Streaming services coordinating price hikes - all major platforms raising rates same month

Question

Is anyone else noticing this blatant price fixing BS? Got email from Netflix yesterday about $3 increase starting next billing cycle. Whatever, inflation right? Then TODAY get almost identical emails from HBO, Disney+ AND Hulu ALL raising prices by $2-4 in same freaking month?? Not a coincidence. Chatted with friend who works in tech finance and he says they're absolutely coordinating this - they watch each other's press releases and time announcements strategically so no single platform takes the cancellation hit alone. Checked my total streaming costs and it's jumped from $43/month last year to about to be $67/month after these hikes. Cable starting to look cheap again! Has this happened to anyone else or just me getting targeted because they know I'm too lazy to cancel? Seriously considering going back to the high seas if this keeps up 🏴&zwj;☠️

Filtr43 · Answer

saaaame! disney+ email came thru during dinner and hulu notification popped up before dessert was even finished 💀 they're not even trying to hide the coordination anymore. apparently we've all forgotten what monopolies are

maz123 · Answer

Economics 101: they're testing elasticity boundaries. How much can they charge before meaningful subscriber loss? Answer: way more than they're charging now. Each service costs pennies to deliver yet we pay premium cable rates for fractured conten

joel · Answer

I&nbsp;mean what do u expect when blackrock/vanguard own massive stakes in every single one of these companies? Literal same people setting prices at all of them, check ownership structures yourself if u dont believe me. Visible hand of market manipulation lol

Itancheks · Answer

Price hikes justified? Original content costs INSANE money to produce. Stranger Things S4 = $30mil per episode, Last of Us = $20mil per episode. Good content ain't cheap to make

GRAND924BIRD · Answer

yall paying????? 👀 my whole extended family (23 people across 4 states) sharing one netflix account since 2014. they keep threatening password sharing crackdowns but aunt judy in florida still watching squid game just fine

1sven · Answer

This isn't a coincidence but probably not conspiracy either. Fiscal Qs ending, investor calls coming up, everyone scrambling to juice revenue numbers simultaneously. Working in tech taught me never attribute to malice what can be explained by quarterly reporting pressure

ibo · Answer

What you're describing is classic oligopolistic pricing behavior where limited competition in mature markets leads to price synchronization without explicit collusion. Companies watch each other knowing consumers have few alternatives

rosi_q7 · Answer

Plotted my streaming costs on spreadsheet - literally outpacing inflation by 3x. Cancelled everything except service i use most, now rotating one subscription per month. This month HBO binge, next month disney, etc. Refuse to be price gouged

tomas1995 · Answer

These companies cannot keep growing subscribers (market saturated) so only way to please wall street is squeezing more $ from existing customers. Pure executive greed driving this - not production costs

eeerr · Answer

Student discounts still work years after graduation lol. Just keep that .edu email alive and save 50%+ on most services. Working for me 6 years post-college

Military · Answer

cancelling all but 1 service as personal protest

sic 2 · Answer

Everybody mentioning Netflix/Disney/HBO but Spotify just hiked prices 20% too! Same month! Music, movies, tv all simultaneously more expensive. Almost like they're... talking to each other about pricing 🤔

akon77 · Answer

Europeans laughing at America again - EU has laws against this kind of coordinated pricing. Companies must justify increases to regulatory bodies before implementing. Our corporate overlords run wild while politicians cash donation checks