Disney+ and Hulu Ad-Free Pricing Going Up in October, Password Sharing Crackdown Coming

[AdamJD]

Disney keeps jumping too quickly and it's costing them. JUMPED into Maker Studios and learned about the shady "views" MCNs were reporting...jumped into Streaming (shutting down Disney Channel in most countries along the way)...and found it it's not the profitable panacea execs had anticipated.

Like others reporting here, I canceled. It's been over a year now...not willing to pay the exorbitant prices. We're about back to a cable subscription, as techies predicted about 10 years ago. $168.88 for a yea of Disney+!?!?! How much would it cost to buy the couple of DVDs for whatever you don't already?

The pricing makes it overly worth the time and effort to sign up here and there, then cancel. 😕

 

[CMoore515]

I'm glad I don't pay the Verizon bill lol

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I can see a future where everyone signs up for only 1 service per month, then switches to the next. Holding onto multiple services throughout the year makes less and less sense. 🤮

Odd, because in that same future, all the streaming companies went dark because no one was paying them monthly.
So who's right?

 

[tgwaste]

stopping the woke sharing would probably be better.

 

[Scotticus]

Anyone going to point out that Apple just did something similar? I just got notified a few days ago that it's going from $49.99/yr to $69.99/yr. Immediately canceled. Apple's got maybe 2-3 shows a year worth paying for. At $69.99, it's a "pay for one month a year" service at best.

 

[xpxp2002]

I own a small business and had a choice to make at the first of the year; Raise prices yet again or start passing on merchant fees for those who wanted the convenience. Not one customer has balked, they either pay the extra or send a check.

Good for you. There’s a local restaurant who started pulling this same shenanigans and we stopped going there. They did also raise their menu prices, too, so actually they’re double dipping. Either raise the price for everybody, eat the cost of doing business, or stop taking cards.

Visa used to penalize merchants who charged a higher price to cardholders for using their cards instead of cash. Shame they aren’t enforcing it anymore.

 

[SFjohn]

Odd, because in that same future, all the streaming companies went dark because no one was paying them monthly.
So who's right?

Not everyone will get shows for free. There’s millions of people that would think nothing of spending $2K a month to get everything on TV. 😉

 

[user_xyz]

Gonna be popular….

Disney is planning to raise the price of its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu streaming services starting on October 12, the company said today during an earnings call (via CNBC). The ad-free Disney+ plan will be priced at $13.99 per month, while the ad-free Hulu plan will be priced at $17.99 per month.

Right now, ad-free Disney+ is $10.99 per month, while ad-free Hulu is priced at $14.99 per month. When Disney+ launched three years ago, Disney was charging $6.99, so the price for ad-free access has more than doubled.

Disney is planning to offer an ad-free bundle that includes Hulu and Disney+ for $19.99 per month, which is a $12 discount from the separate pricing. That happens to be the current price of the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN bundle, which will be going up to $24.99 per month. The Hulu and Disney+ bundle is not yet available, but will presumably be launching in October when the price increase is implemented.

The price of Disney's ad-supported plans will not be changing. Disney+ with ads will continue to be $7.99 per month, which is the same price as the Hulu with ads plan. The ad-supported bundle will be $9.99 per month.

In addition to raising the cost of its streaming plans, Disney is also planning to put a stop to password sharing, following in the footsteps of Netflix. Disney CEO Bob Iger said that Disney will "roll out tactics" to end password sharing starting in 2024.

The pricing increases and the crackdown on password sharing come after a $512 million loss for Disney's streaming division in the third fiscal quarter of 2023, which is better than the $1.1 billion loss from the year-ago quarter. Disney has over 105 million Disney+ subscribers, adding 800,000 subscribers during the quarter.

Article Link: Disney+ and Hulu Ad-Free Pricing Going Up in October, Password Sharing Crackdown Coming

Disney is a Rip off at any price.
Their Programming is Crap!

 

[magicschoolbus]

All these companies needed to do was sit back and license content out the wazzoo that has been sitting on the shelf for decades to Netflix and make a killing. Instead they took the opposite approach Netflix built a library and now these legacy media companies are getting creamed in streaming. Doesn’t help that Disney keeps releasing the same IP every decade just remastered or re cast. They haven’t had a big hit in a long, long time.

