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ESPN Plus is getting more expensive on Aug. 13

The ESPN app on Apple TV
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Get ready to pay more for your subscription to ESPN Plus. As noted in the fine print on the service's website (and spotted earlier by Engadget), monthly rates for ESPN+ will increase by $1 to $6.99, and annual plans will go from $59.99 to $69.99, starting on Aug. 13, 2021, for new subscribers. Current subscribers will see their increases land with their first bill after that date.

While subscription increases never are welcome (by anyone except for the one doing the increasing, anyway), it's also not entirely surprising. ESPN+ increased its monthly price from $4.99 to $5.99 in August 2020 — and when it did so it said it wouldn't do so again before Aug. 12, 2021. That seemed to be a pretty specific date, and sure enough it's as if parent company Disney knew exactly when they'd be raising the rates again. (The annual price increased to $59.99 in January 2021.)

All that said, here's how the pricing will stand a month from now:

  • Monthly subscription: $6.99
  • Annual subscription: $69.99
  • Individual UFC pay-per-view events: $84.99
  • UFC PPV plus ESPN+ subscription: $89.98

Why is ESPN+ continuing to raise prices? Because it can. But also because it's all about pushing as many people as possible to the Disney+ Bundle. That's the scheme that gets you ESPN+, Disney+ and a basic Hulu subscription for $13.99 a month. (It doesn't yet offer an annual rate.) As the three individual services get more expensive (Disney+ is $7.99 a month, and Hulu starts at $5.99), it makes the bundle more attractive.

Phil Nickinson
