Disney should stop the trickery and just combine Disney+ and Hulu already

Jared Newman   |   September 25, 2026

Disney doesn’t seem to think too highly of its individual Disney+ and Hulu subscribers.

That’s the only explanation for its latest price hikes, which largely eliminate any reason to pay for either service separately. Oh, Disney will still let you do it, but you’ll only be saving 50 cents per month versus the bundle of Disney+ and Hulu together. The a la carte route is a rip-off by design, intended to make Disney’s bundles look more attractive.

Here’s what the new pricing looks like:

  • Disney+ (with ads): $11.99 → $12.49/mo.
  • Hulu (with ads): $11.99 → $12.49/mo.
  • Disney+ and Hulu bundle (with ads): Still $12.99/mo.
  • Disney+ (no ads): $18.99 → $21.49/mo.
  • Hulu (no ads): $18.99 → $21.49/mo.
  • Disney+ and Hulu bundle (no ads): $19.99 → $21.99/mo.

If Disney had a little more respect for its customers, it would just end this little charade and combine Disney+ and Hulu already. Instead, it’s made the cynical calculation that the appearance of a deal is better for business.

Read the full column →

Weekly rewind

The other Disney price hikes: I mentioned this in the column as well, but if you’re bundling Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max, those prices also quietly ticked upward this week. The trio rose from $19.99 to $21.99 per month with ads, or $32.99 to $34.99 without.

Meanwhile, the cost of Hulu + Live TV has risen from $90 to $100 per month when bundled with Disney+, Hulu on-demand, and ESPN Unlimited. I just don’t see any compelling reason to have this over YouTube TV or DirecTV’s streaming packages anymore.

Paramount merger: The states that were suing Paramount to stop it from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery have given up, agreeing to settle the case in exchange for some weak concessions: Paramount says it will spend at least $300 million per year on theatrical film releases for the next five years, and it will establish a toothless editorial oversight board for CBS and CNN.

The deal afforded no concessions for Paramount’s and Warner’s streaming offerings, which will almost certainly become worse under the merger. Paramount’s poorly-defined plan involves combining Paramount+ and HBO Max into one service, but with few details so far about how that would work in practice. Meanwhile, any live TV services that carry Paramount or Warner channels will become more expensive as the combined entity demands greater carriage fees. These media megamergers seldom work out in consumers’ favor.

More catch-up

Save more money

This part of the newsletter has some affiliate links, which earn me a commission if you wind up buying or subscribing to something.

Roku’s new OLED TVs are already on sale: 55-inch for $700 with code ROKUOLED300, 65-inch for $800 with code ROKUOLED400. According to Tom’s Guide, they’re noticeably less bright than mid-range OLED TVs from LG and Samsung, but at these prices they’re also considerably cheaper than any other OLEDs. (At checkout, select “Use a gift card, voucher, or promo code,” enter the code, then hit the yellow “Use this payment method” button to see the updated price.)

Other notable deals:

  • Fox One extends its half-price deal, so it’s still $99 for one year through September 30.
  • MS Now’s half-price deal ($40 for one year) also runs through September 30.
  • YouTube TV genre packs: Six months of Sports for $45 per month, or Sports + News for $52 per month. Various other genre pack deals can be found here.
  • No new $1 per month Paramount+ code at the moment. I’ll keep looking, but you can still get half-off a year with code SAVEANNUAL50 in the meantime.

Check this page for a full list of up-to-date deals.

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Until next week,
Jared