By Emily Bary
Walt Disney Co. is launching an advertising-supported version of its flagship Disney+ streaming service later this year, and plans to raise prices on many of its streaming services in conjunction with the move.
Executives at the media giant announced Wednesday that they plan to raise the price of ad-free Disney+ to $10.99 a month starting Dec. 8. An annual subscription to the service will cost $109.99, up from $79.99 previously.
Ad-free Disney+ currently costs $7.99 a month, but that will become the rate for the ad-supported Disney+ service, which executives intend to launch Dec. 8. Disney does not currently plan to offer an annual subscription plan for the cheaper Disney+ tier.
See more: Disney to raise streaming prices while launching ad-supported tier, stock pops as subscriber total tops Netflix
Disney /zigman2/quotes/203410047/composite DIS +0.21% is also increasing the price of Hulu, which already had tiers with and without advertisements, and those changes will go into effect earlier than the Disney+ price changes. Disney plans to charge $7.99 a month for the ad-supported Hulu tier and $14.99 a month for the premium, ad-free tier, up from $6.99 a month for ad-supported service or $12.99 a month for the ad-free offering. Those changes go into effect Oct. 10.
Executives at the company previously announced that the monthly rate for ESPN+ would go up to $9.99 from $6.99, with that change to take effect Aug. 23 . The ESPN-linked streaming service only offers an ad-supported version.
Many consumers choose to bundle the Disney streaming services, and prices for some of those offerings will also change. Disney will begin offering a bundle that combines the ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu for $9.99 a month, and a version that adds ESPN+ to that will cost $12.99 a month.
Existing subscribers will be eligible for a bundle combining ad-free Disney+, ad-supported Hulu and ESPN+ for a monthly charge of $14.99. The company will continue to offer a bundle of ad-free Disney+, ad-free Hulu and ESPN+ for $19.99 a month.
Hulu + Live TV pricing will change as well. The company currently charges $69.99 a month for Hulu+ Live TV with Disney+ and ESPN+, a package that includes ad-free Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu. Starting in December, that will be the new price of a tier that includes ad-supported Disney+ along with the rest of the mix.
Additionally, Disney plans to charge $82.99 a month for a premium Hulu + Live TV package that combines ad-free Disney+ and Hulu with ESPN+ and the live offerings. The current monthly price for such a service is $75.99.
Disney will offer a $74.99 monthly bundle to existing subscribers that brings together ad-free-Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu, along with ESPN+ and the live programming.
The price hikes come as Disney topped expectations with its latest streaming subscriber numbers , bringing its total count of streaming subscribers —including Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu —higher than that of rival Netflix Inc. /zigman2/quotes/202353025/composite NFLX -0.56% .
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