Amazon Tanks Ad-free TV on Prime
 

Well, we should have seen this coming. Effective January 29th, Amazon Prime will no longer broadcast ad-free content on their Prime TV shows and movies. Over the past several months there has been somewhat of a soft rollout of this change, with more and more shows being aired via their "Freevee" platform. Prime members will, however, be able to subscribe to ad-free programming for an additional fee of $2.99/month.

I realize Jeff Bezos has bills to pay, along with a very costly divorce, but...c'mon, man!

$3 a month well worth it. I sat through 7 ads on You Tube the other evening.

Prices of everything have gone up over the last few years. At least they are making it an option to stay ad free for a measly $3 a month.

“ Freevee is a free, ad-supported TV streaming service that carries over 150 free “live” channels of 24/7 looping content as well as thousands of on-demand TV shows and movies. The Amazon-owned service was previously known as IMDb TV (2019–2022).”
It's always had adds on Freevee. Other movies on Amazon Prime do not.

One person is complaining about a $5 GHIN and another is complaining about $2.99 ad free fee.

C'mon folks life is too short for this.

If one chooses to pay the $3 monthly ad free fee for Amazon Prime, will the FreeVee content on Amazon Prime also be ad free? Lately, a lot of the programming on Prime is FreeVee. it would probably be worth the monthly fee if everything on Prime is ad free. No so much if all the FreeVee content still would have commercials.

Hold your horses!
 

That's for Prime members with a business account!

No that is for all Prime TV shows and movies for all prime accounts.

I received an e-mail direct from Amazon customer service now in my records, I guess the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Happy New Years!
:posting:

Amazon Prime is an awesome service, but the streaming video service that comes with it is grossly inferior to Netflix and some of the others. I wouldn't pay for it if it wasn't free.

If you watch a lot of Prime streaming, it's worth paying the $3/month IMO, otherwise, for more occasional use, I'll probably just deal with the commercials.

Probably the ones that need a shopping cart at the liquor store

Big deal. I buy so much stuff from Amazon that the free shipping not only covers the annual fee not the additional 36 buck a year

It's gonna start at 3 bucks. Give it time , just like our Prime accounts.

What is GHIN? acronym are supposed to be spelled out first

Definitely a pattern there. But this is not new. I recall back in the early 70s when Cable TV was in its infancy, at least in our neck of the woods. Gone were the annoying rabbit ears and the spotty reception. We now got TWELVE channels instead of two, sparkling clear on our little 19" black-and-white TV. And all for only $9.99 per month. Big selling point was that since we were now paying for what was formerly free, there would be no ads to contend with. I think that lasted two years before the ads appeared, followed by a "premium" service (a bit more money per month) that offered ad-free TV on the premium channels.

Same w/YouTube. YouTube Premium offers ad-free service. But the FREE service is increasingly peppered with increasingly long ads.

I guess the Amazon move is nothing to get your undies in a bundle about. Normal progression of events and all that. Also, Prime is a great service overall and $3 is less than pocket change.

The point is, we already paid for it with our Amazon prime subscription.

I believe he was referring to The Golf Handicap & Information Network.

Well, they are either going to raise the subscription to ALL or give YOU the choice of paying $3 more for no ads.

I agree. But I also pay YouTube to get it ad-free. Well worth the money.

Netflix is still ad free

The letter had an asterick next to the $2.99 note and when you scroll to the bottom you will see that FreeVee content is NOT included in the ad free subscription. FreeVee will still have ads.

When I first got cable (awhile ago) there were no ads. I paid so much per month and that was it.

That was the deal, they advertised that we would have to pay for TV, but since we were paying there would be no commercials....... that ship has long since sailed.

Seriously folks. Remember B&W TV, all the commercials, etc.? Yes, we all have a lot more road behind us than ahead of us, and a race to the end is not my goal. I'll stroll, as I've learned the end is THE END and I can wait!! Commercials are just the time to refill a drink, dispose of a consumed drink, grab a bite, or actually talk to the people around you (my favorite)!!

I know it's not much but it still sticks in my craw.

Ads
 

I only watch certain shows like Reacher, The Boys, Terminal List, and Leverage Redemption so adding commercials will not bother me so much .

Share Review app
 

I use an app ShareReviews that allows me to create a watchlist and tells you what the streaming networks are showing.

So once I have enough shows on my watchlist for Amazon prime, I'll subscribe to it for that month. And then the next month, I'll cancel Prime and subscribe to let's say Hulu.

That way I done pay for networks when there's nothing to watch.

ShareReviews also works as a great TV guide so you can see what's playing on each network.

You have to really bored or stressed out to get all wound up about a $2.99/mo. charge. I respectfully suggest YOGA and meditation.

I will gladly pay a small fee for no commercials, network tv bombards 12/15 commercials at each break plus ad banners during programming all very distracting.

Nothing is going to change ,prices will keep going up , just to watch all the NFL games you have to have you tube ,prime , peacock, and NFL + when I read the different threads on here about cable i admire all the different ways people work the system by using different sits and other I guess semi illegal tools , but I’m at a time in my life I just want to turn on the tv and watch so I pay

YouTube?
 

My wife and I have PAID FOR Disney, Prime, Paramount+, Netflix, and YouTube. We have had others previously as well. Oddly enough, the paid platform that I like the very most is YouTube. The content is extremely useful, varied (even with the subjectively controlled content), and is virtually infinite in subject matter.

Prime Video Content Value
 

Lately, the content on Prime Video has been horrible and is no interest to me. $3/month is minor for good content. Paying any extra $$$ for something of zero value is ridiculous!

I did not know that Freevee was owned by Amazon. Freevee bugs me because when I watch some movie part way through and then I stop - it does not recognize me and it forces me to start over from the beginning (and watch all the ads over again). It is pretty awkward.

Strange Days is good. "Barbie" is good. That Eddie Murphy Xmas movie is good. "A Quiet Place (part 2) is good. "Black Box" is reasonably good. "Anna" is good. All on Prime.

You can't be serious. I'm not a 13 year old girl with woke parents, so I'm not going to take your advice.

If you pay the additional $2.99, are you getting prime enhanced, Prime Priority, or, maybe Prime Prime?

$13.99 a month, or even less if you subscribe annually to eliminate all ads on YouTube. If you are a prolific YouTuber like I am, it’s well worth it. Just be sure you subscribe at YouTube’s website via a computer browser or you’ll be charged $18.99/month via Apple subscriptions. I was doing that until my young adult son set me straight. Apple was robbing me blind, lol.

Not true! I have a regular family Prime membership, and I received the email yesterday telling me about the ads and the extra monthly fee to be ad free. It’s for all members.

Agreed! It’s the least used of all of our streaming services, and we have a lot. We even watch YouTube more than Prime video.

We get no ads ever with our Premium YouTube subscription, and we (mostly I) watch it daily.