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Disney Raises Prices For Streaming Services By As Much As 27% (cnbc.com) 84

Posted by BeauHD from the price-hikes dept.
Disney is raising prices on almost all of its streaming offerings as it looks to accelerate profitability for the business. CNBC reports: Commercial-free Disney+ will cost $13.99 per month, a 27% increase, beginning Oct. 12. Disney+ with ads will remain $7.99 per month. Disney will also expand its ad-tier offering to select markets in Europe and in Canada beginning Nov. 1. Disney is increasing the price of Hulu without ads to $17.99 per month, a 20% price hike. Hulu with ads will also stay the same price, at $7.99 per month. The decision to price Disney+ nearly as high as commercial-free Netflix and Max, and charge even more for Hulu, signals Disney believes its content library can compete with both of those services.

Disney is now betting consumers will pay more for its streaming services even as the Hollywood writers and actors strikes threaten its content pipeline in the coming months. For consumers who want both Disney+ and Hulu without commercials, they can pay $19.99 per month in a new "premium duo" offering -- a $12 per month savings. The Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads will not change from its $9.99 per month price. Disney also increased the price of its bundle of Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (no ads) and ESPN+ (with ads) to $24.99 per month from $19.99 per month. The bundle of all three products with commercials will be $14.99 per month, an increase of $2 per month. Disney is also increasing the price of Hulu + Live TV with ads to $76.99 from $69.99 per month. The commercial-free Hulu + Live TV will jump to $89.99 per month from $82.99 per month.
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Disney Raises Prices For Streaming Services By As Much As 27% More

Disney Raises Prices For Streaming Services By As Much As 27%

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  • BIZX SEO promotion for CNBC (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Garbage in. Garbage out.

  • Someone has to pay to subsidize their movie failures. Looks like the streaming folks are picking up the slack.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/c... [forbes.com]

    The 4 Flops Of 2023 That Cost Disney $1 Billion

    • Re:Roh roh (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Moblaster ( 521614 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @05:54PM (#63754606)

      Well maybe it's paying for Bob Iger's salary because apparently the artists and producers aren't seeing a dime of that money.

      Why the hell are consumers being asked to pay more when we are seeing evidence of residual checks for LITERALLY pennies?

      • Disney’s boomerang CEO Bob Iger to receive $27 million annually
        https://fortune.com/2022/11/21... [fortune.com]

        According to this his Salary is $27M or only 3% of the loss from the movie department. Mathematically the movie losses make his salary seem inconsequential.

    • Someone has to pay to subsidize their movie failures. Looks like the streaming folks are picking up the slack.

      Disney+ probably has been cannibalizing Disney's box office ticket sales. Anybody who doesn't feel like dragging their kids out to see the latest Disney flick knows it'll just be on Disney+ in a few months.

      • Re: Roh roh (Score:4, Interesting)

        by MysteriousPreacher ( 702266 ) on Thursday August 10, 2023 @01:40AM (#63755264) Journal

        >Disney+ probably has been cannibalizing Disney's box office ticket sales. Anybody who doesn't feel like dragging their kids out to see the latest Disney flick knows it'll just be on Disney+ in a few months.

        Not only that, it's been killing licensing fees. In the past, Disney would have earned money from licensing content to other streaming services/broadcasters. Also home media sales. That's died a death, and Disney isn't getting money from putting their content on streaming, at least not while Disney+ remains firmly in the red.

        • >Disney+ probably has been cannibalizing Disney's box office ticket sales. Anybody who doesn't feel like dragging their kids out to see the latest Disney flick knows it'll just be on Disney+ in a few months.

          Not only that, it's been killing licensing fees. In the past, Disney would have earned money from licensing content to other streaming services/broadcasters. Also home media sales. That's died a death, and Disney isn't getting money from putting their content on streaming, at least not while Disney+ remains firmly in the red.

          Good.

          These giant media companies have to realize that we don't require them for survival. The greed is astronomical. They seemed to think that pulling their content everywhere else meant people would *HAVE* to join Disney+. It hasn't happened to the degree they've hoped, so instead of doing the rational thing any sane operator would do, which is consider options, they're increasing the price of the service. Which is far more likely to drive off some of the existing streamers rather than bring in more overal

          • Yeah, Warner Discovery has the sense to move away from exclusivity, licensing content and doing home releases. Netflix doesn't need to consider this because they're not competing against themselves.

            Captive streaming is nowhere near being proven as a business model, and it doesn't help that Disney's content has gone to shit. They've also severely damaged their reputation as a trustworthy option for families.

