Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment

Disney will raise the price of ESPN+ to $7 starting in August

By

For only the third time since its launch in 2018, the price of the ESPN+ streaming service is going up. Disney has announced that as of August 13, the monthly price of ESPN+ will go from $6 a month to $7. Additionally, ESPN+ annual subscribers will now pay $70 a year, up from $60.

However, there is some good news for subscribers who get ESPN+ through the Disney Bundle alongside Hulu and Disney+. The Disney Bundle price will remain at $14 per month. Disney has also confirmed that the exclusive Ultimate Fighting Championship PPVs on ESPN+ will also be spared from a price increase.

CNBC shed some light on why Disney is raising the price of ESPN+. According to the report, the $7 price point is still below the $9 per month that ESPN gets from traditional cable subscribers. That means that Disney is actually losing money on fans who cancel their cable accounts in favor of subscribing to ESPN+. The loss of TV commercial revenue also makes ESPN+ less lucrative than the cable channel that originally spawned it.

Related

ESPN+ does have added value for its most passionate sports fans, thanks to the Insider articles available exclusively on ESPN.com. Regardless, Disney and ESPN are also giving viewers even bigger incentives to subscribe to the streaming service. When the NFL renewed its deal with ESPN for the next 11 years of Monday Night Football, ESPN retained the rights to stream every one of those games on ESPN+. CNBC also notes that ESPN’s recent deal with the NHL will give ESPN+ subscribers the chance to stream 75 games that are exclusive to the platform. And for tennis fans, ESPN and ESPN+ will continue airing the famed Wimbledon tournament for an additional 12 years.

While ESPN+ currently has somewhere around 13.8 million subscribers, the primary value to its parent company may still be the Disney Bundle. Disney+ is clearly the company’s flagship streaming service with over 100 million subscribers, while Hulu is in a distant second at just over 40 million subscribers. If ESPN+ can continue to entice sports fans to subscribe to the bundle, then it will also push the numbers up for both of its corporate siblings. In the end, that may be Disney’s preferred outcome.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Discovery+ raises price for ad-free subscriptions
HBO Max and Discovery+ app icons.

The Discovery+ streaming service survived the mega-merger that birthed Warner Bros. Discovery, and also still exists following the launch of the combined Max service. But we might well see more folks make the switch now that Discovery+ has announced a pricing increase.

The "ad-lite" option — that's the one that has advertising in the on-demand content — will remain unchanged in the U.S. But if you want to get rid of ads, you'll have to pay $9 a month going forward, up from $7 a month. (That's just about a 29% increase if you do the math.)

Read more
3 underrated (HBO) Max movies you should watch this weekend (June 28-30)
A girl looks at a boy in House at the End of the Street.

June is surprisingly over, and with it, a great month for movies comes to a satisfactory close. You've probably watched Inside Out 2 or Bad Boys: Ride or Die or maybe even The Bikeriders. From blockbusters to indie fare, the theatrical movie business has been robust and healthy.

The same goes for streaming. Netflix had a big hit with Richard Linklater's Hit Man, while Amazon Prime Video recently premiered the latest bonkers season of The Boys. HBO and Max have been quieter, but their robust library speaks volumes to the streamer's high quality. The following three films are older, but are just as worth your time as new hits like House of the Dragon season 2.
The Skin I Live In (2011)

Read more
3 underrated Amazon Prime Video movies you should watch this weekend (June 28-30)
Two men spy from a car in The Limey.

As we head toward the end of June, it's worth reflecting on how we want to spend the rest of summer. For some, that's going to mean enjoying nice weather or getting some time in at the beach. For others, it might mean escaping from the heat, at least for a while, to check out a great movie.

If you fall into that second category, then we've pulled together a list of three great, underrated, titles available on Amazon Prime Video that are all worth checking out. Prime Video is home to some of the best movies available online, but it can be hard to find the ones you want. These three will at least give you a great place to start.
The Limey (1999)
The Limey | 4K Restoration Trailer | Plays Dec. 19

Read more