AMAZON has announced changes to Prime Video – but users are worried it could be a way to increase subscription costs again.
At the start of the year, Amazon introduced adverts and a £2.99 / $2.99 fee per month to remove them.
The online retail giant isn’t introducing anymore extra costs at the moment but users fear new features on the service will be used as a way to justify further hikes in future.
“How much more will they charge?” one person wrote on Reddit.
“Yea and I’m certain it It’ll come with a cost increase,” another commented.
Prime Video is rolling out a refreshed look for the popular app, with a new navigation bar and greater recommendations.
Generative AI is being used to help you “discover content that is tailored to your individual preferences, allowing you to spend more time watching and less time browsing” the firm said.
And the company claims it’s fixing one common bugbear – differentiating between content that’s included with your Prime subscription and content that costs extra to buy or rent.
Prime and add-on subscription logos will appear on the hero and title cards of a movie or TV show so users know whether it’s worth clicking on.
If a title requires additional payment, a yellow shopping bag will be visible.
When viewers open the Amazon Prime Video app they will instantly see the brand new navigation bar along the top.
This will display buttons for Home, Movies, TV Shows, Sports, and Live TV, as well as any extra subscriptions you have within Prime Video such as Paramount+.
Users may also notice new animations, smooth page transitions and zoom effects to make the app a little slicker.
But there’s one feature people fear could lead to even more ads.
In Amazon’s announcement, they described it as a “hero rotator”.
“When using a living room device, video content will play on the hero rotator as you determine what to watch, creating an immersive browsing experience,” the company explained.
Users believe it’ll turn into a “harassment rotator” with more ads.
“Amazon: We WILL badger you with autoplay content until you give in and watch what we’re pushing,” one user commented.
Amazon says all the changes start rolling out globally today and will be available to all customers “in the coming weeks”.
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