With its parent still reeling from Kimmel controversy, Disney+ announces price hike

Disney has announced it’s increasing the prices for its Disney+ streaming service.

The news came shortly after the company’s ABC division revealed that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” would return to the network with its namesake host Sept. 23, 2025, after the network made the controversial call to suspend the show after Kimmel made comments about the death of right-leaning personality Charlie Kirk.

That decision appeared, at least anecdotally, to trigger subscribers to cancel their Disney+ or Hulu subscriptions in response to Disney’s decision to sideline Kimmel.

Disney typically does not announce shifts in subscriber figures to the level of detail that would make it possible to spot any trends. 

All told, Disney appears to have picked an interesting time to announce a price hike, given the flurry of negative press — from all parts of the political spectrum — the company is facing. 

It’s not clear if the increase announcement date had been planned for some time and how the decision to move forward with it was made. 

Technically, Disney+ is a separate entity from ABC, but much of the news coverage surrounding the Kimmel controversy has made it very clear to consumers that Disney owns ABC (a fact that has never been kept secret). Some reports also indicated that the decision to suspend “Kimmel” came from Disney higher-ups, not those execs only responsible for ABC.

Starting Oct. 21, 2025, the standalone Disney+ offering will be priced at $18.99 per month without advertising and $11.99 per month for the ad-supported option. That’s an increase of $3 for the ad-free version and $2 for the plan with ads.

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The company’s legacy plan that includes an ad-free experience plus Hulu and ESPN+ will raise $3 a month to $24.99 for existing subscribers only. The legacy plan is no longer open to new customers.

Standalone ad-supported Hulu is going up $2 per month to $11.99, while the ad-free premium tier remains at $18.99 per month.

The increases also affect bundles. The Disney+ and Hulu ad-supported bundle will go up $2 per month to $12.99 while the ad-free version will remain at $19.99 per month. Adding ESPN+ content in an ad-free experience will be $19.99 per month, up $2, while the ad-free option goes up $3 to $32.99 per month. These plans do not include the ESPN DTC streaming service, however.

Disney’s bundle with HBO Max becomes $19.99 per month, up $2, for the ad-supported option and $32.99, also up $2, for an ad-free experience.

The price takes effect for new subscribers Oct. 21. Month-to-month users will see the new price on their first charge after Oct. 21. Customers will annual subscriptions will not be affected until their first renewal after that date.