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Video streaming race heats up, Amazon now offers its Prime Video service independent of Prime subscription for $8.99/mo

Rumors of Apple’s entrance into the video streaming arena have been swirling for a couple of years now, with Apple wanting to launch a skinny bundle streaming internet cable TV service, however news on the progress of this project has died down in 2016. It is unclear if it is still on the cards, various outlets reports talked had stalled with the television networks. However, Amazon and Netflix continue to battle it out.

Today, just as Netflix customers are forcibly moved to more expensive monthly plans, Amazon has announced it will offer its streaming video service as a standalone monthly subscription for the first time. Priced at $8.99/per month, the plan is a dollar cheaper than Netflix’s most popular offering. Until today, the only way to get Amazon Prime Video through a $99/year Amazon Prime subscription, bundling video, 2-day shipping and other perks into one membership.

Sadly, there was no word on the status of an Amazon Apple TV app …

The separation of these services firmly places Amazon’s video service against Netflix, with both companies now offering competitively-priced monthly plans for similar collections of content.

As well as the aggregated rivalry, cable networks have also begun offering their own subscriptions over the last year, including services like HBO Now. The cable network Starz launched its own $8.99 subscription last week, in sync with a new app for Apple TV.

With Amazon’s offering, the biggest holdout for Apple users continues to be the lack of Apple TV app. It was rumored that an Amazon Prime Video app for Apple TV was in the works since Apple’s new box launched late in 2015, but nothing has been released six months later.

In November, an Amazon customer representative said an Apple TV Amazon app would launch in a few weeks. Obviously, that never transpired. Famously, Amazon stopped selling the Apple TV from its store because it blocked access to Amazon content. Now that the fourth-gen Apple TV has an open App Store, Amazon has chosen not to offer its content on the platform.

In contrast, Netflix has had an app in the Apple TV App Store from day one and also supports advanced integrations like Siri and universal search. Amazon does at least offer an iOS app to access their content and obviously a web experience for Mac users.

Although the main repercussion of the new separate monthly deals will be to pit Amazon directly against Netflix in the streaming video arena, it also means that the Prime express delivery service will be available separately for $10.99/per month. Shoppers could opt-in to the service for busy shipping periods like Christmas and the holiday season, without committing to a full year of Prime.

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Comments

  1. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    Trying to decide to stay with my $99 a year prime or switch to the $10.99 a month rate. Sure I can go without prime for 3 months and pay about the same for a year.

    Prime Video has the advantage of selling add on subscriptions to Showtime and Starz for $8.99 a month, it also offers other add on services. You can watch Showtime or Starz in the Prime Video app. Netflix does not offer this advantage. It’s nice to have access to several streaming services in one app. I’m surprised with the HBO back library Prime doesn’t offer HBO subscriptions also through the app or online.

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      Starz and Showtime are also $8.99/month in their standalone/Apple TV capable apps

      As far as the pricing, I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. No way Prime, even with all it’s “benefits” (Prime Music, Instant Video, etc) is worth $240/month.

      I have an Amazon Echo and still barely use Prine Music (selection isn’t that great, it can never seem to play more than previews of songs) and never watch Prime Instant Video because of it’s lack of Apple TV support.

  2. Neil Billingham - 8 years ago

    All this streaming service stuff just doesn’t do it for me. I much prefer the iTunes à la carte system; for one thing it means I watch less TV :)

    • philips9179 - 8 years ago

      Prefer a subscription service myself where I can play any of the content available on iTunes at anytime. and with the sheer depth and amount of content available on iTunes, the point has to be made; what possible excuse have Apple got for not offering a streaming subscription service to play the media that’s available on iTunes, be it music, games or anything else

      • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

        I always thought a monthly fee for unlimited movie and tv shows access on iTunes is the way to go. Basically a Netflix competitor with iTunes existing video library. Seems like it would be easier to get this type of deal with the media companies then the slim tv packages like Sling TV and Sony Vue. Only thing people would be missing is sports.

        Unfortunately it looks like we are going to be stuck with these premium subscription streaming services for awhile.

  3. This makes it more tempting. I’d much rather pay for just video, than all of Prime.

    • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

      For $2 a month i think it is worth having all of prime.

    • carmenia83 - 8 years ago

      This is more expensive than “all of prime.” Regular Prime is $99/year ($8.25/mo).

      • quiviran - 8 years ago

        I wonder if Amazon will give me a 74¢/ month credit to subscribe to “the rest of Prime”. I could do that. I’ve been thinking of dropping Prime since Amazon started adding features I can’t of don’t use while raising the price.

    • Jonathan Barrette - 8 years ago

      You sir should do some math on that…

    • crichton007 - 8 years ago

      For $1/month more you can get much better options with Netflix (IMHO). I would have Prime without the video option but I don’t think that it is worth getting as a standalone service.

    • Gary Jones - 8 years ago

      Sling TV offers ESPN for sports

  4. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    I hate Apple not supporting UltraViolet or having any of the apps that support it on Apple TV.Would be nice to have Fandango NOW or Vudu on Apple Tv to view my digital collection from other BluRays or digital purchases I have made.

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      It isn’t Apple not having the apps on the Apple TV. It is they UV providers. Reach out to he developers of your favorite and ask when it’s coming.

