Disney+ Internet Video Streaming Service Hikes UK Prices
Internet video streaming provider Disney+ has followed the recent crackdown on password sharing (here) by hitting UK customers with a fresh round of annual price hikes, which are due to all be introduced from 17th October 2024 for new customers and 21st November 2024 for existing ones.
The only good news is that Disney+’s “Standard with Ads” plan will remain at £4.99 per month, while “Standard” increases from £7.99 to £8.99 (or £79.90 to £89.90 annually) and “Premium” surges from £10.99 to £12.99 (or £109.90 to £129.90 annually).
Suffice to say that the endless price hikes and ever-increasing fragmentation of streaming TV and Movie content continues to get worse, which increasingly risks driving many consumers back to more unlawful pursuits.
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I’m not condoning piracy, but….
This is the worst catalog to pirate. It’s insane how the price got higher but the quality got even lower. Surprisingly they actually cancelled Acolyte season 2. Looks like there is a bar as to how bad the quality can be
Risks? Piracy is growing at a rapid rate again. It’s not back to how it was in the mid 2000’s but it’s getting there. The endless enshitification of everything continues unabated and the populous choose a different route.
You would think that after watching how the music industry has gone, the film and TV industries would see what consumers want. They want everything in one place for one monthly fee in one easy to use GUI. Most people are MORE than happy to pay for one service that provides almost everything and that’s exactly what happened to music piracy. While it certainly still exists it’s just “noise” and the vast majority of people just have a sub or two to a music streaming service and they’re done. Many will even have a secondary sub to “niché” interests if they’re into a specific genre that isn’t well served by the mainstream services. It works and is, seemingly, viable enough for multiple companies to exist.
Netflix in the early days had it right and it was obvious. Everything in one place for one fee. Now you have exactly the opposite of that and there’s 10’s of services all with 1 or 2 “key” franchises you might want to watch. The GUI’s are mostly horrible, glitchy, bugged or downright terrible (here’s looking at you Amazon Prime) Then you have piracy with everything you want in one place for one fee in a fantastically usable GUI. GUI’s which aren’t cluttered with 1/3 or 1/2 the page of ads constantly pushing the latest rubbish in your face. With usable search that gives you exactly what you need. YES its illegal but it is giving people what they want, for a reasonable fee.
Gabe Newell had it 100% right 10 years ago. When talking about game software he said
“We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.”
Until the streaming services realise this the situation is only going to get worse and worse.
I’ve never agreed with a post more!
I’m not one to comment too many times on ISP but I had to for this one!
1 million percent agree with this post – Netflix are the closest to pulling fees off me – with the password lockdown nonsense they lost me – 4 screens but all within 20 square metres of eachother – ali vederci
First crackdown on password sharing, then upping the price.
Time to downgrade or cancel the service provision, when it comes up for renewal as prices go up (and wage increases stagnate, only so much money to spend on luxuries – but will need to run it past the boss), as have been a Disney plus subscriber since they launched in the UK.. And what’s the point in having a 4k UHD TV when you pay for lower quality streaming. May as well get the VHS tapes out.
Yay for loyalty.
I would end up with a double price hike this year, as i got a 12 month sub in before last years increase… this is now just too much.
I got a 2 year free Disney + sub with a Phone and Tablet bundle purchase and hardly ever watched it. I only ever watched Simpsons, Orville and Malcolm in the middle. I now have 2 of the 3 in my ever growing physical media collection.
It was therefore ultimately cancelled and I have never subbed again thus saving me from wasting money yet on another subscription.
More reasons to use usenet and private trackers…
..or RD
I know it is only another quid, but where does it stop? Still better value than the TV licence, but still not sure if I will keep it going.
I am not going for the ad version, if I am paying, I don’t want ads.
These streaming services may price themselves pout of busines if they carry on.
Lol, it is not better value than the TV license … some people 😀
@pepster
The TV Licence for me is worth it just for the BBC Radio Norfolk Coverage of Norwich city games!
I don’t see all the hate for it, most people just relate to it funding eastenders….
This is really interesting. I remember when “the fall of Cable TV” happened and streaming services were the place to find “all your shows in one subscription.” I’d much rather pay 50/60 a month and have it all under one roof than have loads of different subscriptions.
Irony being that now Sky and others stream all their content, all you need is a small home box and the internet. Satellites will be gone soon, much easier and cheaper to fix a cable in the ground then going to space after all.
In 10 years they will be scratching their heads wondering why piracy is at an all time high.
Prices up, privacy up, so the companies will be lobbying the government to increase detection and prosecution rates.
I’ve decided to go with the Uber One deal and downgrade from premium, cancelling not being a practical/viable option as it is used.
So in my case at least they’re going to be getting less revenue because of this price rise, thanks Bob.
Well, unless next years Uber One subscription comes with Disney+ again, I won’t be having Disney+ again
Streaming in the early days was fantastic as you could watch what you wanted, when you wanted, and it was far cheaper than the cable and satellite companies who would only let you watch things on their chosen and often limited number of devices.
Now that the streamers have become established they are fast turning into what they were meant to replace as they up their prices, add in ads, and bring in restrictions on services.
In terms of content, the more streaming services out there, the higher the price they will have to pay to get the big titles people want and ultimately, it’s you and I that pay the price. On top of that, it seems that many services are going for quantity over quality with endless rehashes of the same formula of show or documentary.
Some people will just go down the route of having an Android tv box or firestick.
These apps are just scrapers, meaning they just search for movies and series on different servers on the internet and they doesn’t host anything. The devs have no control on:
1. What movies/TV series/subtitles are uploaded
2. When movies/TV series/subtitles are uploaded
3. What audio tracks/languages are included
4. What subtitles are included
5. Fixing a movie that doesn’t play
So there is no point in requesting movies, foreign audio and subtitles you want, as the devs can’t help you with anything that’s related to content.
There are people who are paying to the services to uploaded contact on the Web then making illigal money ripping them off then some people will reupload them for free
I don’t condone piracy
These greedy companies need to remember that a VPN or a seed box is a lot cheaper…
I pay for my Disney+ via turkey it costs me the equivalent of £30 a year even at that price it’s not worth it due to the lack of new content
I know it was an introductory offer but the service launched at £5.99 for the 4k only option and now that’s going to be £12.99