Amazon Prime subscribers will no longer be able to stream 4K movies, shows, or sporting events without paying extra for a new “Ultra” tier that costs $5 a month. It’s yet another example of a Prime membership becoming less and less valuable.
On March 13, Amazon Prime announced that it was rebranding its “Ad Free” subscription option into a new “Amazon Prime Ultra Video” option and raising the price in the process. Amazon Prime Video, which used to be ad-free but hasn’t been for a few years now, currently offers an “Ad Free” option for $3 a month. This option removes ads from Amazon Prime Video streams of movies and shows. Now, annoyingly, Amazon has announced that the ad-free option is being rebranded and will cost more. Starting next month, the ad-free option will become “Prime Video Ultra” in the United States and will cost $5 a month instead. As part of this rebrand, Amazon is removing 4K streaming access from Amazon Prime and shoving it behind this new Ultra paywall.
“Delivering ad-free streaming with premium features requires significant investment,” said Amazon in a blog post announcing the change. “And this structure aligns with other major streaming services while ensuring customers have the flexibility to choose how they want to watch.”
The Amazon Ultra option will go live in the United States on April 10. Prime members will still have access to all the same shows and movies, just not in 4K anymore. Amazon says it isn’t increasing the price of Prime as part of this change. (For now at least…)
I’m not sure about you all, but I’m getting really tired of multibillion-dollar companies telling us over and over again that prices have to go up and services have to get worse because they simply can’t afford to pay the bills, while these same companies bring in millions every minute and pay the the people at the top more money than a small country’s entire GDP.
Perhaps, and I’m just spitballin’ here, you pay the people at the top a bit less so you can offer an affordable service to customers who then give you money. Just an idea. Anyway, hey, you should buy 4K UHD movies.
