The Walt Disney Company, which has been recently making headlines since its 17 September decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on ABC, said on Tuesday that it would be raising the price of its streaming services – including Disney+ and bundles that include Hulu and ESPN.
On 21 October, the cost of a Disney+ and Hulu package will increase from $10.99 to $12.99 while an ad-free plan with both will still cost $19.99. Plans with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN, with ads, were previously $16.99 and are soon to be $19.99, according to Disney’s website.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Consumers have been vocal about Disney’s handling of Kimmel in recent days, responding by canceling their subscriptions to Disney+ and bundles with Hulu and ESPN Select. However, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg that the price increases were planned for months and unrelated to the Kimmel controversy.
The comments that culminated in Kimmel’s suspension came earlier this month in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. Kimmel said on his show that the Make America Great Again movement was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it”.
A few days later, Nexstar Media Group, which owns 28 ABC affiliates, announced that it was pulling Kimmel’s show because his comments were “offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse”.
Disney, also facing political pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, followed suit by suspending the show. The New York Times reported that the “cancel Disney+” campaign caused more “subscriber churn” than previous efforts to boycott Netflix over some of its controversies.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Disney has raised its streaming prices since launching Disney+ in 2019. It follows suit with many other streaming services, including Netflix and Peacock, which both announced price hikes earlier this year.
