Disney is dangling a new deal to get customers to sign up for Hulu + Live TV — before a price hike goes into effect next month. The temporary price drop for Hulu + Live TV also comes amid Disney’s ongoing contract dispute with Charter Communications, as the Mouse House has encouraged Charter’s Spectrum customers to switch to Hulu’s pay-TV package for access to ESPN and Disney’s other networks.
Hulu is offering new and eligible returning subscribers Hulu (with ads) + Live TV at a discounted rate of $49.99/month for three months — that’s nearly 29% off the current $69.99/month price. Eligible customers can visit hulu/live-tv to sign up for the limited-time offer.
The offer is available from Sept. 8 through Oct. 11. As of Thursday, Oct. 12, the monthly price of the Hulu + Live TV plan with ads increases to $76.99 (and the tier with no ads on VOD will also increase by $7, to $89.99). Subscribers on the promotional plan will continue to get the discounted rate through the three-month period.
In addition, on Oct. 12, the price of Hulu’s SVOD tier without ads will increase 20%, from $14.99 to $17.99/month; Disney+ without ads will rise from $10.99 to $13.99/month in the U.S.; and ESPN+ will increase from $9.99 to $10.99/month.
Disney networks including ESPN and ABCwent dark on Charter’s Spectrum TV service the evening of Aug. 31after the companies failed to reach a renewal agreement. Charter suggested that it might be ready to drop Disney’s TV networks from its programming lineup altogether — while Disney on Sundaytold Charter subs to consider subscribing toHulu+ Live TV, which requires “no contract, no cable box and no wait time to subscribe.”
There’s no sign the two sides are getting close to resolving the standoff. In a statement Thursday, Disney said, “As the U.S. Open reaches the men’s and women’s finals, and fans gear up for a weekend of college football and the opening of the NFL season, it’s unfortunate that Charter decided to abandon their consumers by denying them access to our great programming.”
The Hulu + Live TV subscription provides more than 90 TV channels, including local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox stations and cable networks like ESPN. It also includes Hulu’s entire on-demand streaming libraryand features such as unlimited DVR.
Separately last week, Disney and Comcast moved up the date for their talks over the sale of Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu to Sept. 30 (from January 2024 previously). Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology investor conference Wednesday, said all the synergies around Hulu could be worth $30 billion, before any value is ascribed to Hulu itself.
