Amazon Prime members who want to enjoy Prime Video with Dolby Vision and/or Dolby Atmos will need to step up to the streamer’s new ad-free plan, according to a pair of reports that can confirm both of these features have been removed from what was the standard version of the service. Amazon explained that it would be bringing ads to Prime Video last year, but neither of the company’s blog posts mentioned anything about how those technologies would require an additional subscription fee.
Amazon Prime membership pricing:
- $14.99 per month
- $139 per year
- Prime Video membership: $8.99/month
- Prime Video (ad-free): additional $2.99/month
Forbes notes:
…maybe it figured that it was awkward enough telling people that they were suddenly going to have to put up with ads on the tier they’d already subscribed to, and so just couldn’t bring themselves to also mention the lost Dolby features. Or maybe, just maybe, the whole thing is a technical error.
[UPDATE: Since I first published this article, Amazon/Prime Video has now confirmed to me that moving Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos to the ads-free tier is deliberate, and not the result of a technical issue.]
Criticism from 4K Filme:
Neither in the official communication from Amazon nor when selecting the additional option did we find any indication that Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are features that require an additional subscription. We find it absolutely inappropriate that Amazon would simply foist such a downgrade on its customers.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power comparison:
Amazon on its decision to bring ads to Prime Video:
To continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time, starting in early 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. Ads in Prime Video content will be introduced in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year. No action is required for Prime members.