As fully expected this fall, The Walt Disney Company has rolled out another full house of price hikes for its biggest streaming brands—Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select. Effective October 21, 2025, the latest jump is the fourth straight year Disney has nudged its subscription fees higher. The move is in line with the rest of the industry making the same play over the last few seasons, as companies chase the profitability targets Wall Street now demands.
Adding complexity, Disney timed this announcement amid an ongoing cultural firestorm and its own longer play for the direct-to-consumer segment. The news is designed to soak more monthly change out of loyal subscribers and is a signal of more to come as profitability remains the focal point. This post lays out the new pricing, the internal and external drivers of the increase, and the likely path forward for the streaming era as a whole.
Detailed Breakdown of the New Disney Streaming Prices
The increase touches nearly every Disney streaming title and nearly every common bundle, sending notice of the changes to subscribers starting on September 23, 2025. The table that follows delivers the month-to-month pricing for each flagship Disney streaming option after the new rates take effect—Disney+ stand-alone, Disney+ with Hulu base, and the ESPN Select add-on that stapled ESPN live to the services.
The legacy Disney Bundle (Disney+ Premium, Hulu, ESPN Select) will rise from $22 to $25 per month, and the Hulu + Live TV legacy plan jumps from $88 to $95 per month. These bundles are no longer available to new sign-ups, yet the price changes show that Disney is tightening its grip on older packages.
The Context: A Pattern of Annual Increases and Industry-Wide Trends
This is not a one-off. Disney+ launched in 2019 at $6.99 to grab market share, then gradually raised rates. Each increase is positioned as a step toward profit, a goal still highlighted by the slow rollout of original content and the notion that bundles will deliver greater value in the long run.
This year’s subscription jump follows Disney’s pattern of October price hikes that began with identical climbs in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Disney’s leaders believe repeating that pattern will keep profits moving in the right direction. Their method already looks successful: in August 2025 Disney announced that, for the first time, Disney+ streaming operations reported a profit. Still, executives keep preaching the same mantra: price increases must stay ahead of rising costs for movie and show production as well as billions they keep pouring into new content.
The trend is aiming well beyond Disney+. The whole streaming sector feels the same pressure. Streaming giants keep raising prices to keep greed in check and to cover higher costs. They keep bundling passwords into slowly tightening agreements, and new cheaper, ad-support tiers keep stealing ad and subscriber time.
In the past three to six months, streaming rivals Netflix, Apple TV+, Peacock, and Amazon’s Prime Video have all delivered their own hikes. Warner Bros.’ Discovery’s CEO, David Zaslav, insists HBO Max adjustments are right behind. This new lift across the sector seems to confirm Disney’s strategy is rolling. Rivals have switched incentives, forcing subscriber bases mad with price cuts to achieve a healthier business with steady, growing profits and sustainable cash flow.
Behind the Timing: an “Awkward” Moment for Disney
Although the price hikes were apparently scheduled weeks in advance, Disney chose an “poor timing” moment to spill the news, according to several industry experts. The corporation is still battling intense criticism around how it handled the suspension and swift reinstatement of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The firestorm kick-started when Disney and ABC yanked Kimmel off the air over his jokes about the man suspected of injuring commentator Charlie Kirk. Public reaction was fast and furious, fueling an unplanned boycott. Some high-profile personalities, including Howard Stern, went online to say they had dropped Disney+ accounts to support Kimmel.
Disney restored Kimmel to the schedule by Tuesday, September 26, but the situation has not cooled. Certain commentators are slamming the decision to put him back, while impressive local owner groups like Sinclair and Nexstar, which control over 20% of ABC affiliates, still refuse to air his program. That messy situation is now shaping the backdrop for any Disney price move, leaving the entertainment giant to open the books on bigger bills in an already heated courtroom.
The Bigger Picture: What Subscribers Can Expect Next
If you’re a Disney+ subscriber, brace for the truth: the era of bargain-priced streaming is officially over. Price increases are now part of the playbook, and the days of steep, cleverly hidden subsidies are behind us. Expect steady, small hikes every year. Disney has also put one last carrot on the stick: the widening gap between the ad-supported and ad-free tiers is a not-so-gentle nudge to upgrade. The goal? More money from subscriptions, and a bonus from ad partnerships on top of that.
Looking to the horizon, Disney+ is pushing hard to mesh Hulu into the Disney+ app. Once the full Hulu buyout from Comcast is finished in mid-2025, Disney plans to pull the plug on the Hulu app in 2026. The US has already rolled out the “one-app” model, and the idea is to streamline menus and clear the clutter across the slate of Disney streaming services. The published roadmap, however, does leave a small window: Disney says that, even after the apps are technically combined, you’ll still be able to buy Disney+ and Hulu as separate subscriptions for now.
Conclusion: Navigating the New Streaming Landscape
Disney’s latest price hike isn’t just a move; it’s part of a larger plan to make streaming profitable for the long haul. Yes, the news drops at a tricky moment for Disney’s public-relations team, but the math behind the increase makes sense. For viewers, the big picture is this: the streaming market is growing up. The early days of bargain-basement monthly fees to grab subscribers are fading, and the spotlight is now on value shaped by great content, smooth user experience, and perks that justify the price.
With Disney+, Netflix, and other big names regularly tweaking their fees, it’s time for subscribers to think twice before signing on. The days of having every streaming app at once are numbered; the future is curating a smaller, but smarter, mix that delivers the best bang for the buck.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/23/media/disney-plus-hulu-price-hikes-kimmel-abc
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