The New Disney+, Hulu and Max Bundle Isn’t Such a Bad Deal
I’m not a fan of streaming: companies keep raising prices and tightening password sharing rules , and it’s all starting to feel like cable TV again.
However, what are you going to do: not watch TV? There is so much good content coming out all the time that there are probably several subscription services you’ll want to watch on any given night. If those three are Disney+, Hulu , and Max , you might like this new package —if you’re willing to make some compromises.
There are two Disney+ packages, Hulu and Max.
The package offered by Disney comes in two plans: the first is an ad-supported tier for all three services. For $16.99, you can watch Disney+, Hulu, and Max content with some commercial breaks. It will typically cost you $25.97 when you subscribe to all three services separately ($9.99 for Max and $7.99 each for Disney+ and Hulu).
If you don’t want to deal with ads, you can opt for the more expensive No Ads package, which will cost you $29.99 per month. While it’s certainly not “cheap”, it’s $18.98 cheaper than an individual subscription for additional plans, which is $48.97. ($16.99 for Max, $17.99 for Max, $13.99 for Disney+). This plan also supports downloads, which is surprisingly missing from the Ads-Based plan.
On the surface, this isn’t such a bad thing: If you want to watch content from all three of these services every month, either plan will be cheaper than keeping separate subscriptions. But there are two caveats to consider here.
Max probably won’t stream in 4K
As The Verge reports , Disney is being cagey about the quality of the video streams within these specific packages. The company won’t officially reveal streaming resolutions, leading The Verge to suspect plans will be limited to the resolutions you’d expect from ads and basic ad-free services. While this won’t be a surprise for With Ads, it’s a bummer for Max, whose basic ad-free plan only offers 1080p streaming. Typically you’ll need to sign up for a more expensive ad-free plan to access 4K streaming, which doesn’t appear to be the plan offered here. If you want to watch shows like House of the Dragon in crisp 4K resolution, you’ll need to subscribe to Max individually for $20.99 per month. Yes.
Consolidation of streaming services limits your freedom
Although streaming has changed a lot since it hit the market (much for the worse), one important advantage has always remained: you can cancel it at any time. You can subscribe to Netflix to watch the latest season of Bridgerton and then immediately cancel your subscription. You’ll have to pay for the month so you can watch whatever you want, but after 30 days you’ll be free – at least until you subscribe to watch the next season of Bridgerton .
However, when you tie yourself down to a bundle, you limit your freedom to change plans every month. Of course, you can cancel the package at any time, but you will have to cancel all three services at the same time. If you find yourself not watching enough Disney+, that’s too bad: to get rid of one of these services, you’ll have to cancel them all.
So, bundling really makes sense if you know you’ll be watching these services on a regular basis. It’s not a far-fetched idea: all three have plenty of great shows and movies to watch, as well as a regular stream of new content. But if you know you’re only logging into streaming services to watch one or two specific shows as they come out, bundling may not be the best solution.
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