Streaming services are hiking their prices, after roping in cord-cutters

The cost of streaming television shows and movies, once seen as a much cheaper alternative to owning a cable box, is rising.

Streaming services including Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and Netflix are upping their monthly subscription fees now that they’ve gained a foothold in the market and can count on more consumers cutting the proverbial cord.

Amazon is raising the cost of its annual Prime subscription, which includes access to its original streaming content, by $20 to $139 a year while Netflix increased its monthly rate by up to $2. A premium Netflix subscription now costs $19.99 per month, allowing customers to view TV shows and movies on up to four devices at a time.

Given the diversity of content available for streaming, consumers are subscribing to multiple platforms to keep up with their favorite shows, often paying more than one monthly streaming bill.

“I’ve realized once you have a few of them, it becomes almost like a car payment,” one streaming subscriber told CBS News correspondent Lilia Luciano.

“Any streaming platform you can imagine, I’m subscribing to right now,” another streaming fan said.

Companies like Netflix are hoping that incremental price hikes are worth it for consumers who want to binge new seasons of their favorite shows. CBS News