Prime Video is quietly cutting Dolby Vision and Atmos support unless you pay the new upgrade fees
A few weeks ago, Amazon started placing ads in the feeds of Prime Video subscribers. The pitch was simple: Amazon wants more money, so if you want to continue getting the ad-free Prime Video service it’s been offering you for years, you’ll have to pay more. And now there’s an even worse problem if you stop paying for Prime Video: the loss of both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.
As discovered by German site 4K Filme, and subsequently confirmed by Forbes, subscribers to the new ad-supported Prime Video tier can no longer stream the best Prime Video series and the best Prime Video movies in Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision .
As described by ForbesTo: “In the ad-free account, the TV will display its own confirmation windows to indicate that the show is playing in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos. However, in the basic account with ads, the TV’s Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos pop-up boxes will continue to appear persistently absent.”
At first I thought this was a joke: surely no streamer would be so anti-consumer that they would degrade customer audio and video without warning? But no: Amazon has confirmed it’s not a mistake. Such a move could lead Amazon to more legal action like the class action lawsuit about the introduction of advertisements.
Opinion: Amazon’s move is deeply anti-consumer
The edge has confirmed that the removal of Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision is not a bug or technical error. According to a spokesperson: “Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos capabilities are only available on the ad-free option, on relevant titles.”
The word “enshittificationThere’s a lot of throwing around. The term, coined by Cory Doctorow, describes how companies capture customers and then slowly but surely degrade the product and demand more money to deliver the features they take away. And this looks like a A very clear example of this: the pirate sites are rubbing their hands with joy.
What’s creepy about it isn’t so much the removal of the features, as bad as that is, but the way Amazon did it. It’s like leasing a car, only to discover one morning that the car company has changed the contract and you’ll have to pay more out-of-pocket if you want to get your tires and steering wheel back.
This move says a lot about Amazon’s attitude towards Prime Video customers, but nothing good. The streamer has removed core features in secret, without any notice or notice whatsoever, and when people noticed, there was just a shrug of the shoulders. And that makes you wonder: what other features is Amazon going to hold at ransom? How long before it decides that Premium subscribers need to be milked for more money too?