            I can imagine Iger departing before 2026, being replaced by a hatchet man interim CEO who, among other

            • Yeah, Warner Discovery has the sense to move away from exclusivity, licensing content and doing home releases. Netflix doesn't need to consider this because they're not competing against themselves.

              Captive streaming is nowhere near being proven as a business model, and it doesn't help that Disney's content has gone to shit. They've also severely damaged their reputation as a trustworthy option for families.

              I can imagine Iger departing before 2026, being replaced by a hatchet man interim CEO who, among other things, will stop dumping valuable content onto Disney+.

              Warner Brothers is making their own mistakes. Licensing is fine, and probably something they should have done. Dropping content from their own streaming service is dumb. Doing it and then publicly justifying it by saying it's saving them having to pay their creators residuals? That's dumb squared.

              The bumbling of Warner has been an amazing thing to watch. I follow some of their properties closely enough that it's been a heck of a fun ride watching them implode slowly over the last couple years.

      • Someone has to pay to subsidize their movie failures. Looks like the streaming folks are picking up the slack.

        Disney+ probably has been cannibalizing Disney's box office ticket sales. Anybody who doesn't feel like dragging their kids out to see the latest Disney flick knows it'll just be on Disney+ in a few months.

        There may be some truth to that, but I think it's more that modern Disney movies just suck. They got lucky and found lightning in a bottle with their Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but none of their other ride-based movies have been any good. The Haunted Mansion flicks were embarrassing. Not to mention all their live-action remakes of their classic animated films. Absolute crap. They deserve to lose money. And let's not even get into the mess that the Parks have become.

        If Walt Disney could magically retur

  • Seriously, if these companies are going to rape/pillage this much, it is time to encourage more competition in the video making arena, combined with streaming.

    • AI/deepfake will do just this.

    • Seriously, if these companies are going to rape/pillage this much

      Netflix's standard plan is $15.49/mo. Disney is just raising prices because their competitors already have done so. It's mostly just due to inflation anyway, haven't you seen the price of groceries and rent lately?

      • It's mostly just due to inflation anyway, haven't you seen the price of groceries and rent lately?

        The inflation is mostly (over half) due to increases in corporate profits. But not this, this is Disney trying not to bleed money over their stupid idea.

  • Pirate Bay subscription (Score:5, Informative)

    by Major_Disorder ( 5019363 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @05:49PM (#63754592)
    Is free, and has EVERYTHING.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Including malware everywhere you look

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The the most recent series of Star Trek Strange New Worlds started, I looked at Paramount Plus to see if I could subscribe. The website just said "coming soon". Okay, well the English language internet is global and I'm not going to spend months dodging spoilers and missing out on the discourse.

      I looked again today and it seems they have their act together now, although the website comes up in French and redirects me when I try to switch to UK. I guess I'll subscribe for the final episode, and then get it f

  • I dumped them in May....nobody has noticed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @05:50PM (#63754596)

    I dumped them in April when my annual subscription came due for renewal because the price increased something like 30%.

    It is now August and the 7 year old child in my household has yet to notice.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by laktech ( 998064 )
      > the 7 year old child in my household has yet to notice. try quitting tik-tok as well. maybe they'll notice then?

      • I'm sure RS is a responsible parent - so no their child wouldn't be on Tik Tok at all, let alone at the age of 7

        • That's correct. My child has no way to access "Tik Tok" or other shit anyway. It's not like he has a phone or computer or anything. We do have an Apple TV, but it's not on there anyway.

      • > the 7 year old child in my household has yet to notice.

        try quitting tik-tok as well. maybe they'll notice then?

        Nobody in this house uses "Tik Tok".

  • Arrrr, matey. (Score:4, Informative)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @06:08PM (#63754624) Homepage Journal
    That is all.

  • Worst timing ever (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @06:18PM (#63754658)

    The timing on this is nuts. After Ahsoka is done, what new content will they have coming online anytime soon?

    My subscription is about to expire in November. What will they have for months, maybe even years, that I would want to keep paying them for? Much less paying this vastly increased fee for no new content!

    Or think of the potential new subscriber, what are they really in for? A whole slate of the most mediocre superhero shows that ever existed? Being able to see live action remakes that trash the original shows?

    Maybe the large increase is actually because of this lack of content, as they can foresee many annual subscribers will turn into once a twice per year monthly subscribers... that might actually make sense.

    • ... as they can foresee many annual subscribers will turn into once a twice per year monthly subscribers.

