The Disney Plus price hike is ruining Hulu — here’s why

Last week, Disney announced October price hikes for all of its streaming services. That means Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus will all go up in price starting on October 17 — as will Hulu + Live TV.

That last part might have slipped under the radar for a lot of people, as they were dealing with the sticker shock of nearly every streaming service and bundle Disney offers going up in price (only the Disney Duo Premium is staying the same price). But Hulu + Live TV is one of the best cable alternatives out there and its price increase could be serious enough to take it off the list.

Hulu + Live TV just lost its biggest advantage

If you look at our YouTube TV vs. Hulu + Live TV face-off, you'll see that the services are nearly identical, but each has a distinct advantage. 

For YouTube TV, that advantage is its sports features. Between catching up through key plays, multiview and $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket it was a no-brainer to give it our 2024 Tom's Guide award for best sports streaming service.

But Hulu + Live TV gives its subscribers a free Disney Bundle Trio Basic, which is a $17 monthly value. With that bundle, you get Disney Plus with ads, Hulu with ads and ESPN Plus, which is a lot of great TV shows, movies and live sports on top of what you get with Hulu + Live TV's 95+ live TV channels. For a lot of people, that's reason enough to sign up for Hulu + Live TV.

Now though, that reason to subscribe just became a lot less convincing — potentially eliminating Hulu's advantage over YouTube TV. 

Starting October 17, Hulu + Live TV will cost $82.99 a month for its base ad-supported plan. That's $10 more than YouTube TV, which costs $72.99 and often offers a limited-time discounted rate to new subscribers. Given that you can subscribe to the Disney Duo Basic plan (Disney Plus and Hulu with ads) for just $10.99, it'd only cost you 99 cents more a month to get YouTube TV, Disney Plus and Hulu versus Hulu + Live TV, Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus.

As you can see from the table above, Hulu + Live TV now has just two advantages: it's 99 cents cheaper and has ESPN Plus. But YouTube TV still offers subscribers a significantly better sports-watching experience and now, you're only spending just shy of a dollar a month more to get all the shows and movies Disney Plus and Hulu have to offer. 

All you're missing out on is ESPN Plus, which — as you can see from our ESPN Plus review — is a streaming service you can live without.

Disney needs to walk back this Hulu price hike

I recently wrote that streaming price hikes are here to stay, and I still firmly believe that. But if Disney wants people to sign up for Hulu + Live TV, it's going to need to walk this price hike back. 

Or, at least, it needs to reduce it to the $2-a-month increase it's giving the majority of its streaming services. Disney may think the math adds up — three services each going up by $2 equals the $6 Hulu + Live TV price hike — but as I just laid out it clearly doesn't.

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