Streaming service Hulu is updating its monthly pricing plans, decreasing the price tag of its entry-level, on-demand offerings while increasing the cost for live TV subscriptions. Hulu's basic service, which includes more than 85,000 episodes of TV shows such as "This is Us" and "Killing Eve," as well as Hulu originals including "The Handmaid's Tale," will now cost $5.99 monthly, a $2 reduction in the service, which includes limited commercials. The price of monthly on-demand streaming without commercials remains $11.99. Hulu's live TV service, which has more than 60 channels, including local major networks (where available), is available in two flavors: $44.99 monthly for Hulu + Live TV with commercials (an increase of $5 monthly), and $50.99 monthly for Hulu + Live TV with no ads, an increase of $7 monthly. The price changes go into effect Feb. 26 for new subscribers; current subscribers will see the new monthly fees reflected in the subsequent billing cycle after that date. Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger hinted at possible Hulu live TV price increases in November during the company's discussion of its fiscal fourth quarter financials. Hulu has experimented with lower prices for its basic service, including a $2 price drop in October 2017. Meanwhile, many of Hulu's live TV competitors increased prices last year, pointing primarily at the rising cost of programming as services added local TV broadcasters and more channels. And Netflix, the on-demand streaming leader, is raising prices, too. Last week, the net TV provider rose prices for new subscribers: its most popular plan of two HD streams increased by $2 to $12.99, while its $7.99 non-HD plan increased by $1 to $8.99. Netflix's $13.99 premium plan with four simultaneous streams in 4K rose $2 to $15.99. Those prices will kick in for current subscribers over the next three months. Hulu began offering on-demand streamed TV and movies in 2008 and expanded into live TV in May 2017 with 50 channels. Since then, it has expanded to more than 60 channels, including recently adding Discovery Channel, TLC, OWN, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery and Motor Trend. The service has live local broadcasts from more than 800 local TV affiliates (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC). Hulu's on-demand library includes many TV favorites including "ER," "Lost," "Seinfeld" and "South Park." Hulu is operated by Disney (ABC), which has its original 30 percent stake plus the 30 percent stake it got in assets Disney paid Fox $71 billion last year. Comcast (NBCUniversal) owns a 30 percent stake with AT&T (WarnerMedia) owning the remaining 10 percent. The price changes come after Disney said last week it lost $580 million in its fiscal year ending Sept. 29, 2018, primarily for spending of programming on Hulu, as well as labor and marketing expenditures, all partially offset by growth in subscriptions and ad revenue. More:You should watch both Fyre Fest docs on Hulu and Netflix (despite behind-the-scenes drama) More:Heads up, cord cutters: YouTube TV goes national Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.<doc-sep>Photo: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images Days after Netflix said it was hiking prices across the board, rival streamer Hulu today announced it was slashing the cost of its cheapest plan. Starting February 26, the basic ad-supported level of the service will drop to $5.99 per month, a 25-percent decrease from the current $7.99 rate. The less-good-but-not-really-bad news: If you prefer to Hulu without those annoying commercials, the monthly fee will remain at $11.99. The new price structure means Hulu will continue to be the least expensive of the Big Three subscription-based video on-demand streamers, but while Hulu is making it cheaper to sample its wares, the company is raising the cost of at least one of its offerings. Hulu with Live TV — which bundles the core subscription service with feeds of 60-plus broadcast and cable channels — will soon set consumers back $44.99 each month, up about 13 percent from the current $39.99 monthly fee. Competitors such as YouTube TV and DirecTV Now cost a minimum of $40 per month (at least for now), but they don’t include a Hulu-like VOD service. What’s more, DirecTV Now owner AT&T has hinted it will likely up the price of its direct-to-consumer offering again this year, perhaps substantially. So why the mixed signals from Hulu — price cuts for some, but increases for others among its just-over 25 million subscribers? A source familiar with the company’s thinking says when Hulu has offered the $5.99 price as a limited-time-only promotional offering, it’s resulted in more usage and fewer people canceling the service. Plus, with Apple, AT&T, Disney, and others set to jump into the streaming wars this year, it makes sense for Hulu to get as many folks as possible hooked into its ecosystem now — and then hope they’ll eventually upgrade to one of the more expensive tiers of service. By contrast, folks now paying for Hulu with Live TV are most likely serious cord cutters who’ve already replaced their traditional cable TV bundle in favor of Hulu’s digital alternative. Hulu is likely betting most of these consumers will shrug and accept the higher cost, particularly since cable and satellite options are almost all more expensive (and have also upped their prices this year). For those who aren’t so accepting, at least one less expensive option just became more accessible: YouTube TV today announced it was expanding to 95 more markets across the country, making it available pretty much nationwide for the first time.