Disney+, Hulu, and Max package with ads will hold steady at $17 a month and $30 monthly to go advertisement-free.
ESPN Plus, another Disney subsidiary, will raise its fees to $12 a month and $120 a year.
The spoonful of sugar with this announcement is that Disney+ will now give users access to ABC News Live as part of their subscription. The company also announced new curated playlists to help subscribers find shows based on their moods and tastes.
The first such playlist focuses on shows and content for preschool students. The platform plans to launch others that include seasonal stories, epic stories (Marvel and Star Wars content), throwbacks for older shows and films, and real life, which will feature documentaries, Disney said.
Annual rate hikes have become the norm for the major streaming services.
Over the summer, Netflix killed its $12-a-month, ad-free plan. Users in the US had to switch to a $7 monthly plan that included advertisements, or they could splurge on the $15.49 HD subscription without ads or Ultra HD at $23 a month, USA Today wrote in July.
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