Thank Netflix for pioneering another movement in streaming.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/w8JRj

Effective October 12, the company will raise the monthly price of its ad-free plans Disney+ and Hulu plans by more than 20%.

The Disney+ ad-free plan will rise by 27% to $13.99 a month in the US, up from $10.99. That’s double the $6.99 monthly cost Disney charged for the service when it first launched in 2019.

Hulu’s ad-free plan will increase by $3 a month, or 20%, to $17.99 a month. The ad-supported tiers for both services will remain at $7.99 each.

The price hikes come amid Disney’s continued efforts to slash $5.5 billion in costs this year.

The monthly prices of its two Hulu live TV packages will also increase by $7 each for both the ad-free plan and the ad-supported offering. ESPN+ will go up by $1 to $10.99 a month.

Additionally, Disney announced that starting September 6 subscribers in the US will have access to a new ad-free bundled subscription featuring the ad-free Disney+ and Hulu services for $19.99 a month.

  • UnfortunateTwist@beehaw.orgEnglish
    24·
    11 months ago

    efforts to slash $5.5 billion in costs

    Oh, pass it on to the consumer. Pay no attention to the millions they’re paying each C suite exec.

    I was considering switching from Netflix to Hulu, but never mind. When wages don’t increase along with inflation…

  • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.orgEnglish
    21·
    11 months ago

    I am already about to cancel the ones I pay for. It sucks because I’ve always been about paying for things when I am able because it supports the creators. Turns out that’s not true, and I can’t even share it with my friends that can’t afford it. Guess I’ll pull a Nick Fury and retrieve my eye patch from a mausoleum

    • Link.wav [he/him]@beehaw.orgEnglish
      14·
      11 months ago

      I thought I’d be pirating a lot after I dropped Netflix in June, but instead I’ve regressed to physical media and checking out DVDs from the library

    • GiantBasil@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      I feel the same, what’s even the point of paying for all these fragmented services if turns out the the creators are not really being paid and we can’t even share it? On top of it Disney already said they’ll be vaulting stuff from the services once the strike ends…

  • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgEnglish
    5·
    11 months ago

    Disney keeps losing value… In light of what they’ve said about the striking creators, this know this wont be passed along to the people making the content. Even if they treated their people well, what new content do they have that Im willing to pay such huge hikes for?

    Also for a service primarily aimed at families and kids (who will consume disney content wherever they go away from their “home isp” a lot) this seems especially dickish. I predict a big backlash.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      7·
      11 months ago

      Families who kids go to college, who have kids who can’t afford Disney on their own, whatever. Sadly Netflix did it and people signed up and gladly opened their wallets and gave over their money. If people cancelled all together they could actually make a statement, but people are stupid. A person is smart but people are stupid.

      • gnzl@nc.gnzl.cl
        3·
        11 months ago

        In my case, sharing Netflix with family members by paying the extra fee is still cheaper than paying the full price by ourselves. We split the full price of the Netflix subscription, including the extra fee, so we end up paying less than the full subscription price. I do it mostly because some of my kids’ shows are only on Netflix. We also split the Disney+ and Spotify bills, to everybody’s benefit. Is that smart, since I’m saving money? Or stupid because I’m not helping some armchair crusade against big bad Disney/Netflix?

        • middlemuddle@beehaw.org
          5·
          11 months ago

          You are well within your rights to pay for that since it fits your family’s needs. But, describing it as saving money glosses over that it’s a result of a change in the terms of service. Netflix used to gloat about not caring that people were password sharing. They backtracked on that pretty hard.

          I cancelled Netflix after they cracked down on password sharing because I’m a home of 1 screen. If the only option for 4k viewing is a 4-screen subscription that I can’t share, then that’s a ripoff as far as I’m concerned. If they’d offered a cheaper 4k, 1-screen subscription option I would have considered sticking with that. Ultimately, I probably would have cancelled as soon as the strikes happened just to support the creators, but that would be a separate decision from the password sharing stuff.

          • gnzl@nc.gnzl.cl
            2·
            11 months ago

            I agree with everything you’re saying. I was more answering to the comment above calling people stupid without any sort of context for why one could possibly choose to pay for these services.

  • ted@beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    Thank Netflix for pioneering another movement in streaming.

    I don’t really care to blame Netflix for Disney’s actions.

    Oh well, luckily the open seas won’t turn me away.