There was an idea that was streaming. Watching a movie on network television had become borderline impossible. or actually impossible in the case of US television. A few minutes of a movie, then ads for pharmaceuticals, a car, and a restaurant (always three, there are) would interrupt the proceedings.
A few more minutes of movie, and so the cycle would repeat. I remember once watching Die Hard on US Network television pre-TIVO and it took an investment of over 3 hours of my time.
So streaming was a promise of a better tomorrow. We would exchange the ads for a single, reasonable, monthly fee. Uninterrupted viewing Nirvana would be delivered in exchange for that fee.
Well, Super-Globo-Megacorp gonna Super-Globo-Megacorp and, as usual, the customer can simply go and fuck themselves. Now they want your subscription fee and the advertising income because fuck you, that’s why.
It’s enough to make even the most committed capitalist set sail for the Bay, or fly VPN Airways under the flag of IPTV.
Amazon is the latest to betray the dream. Advertising is coming to Amazon’s Prime Video service on January 29th.
Prime claims, in an email sent to subscribers, that it will be “limited advertisements” to allow the world’s richest corporation to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time” and also saying it will be “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers”.
Don’t care. This wasn’t part of the deal you absolute wankers. I give you money, you give me movies and TV shows. Ads are for grandma and her 5th police procedural of the week.
This isn’t a new, lower ad-supported tier, by the way. This is the current, single tier remaining unchanged. You want ad-free, it will cost you an additional $2.99 a month in the US.
They will, of course, continue to have us by the balls because of free shipping in most territories. This doesn’t include Australia, obviously, because Alice Springs is a long, long way for Ahmed in his panel van.
Check back every day for movie news and reviews at the Last Movie Outpost
