Amazon to offer Netflix rival for $8.99 a month

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Greg Bensinger, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

Amazon.com Inc. is firing a shot across the bow of Netflix Inc. by attempting to become a primary destination for streaming video.

The Seattle online retailer said Sunday it will begin offering its video-streaming service as a stand-alone option for the first time. A monthly subscription will cost $8.99, a dollar less than the most popular plan from Netflix.

The move pits the Seattle online retailer more directly against Netflix, which also happens to be one of the biggest customers of Amazon’s cloud-computing services. For years, the two have worked to one-up each other with exclusive content deals and original series like Netflix’s “House of Cards” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle.”

Build an Apple TV app and I will gladly pay for the service. Without it, zero interest.



15 thoughts on “Amazon to offer Netflix rival for $8.99 a month”

  1. If Amazon wants to be a content company like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc then they need to be on as many platforms as possible. That includes Apple TV. It’s annoying that I can’t watch their service, which I pay for, on the set top box of my choosing.

  3. I’d heard Amazon were doing an Apple TV app for their Prime service, which is less expensive than this over the year. Hope they’re not going to start splitting things up and doing multiple services.

  4. That Prime is cheaper over the year than this was my first thought. Why would someone pay more for just streaming when they can have all the Prime services including the streaming for less money? I hope they plan on offering something else for the extra cost.

  5. Isn’t this more expensive than the full Amazon Prime?
    $9x12mos = $108/yr
    Amazon Prime = $99/yr.

  6. The difference is, larger upfront cost. Thats not uncommon for certain subscription services cough adult sites.. You either pay a larger upfront cost, for a discounted per-month rate, or you pay monthly for a lower short term cost.

    Obviously the person looking for a long-term investment in the service would pay for Prime. But someone just testing the waters might not feel comfortable shelling out for an entire year.

  8. $9/month as a standalone? Not worth it. Prime is not Netflix. To be Netflix would take a quantum leap.

    I’m a Prime member and as part of the bundle for really good Amazon services besides free shipping, it becomes very intriguing.

  10. Doubt it. This is to get people who thought $99/year was too much to take a look at the service. And then to show them that $99/year is actually a pretty good deal. (and the line about letting people try it out with no commitment has some weight to it)

  12. I’m still on 7.99 (whereas new members are 9.99 or something) so I’ll stick around for a year or two until Netflix increase my price.

  14. Trying with no commitment makes it a bit more palatable. I suppose an argument could be made that the streaming is the bigger portion of the Prime membership perks, but it still looks off to me. What do I know? I’m often chastised for paying individual prices on a few streaming services and cable-based internet instead of just getting full cable TV — and then I have to trot out my spreadsheets to justify myself as paying less for what I want instead of more for 300+ channels I’ll never use. Probably the same thing 🙂

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