The annual subscription cost remains unchanged.
For the first time since its launch in 2018, ESPN+ is raising its monthly subscription price.
According to The Verge, the sports streaming service, home to the UFC, PFL, and Top Rank Boxing, is going up from $4.99 per month to $5.99 per month starting in August. This move puts ESPN Plus and Hulu on equal footing in terms of monthly pricing. It should be noted that the annual price of $49.99 remains unchanged, and anyone who is currently on the $4.99 monthly subscription will be grandfathered into the $5.99 cost in a year’s time.
Internal documents show that the ESPN+ subscriber count was at 7.9 million as of March 2020. Disney has been offering a $12.99 per month bundle of Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and Hulu that’s proven hugely beneficial for ESPN Plus. The bundle pricing also remains unchanged for now.
As it pertain to UFC fans, this is not a first-time rise in prices. The UFC’s pay-per-views went up from $59.99 to $64.99 at the start of this year, beginning with Conor McGregor’s return at UFC 246. ESPN Plus is also home to club and international soccer, college sports, Major League Baseball, and National Hockey League, among other live and original sports programming.
Reasons for the price increase are not yet known.
But hey, at least this isn’t as bad as YouTube TV skyrocketing up to $64.99 per month just because they added a few Viacom channels.