...and we're back where we started when people were looking to ditch expensive cable subscriptions..
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Amazon Prime Video to Feature Ads From January 29, With $2.99 Fee to Avoid Them
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I know it's a stretch to tie this directly to the writers and actors strikes, but there is a connection. After all the cost of producing and acquiring content isn't going down so the cost to consume content must go up to cover those increases.
This is just another example of inflation that won't be captured in the CPI, which will allow the government to continue to claim inflation is low.
It's too bad / I wish more people understood the real cause of inflation. A couple of great documentaries that explains it is "End of the Road, How Money Became Worthless" and Mike Maloney's "Hidden Secrets of Money." Both are on YT.
This is just another example of inflation that won't be captured in the CPI, which will allow the government to continue to claim inflation is low.
It's too bad / I wish more people understood the real cause of inflation. A couple of great documentaries that explains it is "End of the Road, How Money Became Worthless" and Mike Maloney's "Hidden Secrets of Money." Both are on YT.
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You got played. Never sign up for a subscription for anything that doesn’t involve food, shelter and clothing.. otherwise they will eventually move the goalposts, or change the rules, when they need more money. I see this happening time and time again, yet people who want the service never learn to vote with their wallet.
The world needs to stick together and boycott Amazon.. facing bankruptcy is the only way they are going to learn anything. Sadly, not many people are willing to stand up for what they believe in.
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Why does it sound like you guys want stuff for either free or nearly free lol.
LIke i get it, to an extent....these companies prices are getting outrageous and Amazon adding commercials to prime Or charging $3 to remove them when their content is pathetic is definitely not something I approve of.
But just like us, these companies also want to make money. I don't see it as greedy lol.
Or sign up for a subscription if it gets you a discounted price.
It's really not that deep. It's a streaming service. Not a basic necessity.
To be honest I don't really use prime video much, it's just the odd show here or there. However I can't stand adverts. I pay for YouTube premium basically because I can't stand the adverts. The problem I have with paying the extra is because I see it more as a package deal with free delivery. Prime video is a second rate service which I might not subscribe too if it wasn't bundled in with prime.
Well, isn't this quite the sight? Suddenly all the proponents of the free market don't like it when the free market behaves exactly as anyone could have predicted. Cherry on top: moralizing about "greed".
If you want them to stop, well, vote with your wallet, otherwise it's just people complaining loudly while they quietly proceed to accept the new charge.
If you want them to stop, well, vote with your wallet, otherwise it's just people complaining loudly while they quietly proceed to accept the new charge.
It’s funny, I hardly ever watch anything on prime unless it’s some cheesy disaster film, but those already have ads!)
People, people, let's be reasonable.
The rocket isn't going to fuel itself.
The rocket isn't going to fuel itself.
Exactly! I can’t imagine too many people will be paying extra for this. It’s easier not to watch at all)
This is the same thing HBO Max is doing. I get it for free with my AT&T subscription, but AT&T sent us an email a couple months ago saying that there will be commercials starting this month with an option to pay 2.99 a month to keep the service commercial free. It seems you can run, but you can't hide. They will find a way to fleece you at EVERY turn!
It’s what we always have in situations like this: we have warriors (people who stand their ground and say “no”) and we have slaves (people who voluntarily submit whether they want to or not). Companies get away with these price hikes because there are too many of the latter and not enough of the former.
This is not taking away ad-free. Prime Video as well as Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, and others still offer ad-free plans.
What is the basis of your "greed" conclusion here? What is Amazon's current profit margin on Prime Video? What would be a fair (not "greedy") profit margin?
I think this is why a lot of companies say you won't be impacted until the next bill. I get it's a TOS thing, but I paid for an amount for the entire year up front. Either pro-rate me to the ad free plan to finish out the contract, or give me a discount for the months where I had it ad free. That's what contracts are. I signed a contract for a price for a whole year. I should still be able to enjoy that same benefit for the whole year (Which ends in June).
