There’s more good stuff to watch than ever — if you can afford it. | Image: Amazon
Death. Taxes. All your streaming services getting a little more expensive all the time. These are the new certainties in life, it seems.
In recent years, as the streaming TV and movie business has gotten more competitive and companies around Hollywood have thrown billions into building their own platforms and libraries in order to compete with Netflix, participating in the streaming era has gotten steadily more expensive. Netflix has raised the cost of its subscription multiple times since its launch. Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus have all gotten more expensive as Disney has invested more in streaming. Paramount Plus, Peacock, Shudder, Starz — practically any service you can name — charges more per month than it did a few years ago. Even as many of these services add ads to their platforms, they’re still charging more.
What’s behind all this wallet-raiding? A confluence of things. As more customers cancel cable, more quickly than anyone expected, the studios and distributors are looking for a way to make up the lost revenue. Good shows and movies are more in demand — and thus more expensive — than ever. And after a decade of spending money like it was going out of style because all investors cared about were subscriber numbers, Hollywood players of all sizes have found themselves needing to actually make money to stay in business.
Companies are looking for any way they can to improve their bottom line. They’re cracking down on password sharing, canceling shows for the tax breaks, and even selling their prized content to other platforms. But the most common strategy is simply to charge you, the viewer, more. A dollar here, two dollars there. Add it all up, and the golden era of TV suddenly has a pretty startling ticket price.
We’re tracking all the price increases and other changes from streaming services so you can make sure you’re only paying for what you want. (We’ll also include discounts and deals, though those seem to happen less and less.) Here’s the latest:
Amazon Music Unlimited is getting a price hike
Netflix won the streaming wars, and we’re all about to pay for it
Fubo’s cheapest streaming plan is now $85 per month
Amazon’s push to make Prime Video profitable.
Remember when Netflix was just $7.99?
Netflix is raising prices again, as the standard plan goes up to $17.99
Discovery Plus is raising its prices
YouTube TV is letting some subscribers hold off that price hike
Sling TV’s streaming TV price goes up by $5.99 next month
GeForce Now Founders won’t be subject to Nvidia’s upcoming 100-hour-a-month data cap.
YouTube Premium subscribers are reporting price hikes around the globe
Disney’s password-sharing crackdown starts ‘in earnest’ this September
The price of Disney Plus is about to go up
Paramount Plus is getting yet another price hike
Max raises prices across its ad-free plans
A Disney, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is on the way
Peacock is getting a $2 price increase
Netflix is all about the money, not the members
What’s up with all the streaming price hikes?
The Disney Plus password-sharing crackdown starts in June
In 2023, everyone was shopping around on streaming services.
Nvidia’s free-tier GeForce Now will soon show ads while you’re waiting to play
Netflix confirms it’s cutting off Apple billing for legacy subscribers
Amazon Prime Video drops Dolby Vision and Atmos unless you pay extra
Funimation is shutting down — and taking your digital library with it
Disney Plus will start its password-sharing crackdown this summer
Reminder: Amazon Prime Video is getting ads today
Netflix is turning into cable TV
Netflix is going to take away its cheapest ad-free plan
Fubo subscriptions are going up in price.
Amazon Prime Video will start showing ads on January 29th
Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers
That’s one pricey subscription
Apple TV Plus is getting a price hike — and other Apple subscriptions are, too
Here comes another Netflix price hike
Nvidia is raising the price of GeForce Now, but not in the US
The ad-free version of Discovery Plus is getting a price hike
Netflix is planning to raise prices… again
AMC Plus is getting an ad-supported subscription tier
Disney, Hulu, and Paramount Plus are all discounted for a limited time
You can get three months of Disney Plus for about $6 right now
Starz is lowering the price of its annual subscription, unlike everyone else
It’s time to rethink our relationships with streaming services
Disney Plus and Hulu are about to get even more expensive
Peacock adds just 2 million subscribers ahead of price hike
Peacock’s prices are going up in August
Paramount Plus will raise its prices next month
Max is charging more money for 4K, and that means it can’t suck this time
This is why streaming Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max keeps getting more expensive
