Next month, the 37 percent of Netflix customers who were grandfathered into a lower price point are going to see their monthly costs go up to $9.99 for the standard plan with HD video. Amazon took note and is rolling out a new plan this morning, which just may pick up some of the customers who don’t want to pay more than nine bucks for HD streaming. That extra dollar per month could eventually buy so many things, not all of them purchased with a selfie or by pressing a button.
Starting today, Amazon is going to make their Prime Video service available as a standalone monthly subscription for the first time, for $8.99. They’ll also be making the full benefits of Amazon Prime (including free two-day shipping, Prime Music, Prime Pantry, etc.) available as a monthly subscription for $10.99. It’s still cheaper to buy Amazon Prime on a yearly basis ($99), but these new monthly subscriptions are meant to attract customers who don’t want to commit to a full year.
Prime Video will allow up to three streams to run at the same time, in case you and two friends can’t decide between all the movies and Amazon originals like Transparent, Bosch, Catastrophe, Red Oaks, Mozart in the Jungle, Mad Dogs, The Man in the High Castle, Hand of God, and shows we may eventually get to see like I Love Dick (which is no longer the title of my autobiography — thanks a lot, Amazon), The Tick, that Woody Allen series with Miley Cyrus, and a bonkers-sounding show starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as “a fictionalized version of himself who comes out of retirement to resume work as his alter-ego: an undercover private black ops contractor named Jean-Claude Van Johnson.”
Does this mean viewers will ditch Netflix and its originals like Daredevil, House Of Cards, and Orange Is The New Black to sign up for Prime Video? Probably not, but anybody who was thinking about trying Prime but balking at buying a whole year at a time may soon decide to add a new subscription service to their monthly bills. Meanwhile, some of us will continue to save money by purchasing a whole year and buying little $3 items then opting for the no-rush shipping to get free $5.99 Prime Pantry credits and $1 digital item credits. At least until Amazon finally gets its revenge on us by weaponizing Prime Air.
(Via Deadline)
