Why ESPN and Other Streaming Services Keep Raising Subscription Costs
ESPN is hiking streaming prices by another $1–2 a month starting Sept. 17, according to the company's support page and as reported by TheWrap.
ESPN Select climbs to $13.99/month ($139.99/year), ESPN Unlimited jumps to $31.99/month ($319.99/year), and the Disney+/Hulu bundles get a matching bump. This is the first price hike since the direct-to-consumer launch a year ago, and it's a textbook example of what happens when a "no-contract, cancel anytime" service hits its growth ceiling.
The ESPN math, plain and simple
ESPN Select at $13.99 is roughly an 8% jump. ESPN Unlimited at $31.99 is just under 7%. Both plans now charge more for the same content you were getting last month. The Unlimited tier still bundles all ESPN linear networks, ESPN+, studio shows, and 47,000+ live events including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WWE, and the major college conferences. Select strips out the linear networks but keeps around 32,000 live events annually.
The features keep improving, too. Multiview, the personalized "SportsCenter For You" feed, the Verts vertical video stream, plus NFL Network and CW Sports programming now live inside the ESPN app. Disney's sports segment pulled in $3.14 billion in subscription and ad fees last quarter, up 8% year-over-year. They can raise prices because fans keep paying.
The bigger pattern: every streamer has price-hike reflexes
ESPN isn't an outlier. CableTV.com just published a full retrospective tracking two decades of streaming price increases, and the pattern is grim. Netflix doubled its original $7.99 Standard plan over roughly 14 years. Disney+ did the same thing in just four. Netflix Basic is gone as of January 2025, Premium now sits at $26.99/month, and Standard with Ads costs $8.99 if you want to dodge the sticker shock while accepting ads. Disney+ launched at $6.99 in 2019, added ads in 2022, and keeps climbing every October.
Every major streamer runs the same playbook: launch cheap, lock in subscribers, then raise prices every 12–18 months while quietly restricting password sharing or shoving ads into the tier you actually want. The "$3 more to remove ads" surcharge is now an industry default, not an exception.
What to actually do
If you're paying for ESPN Unlimited solo, ask yourself one question: are you watching enough live sports to justify $383.88 a year? If yes, keep it and audit the bundle. The Disney+/Hulu/ESPN Unlimited trio exists specifically to upsell you. If you're a casual fan who only needs ESPN for football season, ESPN Select is cheaper, but the linear networks vanish. Either way, set a calendar reminder for Sept. 17 and decide before the auto-charge hits.
For everyone else, the rule stays the same: streaming price hikes are no longer "if" but "when." Rotate services seasonally, share family plans where the ToS allows, and treat every subscription as a 12-month commitment you have to actively renew. If you want a different kind of sports-content investment, some fans are moving toward VIP membership tiers that bundle streaming access, ticketing, and collectibles in one upfront price, like TNA Wrestling's all-inclusive VIP membership for streaming subscribers. Different model, same logic: lock in early before the next hike lands.
