Disney+ Raises Prices, Following Terms of Service Changes Forcing European Subscribers to Watch Ads

Disney+ is making an annual habit of hiking up its prices — per Bloomberg, the streaming service is now increasing the price of its ad-free premium plan from $18.99 to $21.49, a jump of 13%. As Variety notes, this means the price of Disney+ has literally doubled since 2023, when ad-free streaming cost $10.99. Additionally, the ad-supported plans for stand-alone Hulu and Disney+ are increasing by $0.50 to $12.49, and the ad-free Disney+/Hulu bundle is rising to $21.99. The only plan not changing its prices is the ad-supported Disney+/Hulu bundle, which continues to cost $12.99. This comes after last week’s discovery that Disney+ had changed its terms and services agreement for European subscribers with new language declaring that “may include promotional content, sponsorships, and advertisements before/after playback of Content and in channels, live/as-live, special events, and any third-party services content.” In short: Even if you’re paying to not have ads, Disney+ still has the right to show you ads. As of writing, that language does not currently exist in the American Disney+ legal agreement. However, there is a section that declares, “Additionally, ‘no ads’ or ‘ad-free’ Servic...