Ah, the wonderful world of streaming video. Just subscribe, download an application or visit a website, and start streaming your favorite shows and movies right away. The initial idea of replacing traditional cable TV with something better is turning out into something that seems to get worse by the year.
Disney announced another round of price increases. This time, it is for subscribers in the United States who have Disney+ or Hulu plans.
The most-basic Disney+ plan, Disney+ with ads, rises by $2 per month to $11.99 starting October 21, 2025. Disney+ Premium, the ad-free version, goes up by $3 to $18.99 per month in the United States.
Similarly, Hulu’s standalone plan with ads is getting a bump by $2 to $11.99 as well. However, Hulu’s premium plan remains at the $18.99 level, according to reports.
Considering that Disney started its streaming service with a price of $6 per month for an ad-free experience just a few years ago, it is a massive increase in that time.
Subscribers pay more than three times as much for an ad-free experience than when the service started. Disney increased the price of subscription plans in the US in October 2023 and October 2024 previously.
Somehow though, subscriber counts are not going down. Disney reported 128 million subscribers by the end of June 2025, a number that has gone up by a few million subscribers in the year.
Like clockwork, streaming services increase the price of subscriptions regularly. Disney is not the only company that is squeezing money out of subscribers without really improving the service in significant ways.
The only option that subscribers have is to cancel their plans to make a statement. Less-costly options exist. From buying used DVD or Blu-Ray selectively and ensuring that you can play the media forever, to one-month per year subscriptions to watch all content that interests you in that time period, thus saving fees for the remaining eleven months.
Lastly, there is also abstinence to consider, especially with the quality of most movies and TV shows going downhill every year.
I wouldn’t call cable traditional. Those rabbit ears on the black and white tv in the image, those are what I would call “traditional”.
You are aware you can still watch local TV with just an antenna aren’t you? Well, you can here in the US. I don’t know about other countries.
I wouldn’t say the idea of streaming was to provide something “better” either, at least not for the consumer.
I’m sure the ability to gather personal data about customers made it “better” for the providers though.
They are merging Disney+ and Hulu under Disney+ name soon. Any guesses of the price after merger?
I really hope they keep Hulu as a separate app. The Disney+ app is horrible
Abandon the hope. Decision is made already and is going to be implemented sometimes next year. ESPN app for now is going to be separate. No plan to merge it into Disney+ app. They will try, though, to push Disney+ and ESPN+ bundles really hard.
I recently saw the add to bundle Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for $30 a month for a year. They also have deadline to get this bundle next January. It could be a starting point for merger. My speculation.