Quick Rant: The Price Of Streaming Is Going Up, And Our Pockets Are Tired [Op-Ed]

In today’s episode of This Ain’t A Malcolm X Speech, But ‘Get Yo Hand Out Of My Pocket,’ the Walt Disney Company is raising prices for several of its subscription plans, including Disney+, Hulu, and certain bundle options, and, man — are our bank accounts not stressed out enough?

From CBS News:

Both standalone ad-free plans for Disney+ and Hulu are increasing by $2.50, or 13%, bringing the total cost to $21.49 a month for each, the entertainment giant told CBS News on Wednesday. The cost of Disney+ and Hulu plans with ads will both rise by 50 cents to $12.49 a month. The ad-free plan that bundles the services will also go up by $2 to $21.99.

The company said it will continue pricing its most popular bundle, a joint Disney+/Hulu subscription with ads, at $12.99.

The price hikes for new subscribers take effect immediately, while existing subscribers will see the new billing rates kick in next month.

The streaming service released a full breakdown of its new subscription prices, so if you’re a customer, you can check and see how much extra change Disney will be wringing out of your pockets after turning you upside down and shaking you until the lint starts to fall out.

Maybe I’m being dramatic.

After all, it’s just one service hiking its prices up by a couple of bucks. I’m not exactly being asked to choose between going ad-free and paying my mortgage this month just yet. I’ll worry when this becomes a trend.

Wait, don’t tell me…

*sigh*

From the Guardian:

Price hikes among streaming services have become so common that The Verge has a dedicated page aggregating the news of them, which tends to arrive every few months. Apple, apparently high on Emmy fumes, has raised its prices four times in four years, keeping pace with many of its competitors despite a vastly smaller dedicated catalog. Depending on which version of Peacock subscribers use, they’ve seen their bills padded by five or six dollars a month just since the summer of 2025, including another increase last month. Netflix, meanwhile, hasn’t gone up since March 2026. That’s not a reprieve; that’s a sign another hike must be around the corner.

So, basically, we can count on the entire streaming world to be out here collectively doing its best Marlo Stanfield impersonation.

The Stanfield reference is appropriate here, because any true fan of The Wire knows that man was just greedy. According to Ars Technica, in its most recent quarterly earnings report, Disney reported that revenue from Disney+ and Hulu increased 11%. So, it ain’t like Marlo+ needs the money; this is just capitalism doing what it do.

See, that is why an estimated 39% of U.S. customers canceled a streaming service in the past six months because of what the Guardian described as “streamflation.” It’s also why so many of us can only afford multiple subscriptions because we have a strong “what’s your login?” community, but virtually all streaming companies are cracking down on password sharing, so we can’t even save our coins that way without corporate thugs minding our business.

In this economy, our stretched-to-near-death gas and grocery budgets are now looking at our entertainment budgets like: “You new?”

Can we just catch a break?

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