The moment each show got a pre-reel for another Amazon show this was clearly the path they where taking.

Already cancelled a good 6 months ago.

“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership,”

The double-speak is relatively subtle, but it’s always interesting to see how much work they put into gaslighting their customers:

• “No action is required from you…” - yes, Amazon hopes we do nothing, but this is double-speak because Amazon unilaterally changed the assumptions underlying agreement, so “no action” is acquiescence to a materially worse reality.
• “…there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership” - yes, because Amazon is now selling our time and attention, but this is double-speak because they are still charging extra even if not in dollars.

It’s like a second golden age of internet piracy, and it’s happening because streaming over saturated itself just like cable lmao

Probably going to work. Just another company trying to wring money from their user base since they can’t reasonably grow. So many people were like “oh I’m cancelling Netflix if I can’t share it” and then it was record sign ups for them and overall more money.

They are doing this right before The Boys comes back on and somewhat during Invincibles part 2 airing. People will be annoyed and pay the upcharge.

And like me pirating those still won’t change much since I already was.

My Prime membership is up in March. I’ve already decided to not renew it, since they decided to cancel The Peripheral. Had I not already made that decision, this change would have made it for me anyway.

I don’t use Amazon much anymore anyway, because the products are overwhelmed with cheap, poor quality trash you couldn’t peddle on alibaba and completely worthless, largely faked reviews and ratings. I order once or twice a year some replacement cable or adapter I can’t find anywhere else reasonably quick, but that’s pretty much it, so canceling over this ad bullshit doesn’t really hurt me much.

Next on the list is my Netflix sub, which I largely use just for oldtrek reruns as second screen background noise while I use my computer. I could probably, uh, procure those shows fairly easy, or splurge on a collectors edition and would still save money.

Capitalism marches onward.

Man, the enshitification is really taking over.

fuck this company, the only thing i bought on amazon was filament for.my 3d-printers. now that i zeroed in on a brand, i can just buy it at their online store. goodbye amazon.

Pirate services are cheaper and have better apps

Canceled

The moment when pirating a movie gives you better experience than actually paying for it.

Stremio + Torrentio

Bummer. Not because of the extra $3, honestly I’ll probably just pay it. But because until now Prime programming has been able to operate with a certain freedom. I know 0 people with prime for the video (as opposed to the free delivery) so they were willing to take risks with the shows.

Solos and Tales from the Loop are both amazing works of art that would never have shown up on network TV, or Netflix which would much rather make cheap mass appeal shows with little depth. Even more shows with wider appeal (e.g. The Expanse) might not survive the TV Executive mindset now that they have a reason to care about the number of views as a primary metric, over user happiness.

And honestly, it all baffles me, I will gladly subscribe to a streaming service for one great show. Produce 3 or 4 a year and I’m subscribed for good. If I wanted an endless string of medicore baking reality shows, I’d get cable again.