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Disney to Bundle Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ at Popular Netflix Price


FILE - A screen shows the logo and a ticker symbol for The Walt Disney Company on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Dec. 14, 2017.
FILE - A screen shows the logo and a ticker symbol for The Walt Disney Company on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Dec. 14, 2017.

Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday said it would offer a $13-per-month bundle of its three streaming services starting in November, a move to attract audiences who have embraced digital services such as Netflix.

Disney's bundle includes family-friendly digital offering Disney+, sports service ESPN+, and Hulu, which will cater to adults, for a $5-per-month discount. The Hulu offering in the bundle will include commercials.

That price is the same as Netflix's most popular plan, which allows streaming on two devices simultaneously.

Disney "hamstrung Netflix by announcing a bundle of Disney+ and ESPN+ and ad-supported Hulu at the same price point," said Kamal Khan, analyst at Investing.com.

Executives at Disney and Netflix have said they believe there is room for both services in the growing market of digital options that are luring customers away from cable TV.

Video streaming competition will intensify soon, with Apple, AT&T's WarnerMedia's HBO Max and Comcast's NBCUniversal planning to roll out new services.

FILE - Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about the Apple TV during an event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, March 21, 2016.
FILE - Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about the Apple TV during an event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, March 21, 2016.

Customers are dropping cable TV but now must decide how much they want to pay for digital offerings.

Hulu is currently available for $5.99 a month with ads, or $11.99 without ads. ESPN+, which offers sports that are not shown on ESPN's cable channels, including Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts, rugby and some professional baseball and soccer games, costs $4.99 a month. Disney+ on its own will cost $6.99 when it starts streaming on Nov. 12 with a slate of new and classic TV shows and movies.

Disney shares were trading 5% lower after it reported a steeper earnings decline than Wall Street expected on Tuesday.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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