Disney CEO Bob Chapek on Wednesday hinted at a possible price increase for Disney+ subscriptions in the near future — reports CNet.
Chapek said the company feels “bullish” on upping pricing for its subscription streaming service given how expansive its library of shows and movies has become and that a cheaper, ad-supported subscription plan is due to launch later this year.
“As we increase our content investment, we believe that that’s going to give us the ability to adjust our price,” the Disney CEO said.
This is not even the first time this year that Chapek has teased possible price hikes for Disney+. He said back in February that Disney would not raise prices before October, but after that, the company might “have the flexibility, if we were to so choose, to then look at price increases on our service.”
Disney+ launched in Canada back in November 2019, starting at $8.99. Since then, Disney has only hiked pricing for the streaming service once, by $3 in February 2021, to now stand at $11.99 per month. In the U.S., Disney+ has also seen a price increase just once, by $1 USD, since launch.
Rival streaming platform Netflix, on the other hand, has raised prices twice since October 2020 alone, with the latest hike coming earlier this year in January. Netflix also charges a premium for features like 4K playback, HDR image quality, and multi-device support, all of which Disney+ offers as standard.