      I subscribed for the last two years, and it totally wasn't worth it. I now subscribe for one month out of the year, then cancel for eleven months. Then repeat. That's about all Disney+ is worth to me. Their "one episode per week" format sucks. Badly. And they just don't produce much worth watching in that format. I know they are banking on subscribers not canceling, lest they miss an episode, but there's not enough value on the entire site to make that worthwhile.

      My family is quickly reaching a point where

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shmlco ( 594907 )

        Will end up doing the same. That will also let me cycle through more services that I didn't bother with permanent subscriptions.

        Be interesting to see what polices they try to put into place to combat this...

    • Yep I cancelled this month (sub runs through Nov as well). Got in on the D3 deal then after that it was $80/yr but they had some interesting stuff scheduled for 2023. Turns out most wasnâ(TM)t that interesting after all. So I will just buy a month sometime next year if they do drop anything interesting in the mean time and binge it. Season are so short they make it easy to do.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      For adults it seems to basically be Star Wars and Marvel. Do they have anything else on there, except kids stuff?

      Both SW and Marvel have been struggling lately. The Mandalorian had one and a half decent seasons, Boba Fett was terrible, and Andor was actually pretty good. For Marvel the post-Endgame stuff has been a mixed bag. Wandavision, Loki, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk were all decent but not outstanding, and Moon Knight and Secret Invasion were both very poor. All the post-Endgame movies have been bad, with

    • what new content will they have coming online anytime soon?

      Their back catalogue is literally the biggest in the industry. And no you haven't seen it all, and no you haven't seen everything on it which is of interest to you.

      Masturbating over "new" content is precisely why everything new these days is so rushed and shitty.

      • Their back catalogue is literally the biggest in the industry. And no you haven't seen it all,

        I have actually seen everything interesting on there. Even with the large back catalog. Oh yeah maybe there's one or two things I missed stuck back in there, but why would I continue to pay a subscription on the off chance I could find it?

        The back-catalog of movies I do like, such as Indiana Jones, is great but isn't relevant because generally I don't re-watch stuff I've watched before.

        Masturbating over "new" con

  • Not sure what service disney+/hulu offers that makes it worth 14/18 bucks a month, but I'm certainly not interested in it.

    Turn off the TV, go outside. Yes, I realize the irony of posting that on /.

    • Nothing at all.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GFS666 ( 6452674 )

      Not sure what service disney+/hulu offers that makes it worth 14/18 bucks a month, but I'm certainly not interested in it.

      Turn off the TV,

      struggle up the steps from the basement, catch your breath up at the top of the stairs

      go outside. Yes, I realize the irony of posting that on /.

      FTFY ;)

  • They are losing customers and losing money (Score:5, Insightful)

    by test321 ( 8891681 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @07:36PM (#63754842)

    TFA focuses on how many pennies people need to pay more to enjoy the entertainment, but misses more important news that explain why this is happening: for the second quarter in a row, Disney lost 1% subscribers. It's not much, but it's not good. Disney also lost the transmission rights to the cricket championship in India, meaning there are much less attractive to subscribers there. Disney streaming reduced the deficit to 500 million dollars loss this quarter, down from 1 billion dollar loss same quarter last year. Movie sales are down 7% and profit down 23%. (All info from AFP news release).
    Disney is trying to balance their sheets, they already cut 7000 jobs and I would speculate that the price increase is their hope to close this deficit hole.

  • Never underestimate the power of a good backcatalo (Score:3)

    by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @08:33PM (#63754926)

    and more so in times of "Writers and Actors strikes".

    DisneyFox have a second to none back-catalogue and they know it! Also, they have sports, and sport needs neither writers nor actors...

    They are apeasing the shareholders and squeeezing their back catalogue in one fell swoop.

    • Hilariously, the writers strike is a godsend for Iger. He's currently using it to advocate for delaying the godawful Marvels with the excuse of ensuring content for next year, thus removing the massive loss it would be from this year's balance sheet. Moreover, he's using it to entirely remove the current cadre of Disney writers which has produced the utter dreck of the last 5 years and he'll further use it as an excuse to sell off Disney properties..

  • Just making indie content more relevant (Score:4, Interesting)

    by HalAtWork ( 926717 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @08:46PM (#63754946)

    Hollywood is doing this to their own detriment. The kids are already focused on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. Personalities are making money on these platforms, enough to make their own shows and movies, and some are doing just that.

    Not to mention international content that is catching on.

