So here's where I have a problem with this line of thinking. I will concede that ad free streaming wasn't sustainable, with the way these companies were spending money hand over fist on shows (like LotR). But that was their decision. I happen to like LotR so I get it, but the fact is that they overbudgeted everything.

How was HBO (not Max) able to stay afloat for so long without ads?

Well, that blows. I wonder what the ad-free rate will be, in Canada. Although, Prime itself is cheaper in Canada ($99CAN), so the sting may be a little less painful.

Prime Video is really the only reason I have Prime. I can handle delivery minimums for free shipping, especially when the 2 day delivery promise has absolutely no accountability, these days.

Yeah, sucks, but if MAX can do $199 per year for the full ad0-free 4K experience then Amazon is still cheaper and you get everything that comes with PRIME, so it's a wash when you compare it to MAX and Netflix, etc.

The linear channel and HBO Go? That was strictly based off subscriber revenue from cable and satellite. There was no creation of original shows, movies and such. They just streamed what already aired and was paid for by HBO.

When they branched off to HBO Now and later HBO Max, that was a new set of operating costs including the creation of new content for the services and then they started feeling the pinch.

? They created a ton of original content for HBO, and it was all funded from subscriber revenue. Yes when they spun off Max they created even more content, I'm saying that HBO created original content and great original content for many years before streaming, without ads.

HBO didn't air that much original programming. That's why they were able to remain profitable. They only aired a couple shows at a time. Everything else was movies and comedy specials. They made a lot of money on sales of physical media too. Game of Thrones sold really well on disc.

yeah but they didn't have that much. Maybe they had 1 or 2 new HBO originals quarterly.

But, keeping this with Prime video. Prime is spending billions on creating new movies and shows.

and don't forget, Prime Video is spending billions on Thursday Night Football. I know non-sports fans will bitch about that.

The funny thing is, thinking about it I might pay for a premium, ad free experience, ie: just show me prime video stuff when I search, not Tubi, not ads for other things, not "you can purchase this other channel via amazon if you want to see it"

HBO managed to serve ad-free content, both third-party library and original content, for a single monthly fee for decades. There's nothing inherently wrong with that model, as long as you stay within your costs.

HBO did have an advantage in that it was serving one real-time video feed to all customers as a "broadcast," so adding more customers didn't really increase their costs in any way. However, streaming video is relatively low cost, so it's not a huge impact, but it'd maybe mean a streaming service may have to charge fractionally more.

The big issue was that streaming services were severely overspending and undercharging for years to decades in pursuit of growth. Netflix not making a profit? It doesn't matter, look how many customers they added! This growth kept Wall Street happy. Then studios started pulling content and starting their own streaming services to try and get similar subscriber numbers, and Netflix started spending more and more on original content to build a back catalog. But now the streaming market has hit saturation levels, at least in the US. They've run out of people to subscribe, for the most part, so without the growth, investors are now looking at profit. They've already overspent, although many of them are cutting back on spending too, so what's left is to start charging more, and/or add in ads.

I think smaller streaming services, like The Criterion Channel, are going fine. The key is to keep spending under the revenue you're bringing in, which is possible with ad-free streaming. But they're not like the large streamers like Disney, Amazon, and Netflix, that have the pressure to always keep their stock price rising, now matter how irrational that is.

Yes, I meant to make that point as well.

It's really annoying to see a bunch of content, only to find that it's a separate subscription. It's one thing if I search for something, as I'd want to know if it was available in any manner, but it's not cool to show all that stuff when I'm just browsing through the content.

Since they mash everything together it's getting harder and harder to figure out what is available with Amazon Prime.

I know you say you're not very computer savvy. But, just go to this website

https://www.justwatch.com/us

It tells all the new releases on every service, including Prime video literally every day

It's the best website to keep track of new content.

My annual Prime renews Jan 2024. I'll see how ads go. They usually don't bother me as much as other people. Some of my subs are ad-free.

I'm curious, if after a few months into my annual sub, if I decide to go ad-free (if it's an option to change once the year starts) how would I get charged: 1) prorated charge for remainder of year or 2) monthly charges.

Fortunately my Amazon is limited to most of their event series, so this doesn't bug all that much since those are few and far between. Funny how we are now paying the price for streaming services for being on stupid spending sprees the past 5 years or so.

Yea, pretty much everything I want to watch (old shows mainly) is getting shunted to Freevee. So no need to pay even $2.99 a month for football and shows I'm not interested in anyway. These days it's pretty easy to get to $35 for free shipping so maybe the prime membership isn't worth it either.

Freevee is the only service that has all 9 season of All in the Family. The commercial breaks are not bad at all.

I hardly use Prime video... The interface, thou somewhat better recently, sucks. Only two shows I watch are The Boys and LotR: Rings of Power.

Don't think there are any changes with Thursday Night Football. You still get it without the $2.99/mo and even if you pay the $2.99/mo it doesn't remove the ads from live sports.

My Amazon Prime subscription renewed yesterday. Such bullshit that Amazon charges sales tax on the yearly subscription.

Renewal Fee?

Okay yearly subscription.

Not sure I’d be mad at Amazon for that.
It’s a service and I think most of those services have a tax on it.

Netflix, Max, Hulu, Disney plus, Paramount plus, Peacock and AMC+ don’t charge tax just off the top of my head.

But I guess since they ship goods as their primary function, then maybe that’s why.

Better not bring too much attention to this or those other guys might start doing it too.
😶

I got rid of Prime in early 2022 since I didn't stream and I didn't see the point of paying for deliveries not being delivered when they were stated they would be when hitting the place order button. I also canceled my parents Prime for them recently. I am not paying to watch commercials. I recetly got subsicriptions to five different streaming channels but if they go to having commercials I will cancel them too. It pisses me off when I go the theater and the showtime is at 7PM but by the time the commericals and trailers end it is 8:30 before the movie starts.

It won't surprise me (within a couple years) if they start locking the ad-free tiers behind 1 year minimum subscriptions/no refunds.

I get charged tax on Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Disney... but some I don't.