Disney+ ad-supported tier to debut in the U.S. in December alongside price hike

Disney has confirmed pricing and a launch date for its lower-priced, ad-supported membership for Disney+.

Debuting in the U.S. on December 8th, this new tier will be called ‘Disney+ Basic’ and be priced at $7.99 USD/month (about $10.21 CAD). That’s the current price for Disney+ in the U.S. The existing ad-free membership, meanwhile, will be rebranded as Disney+ Premium and cost $10.99 USD/month (about $14.04 CAD), a 38 percent increase.

However, it’s yet clear what any of this means for Canada. MobileSyrup has reached out to Disney for confirmation on whether ‘Disney+ Basic’ will come to Canada and will update this story once a response has been received.

For context, Disney declined to comment earlier this year on whether the ad-supported tier would release in Canada. It should also be noted that Disney+ is quite different in Canada compared to the U.S. In Canada, Disney+ features a variety of titles that are in the U.S. on Hulu, a completely separate service that has optional bundles with Disney+. Additionally, Disney+ in Canada costs $11.99/month or $119.99/year, so the pricing is also different from the U.S. to begin with.

News of the Disney+ Basic launch came during Disney’s Q3 2022 earnings release, in which it also confirmed that it has reached 152.1 million Disney+ subscribers. This is well above the 147 million that analysts had forecast. Disney says only 100,000 new subscribers were in the U.S. and Canada, meaning the majority came from international markets.

Via: Variety