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Hulu is going to cost more starting next month.
The Walt Disney Co.-owned
DIS,
streaming service is raising prices for its two on-demand streaming options by $1 each, beginning Oct. 8. Hulu will charge $6.99 a month for its option that includes ads, and $12.99 a month for its ad-free version. Hulu’s Live TV service and the Disney bundle that includes Hulu with ads, Disney+, and ESPN+ remain unchanged.
The price hike is the third for Disney streaming services this year. In March, the monthly fee for Disney+ increased $1, to $7.99, to help fund an accelerated push into originals. In August, ESPN+ announced a $1 increase to $6.99 a month. Disney+ is $79.99 a year, and ESPN+ is $69.99.
For Hulu, which reported 42.8 million subscribers last quarter, the fee increase is considered essential as the company continues to churn out more original content like the recent Only Murders in the Building and Nine Perfect Strangers.
In October 2020, Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
announced price hikes for its more popular tier services. The standard plan, which allows two streams at HD quality, increased to $13.99 a month from $12.99. The premium plan, which allows up to four concurrent streams with more high-definition offerings, jumped to $17.99 from $15.99.
In its most recent fiscal quarter, Disney+ subscribers increased to 116 million after Chief Executive Bob Chapek revealed it had reached 100 million milestone at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in March.
What’s worth streaming in September: ‘Money Heist,’ ‘Foundation,’ ‘Y: The Last Man’ and more
Disney shares moved higher in Tuesday trading and were nearing $185, a level the stock has failed to reach since early May, when disappointing streaming growth hurt the stock. Disney stock has gained 1.8% so far this year, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
— which counts Disney as a component — has increased 15.6%.
