While Disney Upped Its Streaming Prices This Week, ‘Shrinking’ and ‘The Devil’s Hour’ Returned
Catch up on the biggest streaming news and recommendations from the past week.
A week after DIRECTV increased its subscription prices for live TV streaming service DIRECTV STREAM, the company’s recent foe Disney also made good on its plan to raise its own streaming prices across the board, including Disney+, Hulu, and more. Catch up on the details from the official price increases and how they affect each standalone service and bundle.
Plus, two of the TV’s most acclaimed series debuted their sophomore seasons this week — here’s what you should be streaming this weekend!
This Week’s Biggest Streaming News:
Disney Raises Subscription Prices On Nearly All Streamers and Bundles
Disney gave a two-month warning back in August it would be upping its subscription prices, and with fall finally here, so is the rise. As of this Thursday, Oct. 17, the House of Mouse has raised the prices on all of its streamers including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Hulu + Live TV, as well as most of the bundles that combine them all.
Standalone services have gone up by $1 or $2 per service with its lowest-priced plan, Disney+ Basic (with ads), now $10 per month. The only products that have not been impacted by the rate increases are the Disney Bundle Duo Premium package, which combines Disney+ and Hulu without ads, and the recent Disney+ Hulu Max bundle, which remains at $17 per month for its ad-supported plan and $30 per month ad-free.
The changes being expected don’t make them any less impactful: Disney+ and Hulu are now among the most expensive ad-supported streaming plans on the market, matching Max’s monthly price. This has been Disney’s plan, as it continues to drive customers toward its bundled options, but the House of Mouse has no intention of also being the House of Pain. New Hulu + Live TV customers (as well as anyone who has canceled their Hulu + Live TV service more than a month ago) can currently get a three-month discount of $70 (nearly 28% of the cost) until Tuesday, Nov. 19. All Hulu + Live TV subscriptions also get you the ad-supported Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+ and ESPN+.
And while we believe Disney’s services still stack up to its competitors regardless of price, if three years in a row of Disney price increases has become too much for the budget or you’re not interested in bundling services, we’ve rounded up the best alternatives to save money and keep streaming.
Catch up on our recent stories related to the Disney price increases:
- Disney Raising Prices on Almost All Streaming Services and Bundles This Fall
- Disney Streamers Are Set to Raise Prices; How Do New Rates Stack Up to Competition?
- Get a Huge Deal From Hulu + Live TV and Save Nearly $70
- Canceling Disney+, Hulu or ESPN+ Ahead of Price Increases? What Are the Best Alternatives?
Hulu Live TV
Hulu Live TV is a live TV streaming service with more than 70 channels for $82.99/month. Hulu + Live TV base plan includes local channels, 33 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs). Subscribers get free access to Disney+ and ESPN+ at no extra charge.
What to Stream This Weekend: “Shrinking” Season 2
The doctor is back in. This weekend, do something good for your mind and take your seat on the couch for Season 2 of Apple TV+’s “Shrinking.” The acclaimed comedy series from “Ted Lasso” team Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, as well as star Jason Segel, returned this past Wednesday, Oct. 16, with its first two episodes available to stream now.
Segel leads the cast as Jimmy, a grieving therapist, and widower who has decided to tell his therapists exactly how he thinks they should solve their problems instead of letting them find their own paths forward, with varying successes and ethical boundaries crossed. The journey continues with more laughs and heart in its second season as Jimmy continues to struggle with grief as he tries to strengthen his relationship with his daughter and while his mentor Dr. Paul Rhodes (Harrison Ford in his second-ever TV starring role) navigates his recent Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis. The Emmy-nominated series also stars Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, and Ted McGinley, plus Marla Gibbs, Damon Wayans Jr., and Goldstein joining the Season 2 ensemble.
Watch the trailer for “Shrinking” Season 2 below:
While Season 1 was more of a slow burn, the “Lasso” team has done it again with a stronger second session, more grown and grounded— looks like the therapy is working, after all. The first two episodes of the 12-episode Season 2 are available to watch now on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode weekly every Wednesday until Christmas, Dec. 25 (what better way to spend holiday family time than in psychoanalysis?).
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is a subscription video streaming service for $9.99 a month that includes high-quality original shows and movies including Best Picture winner “CODA,” popular sitcom “Ted Lasso,” and dramas like “The Morning Show” and “Severance.” Apple TV+ is also home to MLB baseball games on Friday nights and MLS Season Pass. Apple TV+ can be added as a channel on Prime Video.
New to Streaming This Weekend: “The Devil’s Hour” Season 2
From one doctor to another, the clock strikes on Season 2 of the Peter Capaldi and Jessica Raine-starred “The Devil’s Hour,” which returns today, Oct. 18, for its second season.
The Emmy-nominated Prime Video supernatural thriller follows Raine’s Lucy, a social worker suffering from insomnia who wakes every night at exactly 3:33 a.m. with terrifying visions of her in a traumatic parallel life. To process those feelings, she must connect with Capaldi’s Gideon Shepherd, a killer who can see into Lucy’s past, present, and future.
The more action-forward Season 2 picks up where Season 1 left off after revealing Lucy’s connection to Gideon and to a string of brutal murders in the area as the two begrudgingly pair up to hunt down the monster that has eluded her so far. Meanwhile, Lucy’s double life sees her split “between family and duty as she finds herself in the crosshairs of her past-life husband, DI Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel).” In addition to Raine, Capaldi, and Patel, the series also stars Phil Dunster, Saffron Hocking, Alex Ferns, Benjamin Chivers, Barbara Marten, Talia Walker Bassols, and Meera Syal.
Combining supernatural thrills, award-worthy performances, and spine-tingling mystery, “The Devil’s Hour” is the perfect weekend watch during the Halloween season— and relatively speedy, with only five episodes in the new season (thank you, British TV).
The series was initially conceived as a trilogy, so there’s still (at least) one more season to come, but you can now stream all episodes of “The Devil’s Hour” Season 2, as well as the six-episode first season, on Prime Video.
Watch the trailer for Season 2 of “The Devil’s Hour” below:
The Devil's Hour
Lucy wakes every night at exactly 3:33am. Nothing in her life has made sense for a long time. But the answers are out there, somewhere, at the end of a trail of brutal murders.