Disney is raising the price of its flagship ad-free streaming tier for the fourth time in four years, pushing the monthly cost of Disney+ Premium up 13% to $21.49 as the entertainment giant continues to squeeze more revenue out of its streaming subscriber base.

The increase, first reported by Bloomberg, adds $2.50 a month to the ad-free plan and is expected to take effect as soon as this week for existing subscribers, following Disney's now-familiar pattern of announcing increases with only short notice.

It's not the only Disney streaming product getting more expensive this month. The company's "Legacy" bundle — which pairs ad-free Disney+ with Hulu and an ad-supported ESPN Select tier — already rose from $24.99 to $27.99 starting Sept. 17, according to consumer-tracking outlets including Cord Cutters News. That bundle is no longer available to new customers, and existing subscribers can no longer switch into it — meaning current members are effectively grandfathered into a plan that's both more expensive and increasingly hard to replace if they ever cancel.

Why Disney keeps raising prices

The increases come as Disney continues to pour money into original programming, live sports rights and its ESPN direct-to-consumer push, while also trying to convince Wall Street that its streaming division can sustain the profitability it only recently achieved after years of losses. Streaming price hikes have become an industry-wide pattern over the past two years, with other major services also raising rates as the "streaming wars" shift from a subscriber land-grab to a profitability push.

THE FOURTH TIME IN AS MANY YEARS.

For consumers, the changes add up. A subscriber on Disney+'s ad-free plan who has stuck with the service since its 2019 launch has now seen the price climb dramatically over just a few years of periodic increases, well outpacing general inflation. Consumer advocates note that ad-supported tiers remain cheaper alternatives for price-sensitive households, though they come with the tradeoff of commercial interruptions.

Disney has not detailed further pricing plans beyond this round of increases, but the company's pattern over the past four years suggests subscribers should expect this won't be the last one. Investors will get more insight into how the changes are affecting subscriber retention when Disney next reports its streaming unit's quarterly results.