The American Express Platinum card comes with a $20/month “digital entertainment” credit that can be used for Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, the Disney Bundle, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. Probably the most popular way to use it is with the Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu.
Last October, Disney raised the price of its bundles, putting the combination of all three services without ads above that $20/month threshold.
Yesterday, the company announced that it will be raising prices again this October, however this time the increase is primarily focused on the individual streaming channels, which are all going up by $1-$2 per month. The only bundle increase is on the Basic Duo, which is Disney+ and Hulu, both with adds.
The new pricing will be in effect starting October 17th.
What’s Changing
Starting October 17th, the following pricing will take effect for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ subscriptions:
- Hulu with ads – $9.99/month, up from $7.99/month
- Hulu Premium – $18.99/month, up from $17.99/month
- Disney+ with ads – $9.99/month, up from $7.99/month
- Disney+ Premium – $15.99/month, up from $13.99/month
- ESPN+ (with ads) – $11.99/month, up from $10.99/month
- Disney Bundle Duo with ads – $10.99/month, up from $9.99/month: Disney+ (with Ads) and Hulu (with Ads).
- Disney Bundle Duo Premium – $19.99/month (no change): Disney+ (No Ads) and Hulu (No Ads).
Quick Thoughts
After last year’s changes, many Amex Platinum cardholders changed their Disney Bundle to the Premium Duo, since it fit nicely into the $20/month credit. Luckily, that remains unaffected in this year’s increases.
With the new pricing, folks who were only doing Disney+ or Hulu Premium (perhaps combined with one of the news options) have less incentive to do so, since the Duo bundle without ads is only $4 more than Disney by itself and $1 more than Hulu Premium.
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