Hulu + Live TV Picks Up Disney+, ESPN+

Hulu’s live TV option hasn’t garnered many users, but the addition of Disney+ and ESPN+ may put it over the top for some.

News of the change came via email to existing Hulu + Live TV subscribers. That hardy few currently pays $64.99 or $70.99 per month depending on whether they opted for on-demand ads. But with the addition of two additional services, which typically cost $7.99 per month and $6.99 per month, respectively, each Hulu + Live TV tier will go up in price by $5 per month. (By comparison, YouTube TV costs $64.99 per month with no on-demand ads, so it’s already cheaper than Hulu’s live TV offering.)

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Whether the price hike will sit well with existing subscribers will depend on whether they’re already paying separately for one or both of those other services, I guess. But Disney will apparently roll those accounts into your Hulu account if applicable, automatically saving you money.

Hulu reported that it had 43.8 million subscribers last month, but only 4 million of those pay for Hulu + Live TV.

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  • j5

    Premium Member
    20 November, 2021 - 12:09 pm

    <p>We subscribed to Hulu Live for locals back in April I think, because Locast shutdown. We paid "donated" $5 a month to watch locals ad and interruption free on our TV/app and it was fine. The Locast app UI wasn’t great or had extra features but we were able to watch local news which is all we want. Hulu Live has all the bells and whistles, DVR, slick menu, tons of channels we don’t watch ugh. And not an extra $5 a month. I did subscribe to Disney+ but didn’t renew because there’s nothing currently on it we’re interested in. I’m not a big sports fan but I do keep up with teams I like on my phone and will catch their games on the local channel, so don’t care about ESPN+. Plus ESPN sucks compared to how it was years ago, dating myself here.</p><p>We’re stuck with Hulu Live for now. We tried YouTube live and it was perfectly fine but just preferred Hulu’s interface and look is all. Right now they are the only choices for locals, for the market I live in. And the digital antennas are hit and miss for us, we tried a couple different ones.</p><p>Streaming <strong>has</strong> turned into the cable companies jacking up prices yearly and gobbling up new channels.</p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      22 November, 2021 - 1:25 pm

      <p>Streaming services definitely did not go in the hoped for direction. They are all busy buying up every possible "channel" and making us pay for more that what we wanted.</p>

  • polloloco51

    20 November, 2021 - 12:19 pm

    <p>Handmaid’s Tale, is one of the most riveting and nail biting shows I’ve watched. Definitely worth using Hulu’s free trial if you can get it!</p><p><br></p><p>I think Amazon Prime Video and Netflix offers a overall better selection of video, in my opinion!</p><p><br></p><p>One of the annoyances I have with online streaming, is like the lack of free old TV shows, like the 70s show Emergency!, Dragnet and Adam-12. At least Hulu offers M*A*S*H! </p>

    • bschnatt

      20 November, 2021 - 12:46 pm

      <p>You can watch old TV shows up the wazoo for free with ad-sponsored streaming services like Pluto, Xumo, Stirr, Roku and IMDB TV and probably others.</p>

      • polloloco51

        20 November, 2021 - 12:57 pm

        <p>I meant on Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, without ads. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • feek

    Premium Member
    20 November, 2021 - 2:06 pm

    <p>Hulu live TV subscriber here, might have to switch after this price increase. Not interested in either of these additions </p>

    • j5

      Premium Member
      20 November, 2021 - 3:03 pm

      <p>Who are you going to switch to, YouTube? Just curious if there’s another option out there for locals that I didn’t know about.</p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    20 November, 2021 - 4:56 pm

    <p>I’ve been on Hulu + Live TV for the past few years and paying separately for Disney+ and ESPN+. I got a notice the other day that the price of Hulu was going up, but they were going to automatically adjust it to credit me for the bundle and my monthly bill would actually go down. I was considering switching to YT TV, but this will likely keep the golden handcuffs on me..,for now.</p>

  • rycott

    Premium Member
    21 November, 2021 - 7:44 pm

    <p>Feels like Disney trying to prop up the Disney+ numbers some after its growth slowed in the last quarter.</p>

  • ericgharrison

    Premium Member
    22 November, 2021 - 8:45 am

    <p>When I was comparing Youtube TV and Hulu’s TV offering, one thing that struck me was that the Hulu option did NOT include ad-free Hulu, and as far as I could see, it wasn’t an option. That was a hard no from me. We kept Hulu ad-free and picked up YouTube TV.</p><p><br></p><p>So far it’s… fine. Still getting used to the interface.</p>

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