    Now Hollywood is tightening their grip at a crucial time where viewers, and producers, are already slipping away.

    • The kids are already focused on YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. Personalities are making money on these platforms, enough to make their own shows and movies, and some are doing just that.

      If YouTube celebrities turned movie stars keep producing more stuff like this [imdb.com], then Disney has absolutely nothing to worry about. The bar for what entertains kids is pretty damn low.

  • Let's stop funding Disney's woke fiascos (Score:3, Insightful)

    by shubus ( 1382007 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @10:55PM (#63755110)
    Start by un-subing to Disney+. Nobody at Disney pays any attention to what people really want to see so they continue to put out this Marvel drivel at the theaters. I haven't gone to a Disney film in years. No hope at Disney.
    • I just cancelled my subscription and went over to Sling TV. I’m getting all the content I want for $20 less than HULU.

      • Sling, at least for my household, is a ripoff at the price. We switched from that to Philo like a year ago, pay like $16, (with a T-Mo discount,) and get everything we want less Adult Swim.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Start by un-subing to Disney+. Nobody at Disney pays any attention to what people really want to see so they continue to put out this Marvel drivel at the theaters. I haven't gone to a Disney film in years. No hope at Disney.

      There's always one that drags out this "I want to hate and have everyone silently agree with me" wokey cokey.

      On one hand I dislike Disney because they're locking up our entire culture behind paywalls, sue grandmas and generally result in more generic films in cinemas... OTOH I really like seeing the shrill, nasal "woke" screaming crowd utterly demolished when people go woke and make a shitload of money (the Barbie movie has made over a billion thus far).

      It's really like watching Thrush and Syphilis ha

    • Nobody at Disney pays any attention to what people really want to see so they continue to put out this Marvel drivel at the theaters.

      Who are these "people" you speak of? The worst performing marvel movie made a profit. Clearly people are interested in seeing it. Maybe it's time you learn you're not the only person in the world.

      Don't like it, don't see it. Move on and let other people do their thing.

    • Start by un-subing to Disney+. Nobody at Disney pays any attention to what people really want to see so they continue to put out this Marvel drivel at the theaters. I haven't gone to a Disney film in years. No hope at Disney.

      When someone suggests to boycott a business for funding a campaign against gay rights or something I'm sure you're the first to go crying "censorship" and "free speech".

      Can't you decide whether or not to subscribe to Disney+ based on the content and not whether or not they're mean enough to the people you don't like?

  • As a poor student, I torrented a lot because I couldn't afford to buy DVD set after DVD set.
    Then mostly for convenience.
    Then streaming came along, and suddenly it was both cheap and convenient to just pay for the content.
    Then I found myself being subscribed to 5 different services and not really watching any of them, because all the new shows were either copy-pasted garbage (wow, imagine people had super powers!), or would be canceled after a season.

    So now we're at a point where all the content is boring, t

  • Yes I subscribed, mostly for the Star Wars stuff, and a few Disney classics. Unfortunately though as many others have said, it's starting to feel like it's not worth it.

    About 2 months ago I finished building out my Truenas server, loaded Plex, SabNZD, RADARR, and SONARR on it. Got a NZBGeek and a Newshosting subscription. With the smattering of hard drive I had laying around, I managed to eek out a measely 4.3tb. While not a ton of storage, I figure it's good enough for mostly 1080p content.

    It seems lik

  • Just keep making the same dogshit garbage that has driven subscribers away in droves but charge even more for it.

  • First came Netflix, with the subscription/streaming service. It licensed content from most of the studios and made an immense success. Some time after that, studios started to think "wow, these guys are earning lots of money! why don't we build our own streamings and charge for it directly, earning all this cash for ourselves?" Then almost all of them proceeded to launch their own services.

    But, they should have noticed at the time, this is actually terrible idea. Don't get me wrong, some competition is alwa

  • We dropped Disney+ back when they fired Carano because of her political views. I will not support a company using my money to drive a political or religious agenda. I don't care if that agenda is neo liberalism or christian evangelizing. I don't fund political campaigns, specially when they hide the fact they campaigning.
  • I see nothing surprising in this situation. Rising costs of manufacturing and marketing products combined with inflation are a common trend. I am researching this for my marketing project at university, and using help from resources like https://essays.edubirdie.com/m... [edubirdie.com] I intend to look into this issue in more detail. It seems to me that the company is showing confidence in the competitiveness of its content library against other services. On the other hand, Hollywood strikes can affect content, and Disney

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