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Hulu Drops Price of Commercial Free Plan for Apple Subscribers From $13.99 to $11.99

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Customers who signed up for a "No Commercials" Hulu streaming plan via an iOS device or Apple TV have been paying $13.99, a $2 premium over the cost of the subscription plan if purchased via the web.

Starting this week, Hulu has dropped the $13.99 subscription price to $11.99, so customers who subscribe via an Apple device using iTunes billing will now pay the same price as other Hulu customers.

huluplanpricedrop-800x858.jpg

Hulu informed subscribers about the change through emails that went out yesterday. Beyond the emails, Hulu offered no explanation for the sudden price drop, which was originally in place because of the cut Apple takes from all App Store purchases, including subscriptions.

Prior to 2016, Apple took a 30 percent cut of all transactions, but in late 2016, Apple cut that in half for video subscription apps. Apple now takes a 15 percent cut of subscription fees for subscriptions for apps like Netflix and Hulu that are purchased via the App Store.

Hulu Christmas present. Price cut as Netflix is increasing my price. pic.twitter.com/qdOcv0GXFd - Walt Piecyk (@WaltBTIG) December 20, 2017
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Hulu's App Store description continues to list $13.99 as the price for the No Commercials plan, but when you sign up in app, it's providing the new $11.99 price tag.

Hulu's Limited Commercial plan continues to be priced at $7.99 on Apple devices. $7.99 is the standard price on the Hulu website as well, but at the current time, Hulu is offering a promotion that drops the price to $5.99. That promotion is not available in the Hulu apps for Apple TV and iOS.

Article Link: Hulu Drops Price of Commercial Free Plan for Apple Subscribers From $13.99 to $11.99
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/12/21/hulu-apple-itunes-billing-price-drop/
First Disney, with whom Apple has been in bed since 2005, buys 20th Century Fox and thus a controlling stake in Hulu and now Hulu drops the Apple tax from their iTunes subscription. Coincidence?
 
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This article is strange. I've been paying $11.99 a month through Apple for at least a year.
 
topgunn said:
First Disney, with whom Apple has been in bed since 2005, buys 20th Century Fox and thus a controlling stake in Hulu and now Hulu drops the Apple tax from their iTunes subscription. Coincidence?
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Yes, Disney is only trying to buy. The deal won't complete for perhaps a year or more. Disney is not in charge of 20th Century Fox yet.
 
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chrfr said:
This article is strange. I've been paying $11.99 a month through Apple for at least a year.
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That's odd, the $11.99 pricing seems new and the App Store is still listing a $13.99 price. Wonder if there was some discount or deal before.
 
topgunn said:
First Disney, with whom Apple has been in bed since 2005, buys 20th Century Fox and thus a controlling stake in Hulu and now Hulu drops the Apple tax from their iTunes subscription. Coincidence?
Click to expand...

Disney hasn't bought 20th Century Fox yet, they've only announced their intention to. It hasn't yet received regulatory approval.
 
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I tried to use the deal with my european credit card the other day and visa blocked my card for security reasons without informing me about it. I looked like a damn fool with all my groceries not being able to pay for them lol
 
i wish the prices for their live tv would go down. Or better yet offer the unlimited screens option for the non live tv plans. Pretty weak they don't offer more than 1 simultaneous streams.
 
Hulu is a mess. Frequent stuttering, ads for paying subscribers, usage tracking frequently loses track. It’s a painful experience for a cord cutter.
 
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I recently cancelled my iTunes sub for Hulu, because I couldn't get the HBO from Hulu with it. I may change back to iTunes and cancel HBO.

But, I thought the price of Hulu ad-free was already $12. I have to check it.
 
J.Dillinger said:
Hulu is a mess. Frequent stuttering, ads for paying subscribers, usage tracking frequently loses track. It’s a painful experience for a cord cutter.
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Absolutely. Its a painful experience for anyone as far as Im concerned. Just recently canceled. And commercials is actually the main reason. Im paying you a subscription, then I have to pay extra to not have commercials????? Thats a flat out load of garbage. I have Netflix, Amazon Prime and had Hulu. Im going to watch Star Trek TNG. All three services offer it. So, why in the hell would I watch on Hulu, when the other two have zero commercials. I give multiple streaming services money and have content commercial free, so what is my basic subscription for with Hulu? Everytime I put it on and had to sit through the same 3 commercials for every show I put on, I felt like I was getting punched in the face. Its right up there with baggage fees and data limits for broadband.........a made up fee that costs the provider NOTHING.
 
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chrfr said:
This article is strange. I've been paying $11.99 a month through Apple for at least a year.
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I was just thinking the same thing. I pulled up my iTunes receipts to verify and I have been paying $11.99 a month since September 2015 which is the same month they started offering the no commercial plan. Maybe they started at $11.99 and then raised it later but grandfathered the people that signed up at the $11.99 price.
 
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Hulu isn’t bad for catching up on current tv seasons if you’re a cord cutter, but I’d like to see them beef up their original content. Handmaid’s Tale was excellent, but I don’t really watch much network tv anymore. Fortunately my wife uses Hulu much more than I do. The Showtime add on is worth it for Billions, Shameless and The Affair though.
 
I left Hulu a year ago and I won’t look back. Their interface went from being great and easy to find the shows I actually wanted to watched, ie: queue, to this dumb layout where you had to basically dig to find your shows. I have DirectTVNow, Netflix, and Amazon Prime now.
 
mwd25 said:
Absolutely. Its a painful experience for anyone as far as Im concerned. Just recently canceled. And commercials is actually the main reason. Im paying you a subscription, then I have to pay extra to not have commercials????? Thats a flat out load of garbage. I have Netflix, Amazon Prime and had Hulu. Im going to watch Star Trek TNG. All three services offer it. So, why in the hell would I watch on Hulu, when the other two have zero commercials. I give multiple streaming services money and have content commercial free, so what is my basic subscription for with Hulu? Everytime I put it on and had to sit through the same 3 commercials for every show I put on, I felt like I was getting punched in the face. Its right up there with baggage fees and data limits for broadband.........a made up fee that costs the provider NOTHING.
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Netflix Isn’t that great. They don’t get new things often. Hulu gets the tv airing the next day. That’s the only reason I liked hulu was for actual tv shows I watched being on it the next day. Netflix and amazon don’t have that. Netflix doesn’t get new stuff often unless it’s their own stuff
 
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wolfshades said:
I'd welcome the opportunity to get Hulu on my Apple TV. Alas, there is still no love for Canada from those guys though.
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You just need a smart dns service. I’ve been a Hulu subscriber from Australia for a few years now
 
x-evil-x said:
Netflix Isn’t that great. They don’t get new things often. Hulu gets the tv airing the next day. That’s the only reason I liked hulk was for actual tv shows I watched being on it the next day. Netflix and amazon don’t have that. Netflix doesn’t get new stuff often unless it’s their own stuff
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Yeah but most networks offer their shows free on their site with limited ads next day. If you have plex you can add them in as channels. Or airplay from your phone or laptop. I quit Hulu years ago due to that. Aside from current TV, it had nothing on Netflix and current tv can be had legitimately elsewhere for free.
 
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