<doc-sep>Hulu drops the price for its streaming service to $6 per month, but raises prices for Live TV While Netflix is raising prices, Hulu is lowering its own. In a move to better compete with streaming rivals — and pick up new customers who think Netflix just got too expensive — Hulu this morning announced it’s lowering the cost of its streaming service by $2.00 per month. Currently, the service is $7.99 monthly. After the price change goes into effect, it will only be $5.99. Hulu’s changes come shortly after Netflix’s decision to raise the price for its most popular plan in the U.S. to $12.99 per month, up from $10.99. Its one-device plan is also now going up to $8.99 per month, and the four-device plan is $15.99. Following Netflix’s announcement, various consumer surveys indicated that at least some Netflix customers may consider dropping the streaming service as a result, or at least downgrade. But how many people said they would actually ditch Netflix varied widely, depending on which survey you read. Streaming Observer, for example, said 10 percent of customers were considering downgrading their plan and 65 percent would consider a discounted ad-supported plan, like Hulu. But Hub Entertainment Research said 16 percent would downgrade, and only 9 percent said they’d leave Netflix. In any event, if there are customers on the market now looking for a better deal on streaming, Hulu is ready to pick them up. As another perk, Hulu in the past has seen higher engagement and retention from its $5.99 per month customers (who signed up for Hulu with a promotional discount). This also contributed to Hulu’s decision to make this its new price. However, the company isn’t adjusting the price of its ad-free streaming service, which remains $11.99 per month, nor is it dropping the price of its Live TV service — in fact, that’s now going up. To help make up for the fact that Hulu is using its core package as a loss leader, the price for Hulu with Live TV is increasing by $5, going from $39.99 to $44.99 per month. And the ad-free version of Hulu with Live TV is going up $7, from $43.99 to $50.99 per month. Those new prices are dangerously close to — and in some cases, exactly the same as — the traditional cable TV package cord cutters are aiming to replace. That could make it more difficult for Hulu to compete with other live TV packages — especially because some have the advantage of being bundled with wireless service, like AT&T’s DirecTV Now or WatchTV. Meanwhile, others have found ways to keep prices down, like the sports-free bundle from Philo; the cheap $25/mo base package from Sling TV; or the $40/mo YouTube TV service with all your local channels (which also just became available nationwide). Hulu’s higher pricing, however, indicates the company believes its service is worth the premium because it not only streams live programming from more than 60 channels, it additionally includes Hulu’s large on-demand library of more than 85,000 TV episodes, as well as its original content, like “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Marvel’s Runaways,” “Future Man” and “Castle Rock.” However, Hulu is bringing down the price of some of its Live TV add-ons to make the package price increase more palatable. Its Unlimited Screens and Enhanced Cloud DVR will each cost $5 less per month, going from $14.99 to $9.99/mo. And subscribers can buy a bundle with both for $14.98 per month. Hulu says the new pricing will go into effect on February 26, 2019. Existing users are not being grandfathered in to current pricing, but will rather see the changes reflected on their billing cycle after the 26th.<doc-sep>Hulu is dropping the price of its most popular plan to $5.99 per month — down from $7.99 — as the company works to stay competitive in a crowded video streaming space, the company announced Wednesday. The ad-free version of Hulu is sticking at $11.99 per month, and Hulu's live TV option will see a small price hike, to $44.99 per month from $39.99. The price updates take effect Feb. 26. The change comes as streaming incumbents like Netflix, HBO and Hulu are upping content spends and investing in original programming in an effort to claim increasingly contested market share. Streaming incumbents are feeling the pressure from new entrants and increasingly blowing through cash. Netflix announced price hikes last week, bumping its cheapest plan to $9 per month. Hulu's new prices, though apparently not a ploy to raise capital, could lock in customers ahead of key streaming launches from media giants. AT&T, Disney and NBCUniversal are all set to launch streaming services in the next two years. The rate increase at the highest tier will also help Hulu achieve a better margin on a traditionally expensive live TV offering. Alphabet-owned YouTube TV announced a nationwide expansion of its similar live TV plan Wednesday, at $40 per month. At $5.99 per month for the basic, ad-supported plan, Hulu is positioning itself to be the cheapest among its peers. Disclosure: Comcast, which owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal, is a co-owner of Hulu. — CNBC's Julia Boorstin contributed to this report. WATCH: CNBC's full interview with Hulu CEO Randy Freer<doc-sep>
Last week, Netflix revealed its biggest price hike ever, increasing the cost of its “Standard” plan from $10.99 to $12.99 per month. In response to that change, Hulu today announced a price cut, making its entry-level subscription more affordable for users. For Live TV users, however, the story is slightly different… Hulu says that its ad-supported entry-level subscription will drop from $7.99 to $5.99 per month. The change will go into effect on February 26th. The company’s ad-free plan will remain at $11.99 per month, while the Hulu + Spotify combination plan stays at $12.99 per month. In addition to making its ad-supported tier cheaper, however, Hulu is also hiking the price of its Hulu with Live TV plan. The service currently starts at $39.99 per month, but that will jump to $44.99 per month when the new pricing goes into effect next month. To help counteract that increase, Hulu is dropping the price of its DVR and multi-screen viewing add-ons from $14.99 per month to $9.99 per month each. Hulu justifies this price increase by saying it has added new content and live TV channels, as well as made technical enhancements, over the last year to improve user experience: Over the past year, Hulu has added thousands of exclusive TV episodes and movies, launched nearly a dozen additional popular live TV channels – including The CW, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and ABC News – and upgraded the technology platforms to support more devices and provide superior quality to our viewers. With Hulu’s ad-supported tier price drop to $5.99, it becomes an enticing alternative to Netflix. Netflix starts at $8.99 per month for its non-HD tier, whereas Hulu’s entry-level subscription does support HD streaming. All of the price changes will go into effect on February 26th, with existing subscribers seeing the changes reflected in their subsequent billing cycle after February 26th. Hulu also recently teased a major redesign coming to its application. Related stories: Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: