TV Answer Man, I heard that ESPN+ is raising its price. Is that true? Why do these streaming companies keep raising their prices? Isn’t streaming supposed to be cheaper to do? — Henry, Butte, Montana.
Henry, I’m sorry to inform you that ESPN+, the streaming edition of the sports network, will raise its monthly price on August 13 from $5.99 to $6.99. The annual price, if you decide to pay that way, will increase from $59.99 a year to $69.99 a year. (You’ll save roughly $14 over the year if you pay annually.)
The good news is that the Disney Bundle, which consists of Disney+, ESPN+ and the ad-included version of Hulu, will stay at $13.99 a month. That should tell you something about Disney’s agenda here. The company is trying to prod more people to take the bundle rather than subscribe to an individual service.
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ESPN+ last raised its monthly price in August 2020 when it increased from $4.99 a month to $5.99 a month. However, the sports streamer last January hiked its annual rate from $49.99 to $59.99.
The latest ESPN+ price boost follows other fee hikes from streamers in 2021 including ones from Disney+ and Sling TV. And it’s likely more price increases are coming later in the year. While there’s a perception among some consumers (and journalists) that streaming should be cheaper, the cost of program acquisition continues to rise, forcing companies to raise subscriber rates to keep up.
This is the same reason why cable and satellite services have had to raise their prices over the last several years, and the streamers are not immune to the problem. It’s inevitable that consumers will have to pay as much, or more, for streaming than they have for the traditional pay TV services.
As The Who sang in the classic 1971 rocker, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’:
Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.
Henry, hope that makes sense. Happy viewing, and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
Yeah, sucks that prices keep going up but streaming services are still way cheaper than cable. And cord cutting isn’t about having every streaming service available; it’s about choice. If ESPN+ goes up by a dollar and I want to cancel, it’s easy to cancel. (See how easy that is with cable.) Or if you only watch a few things on ESPN+ just drop it for several months until you show(s) or sport(s) come back.
YES numb chuck ESPN WILL raise prices as long a s assclowns like YOU keep paying them !!
ESPN was single handedly responsible for the demise of “basic cable” but NO ONE ever mentions THAT !
SPORTS CLOWNS should have been sterilized at birth…so STOP your pussy ass whineing and pay the ESPN clowns or FIND
ANOTHER
HOBBIE !!
(sports clowns “invented” the need for the “short buss”)
You have a Good point.
Before ESPN and Disney got loose,
Cable and Satellite were an OK Deal.
Now we are sinking.
Hope it can be saved.
I have always enjoyed TV.
Put SPORTS in an Al-La-Cart Package. !!!
Just jump off the bus bro if the price ain’t right
@S Taylor – that’s kind of what they’re doing. As mentioned in the article below, Disney is allowing ESPN+ to stay on it’s own meaning you can get it for $6 or 7 instead of having to pay for everything. I don’t need Hulu so I don’t subscribe. But if Disney did like some others you’d have to get their whole thing – Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ – just to get one. This way allows you to bundle and save if you want all or just subscribe to what you want.
https://www.techhive.com/article/3625568/espn-price-hike-proves-we-need-more-cord-cutting-options.html