 

[JapanApple]

I love it, they loose money and produce crap content and turn around and raise prices. AND nothing for the writers/ actors. #Coporategreed

This is just only a streaming industry trend of raising prices. Companies over the past 3 years have submitted increases, membership etc. At the end of the head earnings of their physical year statements. I had this happen 3 times with a membership subscription. Just to show stockholders' and corporate investors' profits indicators.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I will stick with AppleTV+. At least it's free for device purchase, with new original contents weekly, instead of rewatching Star Wars for 56th time.

The free period for device purchase can only be used once per user — it isn’t free every time you purchase a new device.

 

[George Dawes]

Think I'll cancel this , only kept it for the marvel films in 4k and iTunes seems to do that anyway now

 

[MacHeritage]

This makes a lot of sense now that Disney is phasing out physical media, starting with Australia (their test bed I guess): https://reclaimthenet.org/disney-begins-to-wind-down-physical-media-starting-in-australia

Personally, optical media forever! Thanks Disney for really making the choice easy.

I actually think this will cause torrenting and "alternate" distribution channels to increase in popularity. I am sure that soon we won't be able to just go out and buy the movie/TV Show etc. that we want to on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Blu-ray, if Disney has the rights to it. Unbelievable!

 

[Star Brood]

I buy my movies manually, and aside from Loki/WandaVision/Star Wars live action, the shows are like wearing socks with sandals.

 

[phazedout]

No. They’re just copying Netflix to unlock those delicious profits.

Not even. The original pricing of Disney Plus was unsustainable. It was just low to snag subscribers, it was always going to increase. And it will increase again in the 2- 5 five years. Count on it.

 

[Wanted797]

Not even. The original pricing of Disney Plus was unsustainable. It was just low to snag subscribers, it was always going to increase. And it will increase again in the 2- 5 five years. Count on it.

My comment was more at the password sharing.

 

[@Brett]

The greedy buggers. I already pay $139.99 a year in Australia. Maybe if they stopped the woke crap. The National Treasure tv show as much as I wanted to like it was not good. And The Kardashians. Maybe stop paying those overpriced fake people so much money and cancel their show. Why is it when a company loses money rather than look at their own decisions they go with price rises and password crackdowns. Good way to lose subscribers you would think. Although Apple TV+ does not have the amount of content the price and quality is great.

 

[svish]

Prices of all streaming services are slowly increasing. Hopefully there will not be any further hike in the near future

 

[Piggie]

Finally got around to cancelling Disney after being with them since day one in the UK.
As we all know, most services start priced well to attract new customers, then bit by bit the greed kicks in and prices rise and rise way above any normal inflation figures.
Would not matter so much if it was not that almost all companies follow this path and before you know it you are paying more than you ever were with some old service you used to have.
Greed is such a sad thing

 

[@Brett]

If he's not an "extra member" under Netflix please tell me how you lucked out. My husband is in Houston and when it rolled out, he was flagged and we had to add him as an extra member for $8/mo

Why did you have to pay extra? I found a family member selected the profile then I stated holiday house. Received an 2FA text and still have the same plan.

 

[LV426]

This is helpful because people watch too much TV.

 

[_Spinn_]

Ugh, another price increase. Soon streaming will cost as much as cable.

 

[Huwpne]

Already cancelled Prime; just was not using the delivery service enough to deliver shoddy Chinnese goods, Apple has gone, very limited offering. Disney will go as well if the linked O2 deal hikes its price as well.
Which leaves Netflix currently bundled with Sky & that is hardly ever used so that may well follow

 

[GeeYouEye]

Give me a career as a buccaneer.
Drink up, me hearties yo ho!
We'll plunder and pillaige and ransack a village.
Drink up, me hearties yo ho!

 

[anek007]

No. They’re just copying Netflix to unlock those delicious profits.

Disney+ doesnt have all the new content as netflix. Netflix have a lot of new stuff while Disney+ will have one new movie or show every couple months. Theyre doomed.