Amazon should just have a plan just for shipping forget about the video and whatever comes with it. Even shipping is getting slow. You have to order enough to get your $133.00 worth, now going to be $169.00 per year. Is it worth it ?
To be a devil's advocate...what Amazon needs and what you want are clearly 2 different things. Some companies like to unbundle things in the name of "only pay for what you need" in full knowledge that their customer base will likely still pay for more what they realistically need, because it's an easier choice to make for an average person. And some companies like their bundles, because it allows them to engage in drip pricing and cross-subsidise one side of the their business using profits made in another department.
Don't get me wrong, unless we're talking about commoditised goods, prices, in general, tend to only rise and rarely fall. So Amazon could have made this increase across the board but then there would have been an outrage from a group of people who don't give 2 poops about ads so long as the price they pay doesn't rise. Of course, Amazon didn't do this for our benefit, they are doing it for theirs -- it would be nice to see some reputable economic analysis that speaks to what cost and margin pressure on streaming services do the new writers and actors contracts impose -- but, ultimately, just like we have a choice whether or not to subscribe to Prime at all, we have a choice whether to enrol in this "ads protection racket".
It's progress in that there is more choice now than ever before. With cable back in the day, most municipalities had only one cable provider. It was that or nothing.
Not only are there plenty of for-pay streaming services, but there are also a growing number of quality FAST (free, ad-supported television) offerings.
Consumers can pick and choose which ones they want to pay for. But the problem for some is that they want choices that don't change. They signed up for Hulu and Netflix and continue to subscribe in spite of the introduction of ads and increases in fees.
I've been a cord-cutter for nearly 15 years. I use a cheap placemat HDTV antenna for OTA channels (even though the closest towers are over 50 miles away), FAST offerings like (Pluto, Tubi, Xumo, Plex, etc.) I've digitized my DVD and BluRay collection and serve them up on my own Plex server. I have enough programming for a dozen lifetimes.
Cord-cutting has never been easier and offered as much programming.
You pay for the plan. Why would they? That's how this all works. I've said many times there are too many that don't care.
You want just shipping only? The only way that happens is if you and a significant majority of others quit and do not come back for months/years.
I quit Netflix. It doesn't mean anything. For every me there is 100 people including many on this forum arguing how Netflix is their biggest want regardless of cost. There are tons of parents that the thought of having their kids "annoy" them vs sitting there watching Netflix on a tablet is so unbearable that they would pay anything to keep the status quo.
Is there stuff I want to watch? Yes. Am I going to pay for it? No. Not even for a month. Is it going to do anything? No.
This whole discussion is pointless. Vote with your wallet has zero meaning. We let companies have exclusive rights to things and that right there is the biggest problem. You want to watch show XYZ? It's on this streaming service. Pay or don't watch. We lost a long time ago. At least for old shows you can go buy a box set on sale someplace.
I'll say this again too. Coming sooner rather than later the yearly contracts will be mandatory. Everyone saying subscribe binge then quit are in for a shock.
The amount of greed of these gigantic corporations have no bounds. Meanwhile the consumer keeps getting less and less and everyone accepts passively.
hOLD UP, so amazon expects me to give them more money on top of the money im already coughing up to not see stuff that i should never otherwise see? Is this a shakedown, Jeff? Cause it sure feels like it.
Cord cutters were like, that genie is fake. It's not real. It's all in your head. Now they're mad, because the genie won't get off their couch and get a job. lol
Amazon already shafted independent filmmakers by slashing royalties from $0.16 to $0.02 (and coming up with their BS "Customer Engagement Ranking" which allows them to decide how little to pay without any transparency), and now they are shafting viewers. This is more "ensh*ttification" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/******tification). I avoid Amazon Video, and am loathe to pay for it bundled with Amazon Prime. All I want Amazon Prime for is express shipping, I neither need nor want the rest of their subpar offerings.
It's a charity service. Their woeful collection of abysmal sci-fi movies are those that you can't find anywhere else, now that supermarket bargain DVD bins are a thing of the past.