this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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Or pay the $2.99 extra for commercial free.
No.
Yeah, your call. I'm very willing to pay a monthly fee to not have commercials. Whether Prime video is worth it in general is another question...
Cable used to have no commercials. Then they had some commercials, but less than OTA. Now there's no difference. Streaming services started out with no commercials, then it was commercials, but you can pay for no commercials. Soon it'll be pay more, for less commercials, I think there's a service already doing that? Don't reward them for this shitty behavior by throwing more money at them.
TV used to be free over the air. Commercials were in-show. Often done buy the hosts themselves talking up a product. Pretty much exactly like YouTube and podcasts do now.
Then cable was invented and they charged for it. But commercials never went away.
TV is still free over the air
I’m at the end of my rope with the degradation of value. I want to pay for quality content and lack of ads, I was happy to pay Netflix for this.
Then I fine with paying Hulu.
Then I was less happy to pay HBO.
Then I was even less happy to pay Disney.
When HBO started adding previews to shows I felt like I was at the end of my patience. Then Amazon did it too.
Now Amazon wants me to pay for ad removal… but makes sure to note that even if I pay, “some channels” will show ads anyways.
I’m all out of good will now.
I'm getting there. I don't mind paying for good content. Though I am starting to mind paying so much across the board and I'm getting tired of everyone having their own platform with its own quirks. Still can't bring myself to go for Paramount+.
Haven't seen that yet. What does that mean, "some channels?" Like for AMC content and shit like that?
Forced ads is my personal red line.
The pre-order page for ad removal (a sentence which makes me feel irrationally angry) notes: “Live TV, Freevee, and channel subscriptions may continue to have ads.”
The email I got seems to define channels as “…like Max, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, BET+, MGM+, ViX+, Crunchyroll, PBS KIDS, NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, and STARZ…”
Oh, it's a one-time fee?
Doubt it. I assume it's a monthly premium.
It is, I just got the e-mail. Gonna see what I'm not missing when I cancel my Prime membership after it expires.
Or pay $2.99/month for a VPN and get access to significantly more commercial-free content.
How much are decent VPNs these days?
Mullivad is cheap and actually works. Nord sucks, PIA was bought out by an Israeli "ex" spyware company years ago, the rest idk about.
ProtonVPN and iVPN is some goooood shit
+1 for proton
I thought Nord was supposed to be a good service. What happened?