Disney's (DIS) flagship streaming service is set to get pricier for subscribers in the U.S. this week.
The price of a Disney+ subscription will increase to $7.99 per month, or $79.99 per year, for U.S. subscribers starting Friday. Disney previously announced in December that prices would be increasing for U.S. customers by $1 dollar in March. Currently, Disney+ costs domestic subscribers $6.99 per month, or $69.99 per year.
The price hike marks the first increase in rates for U.S. consumers since the streaming platform's launch in November 2019. Disney's streaming service would still be priced competitively compared to Netflix's (NFLX) monthly fee of $8.99 for its basic plan. Netflix's most popular standard streaming plan, which includes high definition streaming, costs $13.99 per month.
Earlier this month, Disney announced it had reached 100 million Disney+ subscribers in only 16 months of operation.
The company said as recently as December that it expects between 230 million-260 million global subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024, with these projections marking an increase from the 60 million-90 million subscribers the company targeted in 2019. Disney expects Disney+ to become a profitable business segment by fiscal 2024, after the company's direct-to-consumer business segment containing Disney+ lost $2.8 billion in fiscal 2020.
Shares of Disney have risen 2% for the year-to-date, underperforming compared to the S&P 500's 3.5% gain since the start of 2021.
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck
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