06 January 2024 , 09:28
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Users of Amazon Prime UK have threatened to cancel their membership after they received an email stating that a change will be made to their viewing experience, which has left them fuming.
After a yearly subscription rose from £79 to £95 in the past year, the streaming service has announced that users will need to pay another £2.99 per month to keep the experience ad-free, and many have taken to social media to hit out at the change and state that they would be cancelling their subscription.
The new ad-free subscription tier will begin on February 5 and Amazon has described the experience for those who don't upgrade will see them being fed "limited advertisements", which will likely appear before or after movies and TV shows but will also possibly be shown during them as well, which has really upset a number of subscribers.
Amazon Prime UK has announced a change to its serviceIn an email to its users, Amazon Prime UK wrote: "We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting from February 5, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningful fewer ads than ad-supported TV channels and other streaming TV providers."
Subscribers were told that they didn't have to do anything at the moment, unless they wanted to upgrade their experience. The email continued: "No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership. We also offer an ad-free option for an additional £2.99 per month."
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With Netflix and Disney also raising their subscription rates in recent months, many have taken to social media to announce that these changes by Amazon Prime will be a step too far, especially during the current cost of living crisis. One annoyed subscriber posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Well that’s another subscription saved. I subscribe to #AmazonPrime so I don’t need to watch adverts but after that email, I’m out…"
Another had a warning for the company, writing on X: "No, #AmazonPrime , I'm not paying an additional £2.99 for a service you've provided for years up to this point. Watch as your profits plummet in 2024 when people start to unsubscribe en masse."
Others ranted that this was another step towards viewers having to subscribe to the channels that they want to watch, with one pointing out, "Slowly, but surely, we're going right back to cable," while another complained that Amazon's "greed" was behind the change and wrote: "We're the richest company in the world, lets make more."