Last Chance: How to Avoid This Week’s Disney+ Price Hike

If you’re a Disney fan who has yet to subscribe to the company’s streaming service, now is your last chance to lock in a lower rate.

Effective Dec. 8, the standard Disney+ plan will jump to $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year, up from $7.99 and $79.99, respectively.

To avoid the price hike indefinitely, you can opt for Disney’s new $7.99-per-month, ad-supported plan, which also launches on Dec. 8. But you’ll have to endure some commercials during your next Marvel binge or Disney movie re-watch. You also can’t download content for offline viewing.

The good news: You can still secure the lower, ad-free rate of $79.99 per year, but only if you subscribe by Dec. 7(Opens in a new window).

Make It a Bundle

Disney is also adjusting its streaming bundles, which combine Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

This is your last chance to get ad-free Disney+ with the ad-supported Hulu and ESPN+. Subscribe now for $13.99 per month. It’ll then increase to $14.99 per month, but it’ll be considered a legacy product that’s only available to existing subscribers (if you cancel, you lose it). As of Dec. 8, this trio bundle will only be available with the ad-supported versions of all three services for $12.99 per month, or the ad-free versions of all three for $19.99 per month.

New Disney+ subscribers can also get the ad-supported version of Disney+ bundled with ad-supported Hulu for $9.99 per month.

Price Hikes Abound

Disney is not the only streaming service to raise its rates this year. In October, standalone Hulu jumped $1 per month and $10 per year for the ad-supported version; the ad-free version went up by $2 per month. ESPN+, meanwhile, went up $3 per month in August.

Netflix did the same in January, and Apple just boosted pricing on its Apple TV+ service. The companies are largely justifying the increase by pointing to the growing cost of supporting their original content, as well as paying for licensed content. Sprawling TV series are expensive to produce, and Netflix in particular has spent billions on content(Opens in a new window).

These services are also competing for eyeballs. Back when the streaming landscape comprised Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video, it was easier to justify paying $10 per month for each one. But with major studios and smaller, niche outfits jumping into the market, customers are less loyal to a brand and move to where the best content lives.

Like Disney, Netflix and HBO Max have rolled out ad-supported versions of their services to draw in those who can’t stomach paying $15 for a dozen streaming services. The trade-offs there are usually fewer content options and the inability to download shows and movies.