Now, it is an outright one.
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With this announcement of $8.99 for the basic Amazon Video service, the company is directly taking aim at rival Netflix, which will hike its basic service up to $9.99 per month beginning in a couple of weeks.
Amazon is also offering a month-to-month subscription for Amazon Prime, at $10.99. In a similar vein, Amazon will also begin offering a month-to-month full Prime membership at $10.99/month, for customers who want streaming video and fast shipping and flexibility.
Prime is essentially a package of perks that perhaps most notably includes free two-day shipping with no minimum purchase requirement.
Starting Monday, the retailing giant will allow consumers to subscribe to its Video service on a standalone basis. The company also has deals with HBO to stream series like The Wire and The Sopranos.
Now I have to go do some math to decide if I take advantage of those perks often enough to justify continuing to pay for both Amazon Prime and Netflix year-round.
Price: $8.99 a month for stand-alone streaming. Amazon has a few sleeper hits like “Transparent”, but its originals have largely failed to get the same kind of buzz and critical acclaim as Netflix’s growing library of excellent shows. These include bundling Prime as a monthly service for Sprint mobile subscribers.
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The new monthly plans are more expensive in the long run than paying the annual fee. The new monthly pricing options for Prime and Prime Video are available only in the U.S. Analysts have said the move will likely not cost much to Netflix’s boast-worthy millions of subscribers all over the world, but that has not stopped some key competitors taking a jab at Netflix – deemed the most disruptive video streaming service on the scene now. While this alone might not be enough to cost the service many subscribers, when combined with Netflix’s shrinking catalog, it could cause some dissatisfied customers to jump ship, and Amazon will be right there to catch them.
