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Good! In the US ads were added after telling Prime members they’d get ad free content as part of their membership. I complained about this during a meeting (I worked on Prime during the Prime Video launch), but was shot down because the ads were pre-roll trailers for Amazon produced content. Of course that turned into just ads, everywhere. I’m glad the court saw it for what it was: bait and switch.

It should also be illegal to have ads in the Amazon marketplace (where we pay to buy products), Google/apple app store (where people already paid for a phone), Uber ride, and basically anywhere we have already paid to use something.

If this is not stopped, there's no limit, your car, TV, fridge, it will be everywhere, and it pumps more and more income away from people and products/service providers into advertisers' pockets.

if you're based in germany and have had prime before february 5th, 2024, you might be eligible for compensation. here is the page of the consumer rights commitee where you can take part (don't fret if you get physical mail from the federal bureau of justice a few days later): https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/vertraege-reklamat...

I have always disliked ads, but this has slowly grown into outright unreasonable anger as the years go. I just cancel anything I'm paying for that shows intrusive ads.

I was a little worried about cancelling Amazon Prime at first, but realized I didn't -really- need some JIXFOZ branded gadgets next day, after all.

I plead with everyone who feels similarly to vote with their feet/wallet. It's the only hope of getting out of this mess.

Like the same issue with Sky PayTV in Germany 10 years ago? https://www.anwaltsregister.de/Rechtsfragen/Sonderkuendigung...

I agree with this decision. Now onto the other problem... Why are you selling me a subscription which doesn't give you access to most of the content on your site? I was on Amazon Prime recently and most stuff had a padlock on it. Some of it was very old, i.e. thirty years older or more.

IANAL, but it seems it's a technicality on how the conditions of the contract changed? IIUC they forcibly changed the contract without notice. If they would have sent a notice first and then let the consumers decide whether to get out or move on with the new contact and new conditions, it would have been fine to serve ads. The title seems like a clickbait.

I wonder if they will also be forced to compensate customers (e.g. by having to pay out the ad revenue to them). I think it's a real possibility; without it, companies have little reason not to try this kind of thing over and over - either they get away with it, or they get away with it temporarily.

I'd say this is a victory for consumers though I suspect Amazon will just raise the prices of Prime by $5/month or whatever people pay "extra" to get rid of ads, and just claim that it's part of the "regulatory environment" in Germany.

Is anyone paying for Prime just for streaming? I always saw it as a nice bonus included with free shipping and all the other discounts you get on Amazon, it breaks even very quickly. It cost half of a Netflix subscription. The content is also half the quality, so it’s not like I would like to pay anything for it anyway. I hate ads as much as anyone, after the ad introductions I just stopped slop watching.

This is good. It upsets me that I am already a Prime member but I still have to pay on top of that. I actually prefer they increase the price but bundle everything in 1 membership.

This is why I never paid the additional payment they are asking for, and if they make Prime Video extra, good riddance.

I so much hate it that we have built an economy where companies believe the best way forward is to cram ads into everything instead of building better products.

Oh look, regulation! So weird that it works for the consumer, right?

Good?

force? turn it off or use another service?

we got into such a place where we don't encourage competition.

I think it's great that this was challenged, but won't the outcome just be that they switch to use Netflix tactics? They'll increase the Prime fee for existing "no ads" customers (allowed), and offer a lower "with ads" tier?