By Jonathan Easton
Disney-owned streamer Hulu is upping the price of its cord-cutting Hulu with Live TV service by US$5, but is adding access to its other streaming platforms.
The service will see its price increased on December 21 from US$65 per month to US$70 per month, while the ad-free package will increase to US$76 per month. The changes will apply to new and existing subscribers.
Disney however is including its ‘Disney bundle’ in the Hulu with Live TV offer at no extra cost. The bundle typically starts at US$13.99 per month, and includes Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ – with the latter two usually costing US$7.99 and US$6.99 respectively.
The announcement comes a year after Hulu with Live TV’s last price increase, and several weeks after Disney upped the price of Hulu’s primary streaming service to US$6.99 per month with ads or US$12.99 per month ad-free.
In a market increasingly populated by cord-cutting options like Fubo TV and YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV now sits as one of the most expensive options available, with the other two options starting at around US$65 per month. The addition of Disney’s other streaming services will however represent a significant saving on those services, but there is no option to opt-out should the consumer just want Hulu.
The change may also serve to buoy Disney+ subscriber numbers when they are next reported for the start of the 2022 fiscal year. The company came under scrutiny earlier this month when it was revealed that Disney+ sign-ups had stalled, with only two million net additions being recorded in Q4 2021.
