One month warning for Amazon Prime users before major change comes into effect
Big changes are coming to Amazon Prime as there's just one month left before something happens which is leading people to cancel their Prime Video subscriptions.
It's pretty safe to say that people aren't best pleased with this new change after subscribers recently got an email from Amazon telling them all about it.
The news wasn't particularly welcome, as it told them in February there would be ads coming to Prime Video and if they wanted their streaming service to stay ad-free, streamers have to pay £2.99 extra a month.
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It's safe to say that the announcement that one of the world's richest companies is going to be introducing ads and charging higher prices to dodge them was about as welcome as a particularly pungent fart in a crowded lift.
Some Prime Video viewers said they'd rather cancel their subscription than keep paying, and argued that things at least shouldn't have to change for them until the time came to renew their subscription.
Prime Video isn't the only streaming service to introduce ads, as Netflix previously did it to similarly dismayed reactions.
However, when Netflix introduced adverts it was into a cheaper tier of subscription, instead of telling existing customers they'd be getting ads and would have to pay more to avoid them.
Then again, it's not like the standard subscription prices weren't also going up, so streaming service viewers have been feeling the pinch quite a bit.
Amazon told subscribers that ads would be coming in on Prime Video on 5 February, meaning that you've only got one more month of the streaming service as it is before it changes.
They did say they were aiming for 'meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers' but it's still going from no ad breaks to some interruptions to the shows.
The streaming service also insisted that this chance would 'allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time'.
Prime Video certainly have been spending a lot of money on some of their TV shows, with gargantuan production budgets making some blockbuster movies look frugal by comparison.
The change will come into effect a little sooner for those across the pond in the US as they'll be getting ads from 29 January onwards.
Before Brits start feeling smug about that one extra week of ad-free Amazon, since the cost of going ad-free in the US is going to be $2.99 and pounds are worth more than dollars, they'll actually be paying slightly less for that option.
Prime Video subscribers have said the announcement has been a 'blast to the chest', which doesn't sound encouraging.
Topics: Amazon Prime, TV and Film, UK News, Money
Joe Harker