The Complete History of Hulu with Live TV Price Hikes
Introduction
Hulu is best known for its on-demand streaming, but in 2017, they added live TV to the platform.
At $39.99 per month, new and existing on-demand customers had access to 50+ channels and 50 hours cloud DVR. It also increased Hulu’s subscription cost drastically, but it came at a steal for Hulu users who already enjoyed watching content on-demand, and became a serious contender when it comes to live TV streaming services.
Now, however, prices have nearly doubled since its live TV launch more than seven years ago. Some customers have found the hikes steep, even with the perks of unlimited DVR and bundles with Disney+ and ESPN+. However, as they shift management and have made surprising deals, Hulu’s live TV may prove to be worth the price. This article will focus entirely on Hulu’s live TV offers.
Hulu with Live TV Price Hikes
February 26, 2019. $39.99 to $44.99 (Hulu Live TV plan with ads)
A year after launch, Hulu raised prices for its live TV plans for the first time. The increase comes with 10+ more channels and improved local coverage across the nation, making the line-up more than 60 channels.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV – $44.99/month (+$5 increase)
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV – $50.99/month (+$7 increase)
Hulu attributes these increases due to programming, labor, and marketing costs, but it’s possible that the bidding war with Comcast in 2018 over 60% stake in Hulu might have affected pricing.
December 18, 2019. $44.99 to $54.99 (Hulu Live TV plan with ads)
Before the year ended, Hulu increased prices again by $10 for all plans. Hulu said the steep price hike “better reflects” what the service offers. They also started to offer a standalone live TV plan around this time.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV – $54.99/month
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV – $60.99/month
- Live TV standalone plan – $53.99/month (new plan)
However, it’s likely that the Disney-Fox merger that completed July of that year played a role in the hike. After Disney assumed full control over the streamer in May, Hulu went through multiple layoffs and management restructuring that likely pushed prices up.
December 18, 2020. $54.99 to $64.99 (Hulu Live TV plan with ads)
Hulu increased by $10 the following year, but only for all their live TV plans. Hulu’s on-demand plans remained the same.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV – $64.99/month
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV – $70.99/month
- Live TV standalone plan – $63.99/month
The increase follows after Hulu expanded their channel line-up to 65+ channels, varying depending on location.
December 21, 2021. $64.99 to $69.99 (Hulu Live TV plan with ads)
With Hulu and Disney’s fates aligned, it made sense for Hulu to start adding Disney’s new streaming services to their bundles. Disney+ and ESPN+ came with a $5 price increase to the live TV plans.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+, ESPN+ – $69.99/month
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV, Disney+, ESPN+ – $75.99/month
- Live TV standalone plan – $68.99/month
The decision came at a key time in both streaming services: Disney+ needed new subscribers, while the Hulu subscriber count was at a plateau.
December 18, 2022. $69.99 to $69.99 (Hulu and Disney+ with ads, Live TV plan)
Hulu continued the trend of price increases for all plans. However, Disney modified the bundle structure to reflect Disney Plus’ new ad-supported tier. The cheapest plan now has both Hulu on-demand and Disney+ with ads. Hulu also stopped offering the original live TV base plan (which has ads for Hulu, but not Disney) to new subscribers, though existing customers can opt to keep their plans.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (with ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $69.99/month (new plan)
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $74.99/month (+$5 increase) – became a legacy plan this year
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $82.99/month (+$7 increase)
- Live TV standalone plan – $68.99/month (no change)
Thankfully, the hike wasn’t as steep as previous years. It also arrived after Hulu expanded its channel line-up to 85+ channels, as well as offering unlimited DVR at no additional cost starting April 2022.
October 12, 2023. $69.99 to $76.99 (Hulu and Disney+ with ads, Live TV plan)
Most Hulu Live TV plans increased by $7 in 2023. This could be attributed to the programming, as the channel line-up also expanded to more than 90 channels this year, but the standalone plan still remains the same price.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (with ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $76.99/month
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $81.99/month (legacy plan)
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $89.99/month
- Live TV standalone plan – $68.99/month (no change)
Therefore, it’s likely then that Disney+ and ESPN+ were the reasons behind the price hikes.
October 17, 2024. $76.99 to $82.99 (Hulu and Disney+ with ads, Live TV plan)
Hulu raised prices on all Live TV plans by $6.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (with ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $82.99/month
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $87.99/month (legacy plan)
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $95.99/month
- Hulu live TV standalone plan – $81.99/month
October 21, 2025. $82.99 to $89.99 (Hulu and Disney+ with ads, Live TV plan)
Hulu raised prices on nearly all plans, though it’s the live TV plans that got the highest hikes. Ad-supported Hulu with live TV plans has a $7 increase, compared to the $3-$5 hike of their on-demand offers.
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (with ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $89.99/month (+$7 increase)
- Hulu (with ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $94.99/month (legacy plan, +$7 increase)
- Hulu (no ads) + Live TV, Disney+ (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads) – $99.99/month (+$4 increase)
- Hulu live TV standalone plan – $88.99/month (+$7 increase)
This price hike follows Disney’s purchase of a 70% stake in fellow live TV streamer Fubo, whose operations will merge with Hulu’s Live TV side. We’ll talk more about it in the section below.
Hulu with Live TV Future Price Hikes
Hulu + Live TV has gone through so many price hikes. In fact, their plans have increased much more often than Hulu on-demand, to the point that the current live TV base price is nearly double the original 2017 rate. As such, it would be disappointing, but it won’t be a surprise if the hikes continue to increase next October.
However, there’s a lot in store for Hulu that might affect more than just the price.
The biggest change would be the Disney+ and Hulu integration in 2026. We predicted its integration in June 2025, though most reports focus on the on-demand side of Hulu– that is, that all on-demand Hulu content will stream within the Disney+ platform, and would replace the Star brand internationally. Currently, there are no plans to delete the Hulu platform itself, though this move hints at its eventual phase-out.
What’s unclear about the change is Hulu’s Live TV side.
What we do know is this: In a surprising twist to Disney’s antitrust lawsuit, Disney and Fubo announced in early 2025 that they plan to merge Hulu + Live TV with Fubo. This deal reportedly won’t combine the two platforms into one yet, but in terms of day-to-day operations, the team-up could mean better tech integrations with sports streaming, which Fubo is best known for. It’s an interesting pivot, though it may take a while as the deal would still have to go through regulation.
Because of this, Disney has a lot to decide on over the fate of Hulu. It’s entirely possible that they would split Hulu in half, moving their on-demand efforts on Disney+ and their live TV side on Fubo. It’s also possible that Fubo would become Hulu + Live TV instead, though it’s unlikely since Fubo still owns 30%. Or, maybe we’re just overthinking this, and the Fubo deal could just be Disney trying to enter into sports streaming, as we mentioned in our Disney+ price hikes page.
Whichever way Disney chooses, we hope that the changes won’t mean increased prices for consumers. Either way, we’ll keep an eye out on Hulu + Live TV’s price hikes, as well as the price increases for other streamers on our website.
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