Sports network ESPN is raising the price of its ESPN Plus streaming service. The service will now be $9.99 per month instead of $6.99 per month.
It is nearly a 43% increase, and it will take effect on Aug. 23. The price of the annual plan is also going up from $69.99 a year to $99.99 a year.
ESPN to Increase Subscription Prices
According to Hollywood Reporter, if you get your streaming ESPN service as a part of the Disney bundle, the price of $19.99 per month will stay the same.
The Disney bundle includes ESPN Plus, Disney Plus and Hulu without ads. For ad-supported Hulu in a bundle, that will cost $13.99 per month.
EPSN's website and support pages have not been updated yet and subscribers can't see the increase yet, but the statement sent by Disney spokesperson Paul Melvin indicates subscribers will be notified around next week.
The price change shows how even as moving between services and packages becomes more flexible as users move beyond the traditional cable bundle, access is still not as cheap as it once seemed.
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ESPN Plus already raised its price twice in 2021, and now there is a steeper increase. ESPN points out that content deals it signs increasingly include ESPN Plus contents together with access to editorial content on its website that subscribers get, according to CNET.
Still, if you want unfettered access to standalone sports streaming, the price increase is not that much of jump from the original rate.
EPSN Price Increase in 2021
According to The Verge, ESPN Plus monthly and annual subscription costs went up to Aug. 13, the second price increase for the streaming service in 2021. The said price increase has made the service's annual plan increase by $20 in 2021 alone.
A spokesperson for ESPN Plus confirmed to The Verge that the service increased from $6 to $7 in 2021, while the annual cost increased for $60 to $70 that year.
Notably, there was no price increase to the Disney bundle that the time, which costs $13 and includes other services like Disney+ and Hulu. There was also no change in the cost of UFC pay-per-view.
Disney Plus and ESPN Plus have gotten price increases in 2021. The sports streaming service's annual plan cost increased $60 per year from $50 in January 2021.
The company attributed the most recent price increase to the increased value to subscribers, specifically citing the live sports coverage, original programming, and expanded editorial analysis from industry experts.
The service reported having almost 14 million subscribers as of April. Disney's streaming service, also got pricier in 2021. In March that year, Disney Plus increased to $8 per month, which is around $80 a year.
It is still a great value for the quality of content that is being produced and it also accounts for the fact that the company's new releases usually arrive on the streaming service at no additional cost a few months after their Premier Access debuts. For example, "Black Widow" was free to stream on the platform on Oct. 6.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
