Disney Makes "Unusual" Price Increase to Streaming Service

Ever since the Disney+ streaming platform debuted on November 12, 2019, Disney fans haven’t been able to get enough of the service.

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Disney+ is the streaming home of nearly all of Disney’s subsidiaries, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm/Star Wars, and Pixar Animation Studios.

Since 2019, notably, an entire catalog of Star Wars and MCU movies, including the nine-film Skywalker Saga and the entire Avengers Infinity Saga, have been added to the popular platform, which has exceeded all subscriber expectations.

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Both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars have released numerous Disney+ Original series in addition to their feature films. Star Wars, for instance, has given fans two seasons of The Mandalorian, two animated series — Star Wars: Visions and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch — Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mandalorian spinoff The Book of Boba Fett.

But its undeniably “Mando” that has become the cornerstone of the Disney+ platform. The series — which introduced Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”) and bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) to the Star Wars universe — quickly skyrocketed up the charts and is now gearing up for its third season, which will see the returns of Djarin, Grogu, Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), and more.

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It is, however, important to note that people don’t subscribe to Disney’s streaming offerings only because of Disney+. The Disney Bundle is a great option for entertainment fans who want to enjoy The Walt Disney Company’s other offerings, as well.

Disney describes their bundled service option as:

The Disney Bundle includes subscriptions to Disney+, ESPN+, and the Hulu plan you select for a discounted price, as compared to the retail price of each subscription when purchased separately. The Disney Bundle is available with Hulu (Ad-supported) for $13.99/mo* or with Hulu (No Ads) for $19.99/mo.

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Now, however, the price of the Disney Bundle is increasing on August 23, 2022 thanks to a surge in the cost of ESPN+. According to a new CNBC report:

Disney is increasing the price of its sports streaming service ESPN+ to $9.99 per month, a 43% increase.

The previous price of ESPN+ had been $6.99 per month. The increase will kick in on Aug. 23. An annual subscription to ESPN+ will jump from $69.99 to $99.99.

It’s unusual for the price of a streaming service price to rise more than 40% in a single increase. Disney’s last two ESPN+ price rises have been for just $1 per month, first in 2020 and then last July.

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Despite the choice to raise the price of ESPN+ dramatically before the start of the National Football League’s (NFL) regular season kickoff on September 8, 2022, CNBC notes that the company’s stock rose 3% during afternoon trading following the announcement yesterday.

What do you think about Disney increasing the price of the Disney Bundle?