By Joseph Chalfant
Disney has decided to raise the subscription price for its sports streaming service ESPN+.
The company will raise its monthly rate from $5.99 a month to $6.99 a month. The yearly subscription rate will see a similar change, jumping from $59.99 to $69.99. The Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu bundle will remain the same at $13.99 a month. Pay-per-view content on ESPN+ will not be subject to the same price hike, according to CNBC.
The increase will take effect on August 13 of 2021.
This is the second time that Disney has raised streaming prices in 2021. In January, the company jumped the annual rate up from $49.99 to $59.99. As Disney and ESPN have locked in more deals with leagues and championships, they’ve steadily increased their prices, according to The Verge.
ESPN signed a 7-year deal with the NHL to carry 75 exclusive games a year and extended its contract to carry all Monday Night Football games for the next 11 years, according to CNBC.
The streaming service will also get rights to the Wimbledon tennis tournament and access to the All-England Lawn Tennis Club’s archive of tournaments and matches. According to Variety, ESPN+ will begin streaming both the PGA Tour and La Liga matches later in the year.
The expanded streaming options have boosted ESPN+’s subscription base. As of April, the company reported having nearly 14 million active accounts, according to The Verge.
The price hikes could be a sign that other streaming services will see an increase as well. Disney+ also raised rates by a dollar earlier this year, and Hulu’s live TV service saw an increase from $54.99 to $64.99 towards the end of 2020. They weren’t alone as Netflix raised the price of both its standard and premium subscriptions by $1 and $2 a month, respectively. Paramount+, which replaced CBS All Access, also came with a temporary price increase with its ads-included package, but it dropped to $4.99 in June, according to Life Hacker.
