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Amazon Prime Video to Feature Ads From January 29, With $2.99 Fee to Avoid Them

SonsofAres said:
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.
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Well.. I believe most reasonable Amazon subscribers won't pay the stupid $2.99/month upcharge for their POS Prime Video ( just like their absolute trash music, photo storage services etc ) service, but that's not the point of concern.

They're clearly working the TOS ( which, not surprisingly is almost always written in complete favor of the provider with numerous legal loopholes wholly backed by yet another gang [ the US Govt ] with nearly no meaningful provisions for the consumer [ consumer rights in the US are outright laughable ] ) and giving the middle finger to their customers by modifying the terms, especially for folks who have already paid for the service(s). Hence, the greed nomination!
 
what the.....I pay for amzn prime already. why do i have to pay extra more on top
amzn, not cool. you just want your stock price to hit 160+
i should have invested in amzn stock at 81 just a year ago
 
All services will do this if they haven't already started. It's the ever increasing cost of everything.
 
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Prime trying to pay for those NFL contracts

Where is the EU when you need them? They always sticking their nose into something even if they shouldn’t 😂
 
Steve121178 said:
So it begins.
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Prime has been pushing more and more FreeVee stuff onto its offerings. I find i it annoying, but this should have been the handwriting on the wall. Instead of offering old TV on Prime ad-free, Amazon has been adding shows to FreeVee.

Though I have Prime I watch few videos on Prime Video, because many of the shows I've seen before. Did catch the latest series of Good Omens, but have yet to watch season 2 of Wheel of Time because I sort of lost interest in it given the lag between seasons.

Prime bought Thursday Night Football rights and that cost a lot of money. I guess Amazon needs to make the revenue somehow.
 
M5RahuL said:
.. POS Prime Video ( just like their absolute trash ...

... yet another gang [ the US Govt ] ...and giving the middle finger to their customers .... Hence, the greed nomination!
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Just walk away from the product if you don't like it. Are you not able to do that? Instead, you seem intent on invectives and rants, when your (metaphorical) feet are your tool for choice.
 
serpico007 said:
I have been canceling subscriptions this year and will not be paying more for Prime Video. It was included with the Prime membership so it was just a bonus to me. I haven't received the Amazon email but I'm thinking this is US only for now. I'm sure it will happen here next year too eventually.
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[Deleted.]
 
Got the email today. A long paragraph about how this extra money will help them do more, and then they not so friendly reminder that all this other tangential items are also available for prime members like a discount on medicine. Good grief give me a break I’m not paying for the extra.
 
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With ads during the shows, I suspect downloading for offline viewing (e.g. on a plane) will only be allowed for the extra $2.99.
 
erinsarah said:
All I ask is that they please, please, PLEASE vary up the ads. We use the ad-laden version of Hulu pretty often and it's the same nasty HIMS commercials over and over again. Sure, we could pay for the no ad-tier, but for the past several years we always renewed with their Black Friday deal. $2 a month beats $14 a month, no matter how hard you try to convince me otherwise.
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Just chiming in to say that those HIMS ads are ridiculous lol. The irony of their “discreet shipping” is not lost on me
 
Another one I'm waving goodbye to, I'm just enjoying my kids, green grass, and fresh air way too much. I didn't realize my membership had crept up to $139 as I have had them on auto renew for over a decade. They have slowly declined, slower shipping times, they fubared Prime Music, their gaming endeavors never went anywhere, they already were injecting ads into a LOT of their content with that Freevee crap (which will still remain ad-ridden even after the extra $2.99), and now this. I'm now officially down to ZERO streaming services, no cable TV either (except Disney/Hulu/ESPN which I get included in my Verizon plan but almost never use).

Here's the rub though, just like Netflix and Disney they will almost definitely see increased profit because those who will say "well, it's only $2.99" will FAR FAR outnumber those who cancel. They aren't stupid, I'm sure they have done extensive studies and market research.
 
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sracer said:
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.
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You also have MUCH more freedom to just sign up for a month then cancel. In the cable TV days you would be stuck with a contract, installation fees, rental fees, etc. I'm good with the current environment, I just sign up for a month and binge watch the very few shows I really want to watch. It's made me realize that 99% of the stuff I used to watch was just filler in my life with very little value.
 
zapmymac said:
Got the email today. A long paragraph about how this extra money will help them do more, and then they not so friendly reminder that all this other tangential items are also available for prime members like a discount on medicine. Good grief give me a break I’m not paying for the extra.
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Speaking of medicine is it me or does it seem like every other ad on tv is for a pill or something to do with cancer
 
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spinedoc77 said:
Another one I'm waving goodbye to, I'm just enjoying my kids, green grass, and fresh air way too much
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if they only the others here knew we have such a promising planet outside.
Which seems to me the populous seems to ignore or just forgot about,
as that scenery wont make a CEO richer, as a mundane streamed holiday show/movie.

I decided to cancel HBO and use that for buying reading novels which is so much better.

enjoy the green an sometime yellow or fading grass, my earthing friend!
 
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If it weren’t for the fact that my wife is addicted to Amazon prime delivery I’d dump them in a flash. For me, prime pays for itself many times over but I’ve only watched Undone and Reacher this year so I’d be pissed off if I were buying it for TV.
 
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If they think I’m going to watch commercials on a service I’m paying money for, they can kiss my ads.
 
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coolfactor said:
Anyone that complains about Amazon's shipping hasn't experienced shipping delays through other companies. One company that I order from takes 3+ weeks for items to arrive.

What is a "joke" to you? 3 days?
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I think people have a right to complain about it when the original Prime shipping was two-day shipping. They no longer say two-day shipping at all and just call it "Prime shipping," which can mean anything. Shipping times have increased well beyond two days into several days or longer. I've had so many Amazon packages lately that just get lost in transit; getting some things can take weeks. There was a period when they were causing other companies to speed up their shipping, and now they are the ones lagging behind.
DDustiNN said:
If they think I’m going to watch commercials on a service I’m paying money for, they can kiss my ads.
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So, like regular TV?
 
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They MAKE money on the ads you are watching so this only really helps them. The 2.99 is a nice extra for them, but if you watch a lot of content they will get more from selling ads for you to watch.
 
It is only a matter of time before ads are rolled out in all the countries. Will always go for the ad free plan. Not happy to pay the additional amount.
 
mdnz said:
There's plenty of space left on the wild seas, friends;)
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If you can't or won't pay for something then you can't have it. It's literally that simple. That's how the world works for those of us with a moral compas.

The alternative is crime, which is a red line which once crossed can never be undone.
 
Steve121178 said:
It's what you're getting though.
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Is it though?
Can you quote anything from Amazon about this immediately affecting any prepaid account?
The only way this could be possible in the EU would be if they offer an option of cancellation with a partial refund.
 
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