      In my experience, Ultraviolet is a great idea poorly implemented. The services, in my opinion, always made me jump through hoops, needing several different accounts, that would periodically forget to talk to each other necessitating the hoop jumping all over again. Perhaps it has changed in recent years, but I gave up on it and don’t see going back.

      I would much rather have the Disney Mkvies Anywhere approach. Buy the digital copy anywhere you want (iTunes, Microsoft, Google Play, Amazon and yes, Vudu) and play it on any device you want. Once purchased in any of those stores, it is linked to all the other services.

  5. Seth Weintraub - 8 years ago

    $8.99×12= $107.88. You are a fool if you buy this and not the full prime. Storage, free ebooks, Music, and free 2 day shipping are surely worth negative $8

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      That is why I fear this is a sign of things to come. For me, it would be easy. Save me $100 a year and hundreds, if not thousands, in impulse buying because “I can have it in two days!”

      I am not saying I would not shop at Amazon, but the value of the $99 Prime causes me to spend a lot more than I would without it.

  6. davysewell - 8 years ago

    I’m sure it’s been like this forever in the UK?

  7. Scott (@ScooterComputer) - 8 years ago

    No AppleTV app, no more Amazon Prime. It is as simple as that. And I don’t even OWN a 4th-gen AppleTV. Why such a stand? Principle. I want to see the content companies making commitments to users rather than trying to drive hardware sales. And yes, that goes for Apple too; see before when I said I didn’t have a 4th-gen Apple TV.

    If you make a good piece of hardware, the users will come, they will buy it. Creating walled gardens and employing protective isolationism is a failed strategy, proven time and time again. You’d think these companies would have LEARNED that lesson; however they continue to revert to baser instincts it seems. Apple, worst of all. But I don’t think this pattern of “thermonuclear war” benefits consumers at ALL, and it is about time WE let the companies know our feelings with our dollars.

    • chrisl84 - 8 years ago

      You can Airplay from an iPhone or iPad to an Apple TV and it works beautifully with an additional second screen experience with show notes/actors info/and did you knows, and more. At this point even if an Apple TV app came out, I would probably still consider airplay due to the second screen experience.

    • It kinda goes both ways, though, Scott. If I want Amazon Prime on my 4th generation  TVs, then Roku owners should be able to view iTunes and iTunes Home Sharing content on their devices.

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        Not really. If you had said “Amazon Fire TV” then you would be closer. Still different (pure purchase vs streaming).

        And I get your point, but look at it this way:

        Apple has a service,  MUSIC, that they want to appeal to as broad a subscriber base as possible. They have an Android app. This is the more pure, and less cherry picked to fit a narrative, example.

  8. PJ (@D00mM4r1n3) - 8 years ago

    Crackle is far better than Prime Video and free with ads. Not to mention there is an AppleTV app for Crackle. Dropping Prime was the best decision I’ve made in years. The bulk of my online purchasing had been for Blu-rays which I now buy from DeepDiscount.com which offers free shipping for orders over $25 unlike Amazon who upped their minimum to $50. It’s quite remarkable seeing how fast packages arrive from other stores using their slowest shipping option, typically 3-5 days, versus the 2-4 weeks I have been seeing with Amazon. I’ve placed orders for items that were all in-stock and being sold by Amazon directly that they didn’t bother processing for 5 days. They are clearly having money problems and I’m not going to bail them out.

    • Brandon Stiefel - 8 years ago

      You’re kidding, right? You have to be. Just yesterday I started the Crackle app on my Roku and was disappointed with the limited selection of very old movies and TV shows that virtually no one wants to watch. There’s a reason Crackle is free. Amazon Prime, on the other hand, has such a large selection of stuff that sometimes it can take me two hours just to find something I want to sit down and watch. Am I missing something like Crackle having more content available on devices other than Roku?

    • crichton007 - 8 years ago

      If dropping Amazon Prime was the best decision you’ve made in years I’d hate to see what the rest of your life is like.

  9. BenGie Cruz - 8 years ago

    Still no app for apple tv 4!

    • As I said to another person above, if I want Amazon Prime on my 4th generation  TVs, then Roku owners should be able to view iTunes and iTunes Home Sharing content on their devices.

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        Still not 100% the same thing.

        Amazon Prime Video is, especially now, a streaming service. So the closest Apple product for comparison is  MUSIC. Which Apple released an Android app for. And is available on Sonos.

      • puggsly - 8 years ago

        I agree in a perfect world, you would buy your hardware and everything would just work, but that is not the case. Nor is it why so many people are pissed off at Amazon about the Prime App for AppleTV. Amazon can choose to tie it’s content to it’s hardware, it can even cherry pick which third party hardware they plan to support (although that is where things start to rub people the wrong way). What makes people angry is for Amazon to say:

        We are pulling AppleTV and Google Chrome Cast from our stores because THEY DON’T SUPPORT AMAZON PRIME VIDEO. Implying that it is a choice by Apple and Google to not support Prime, when it is Amazon who is intentionally keeping the App off these platforms.

        As for iTunes on other devices? I can’t say when Apple might feel it is worth while or if Roku even wants them. They haven’t supported Airplay and I know that is a licensed technology that others support. Maybe Roku just doesn’t want to license FairPlay?

        I’m thinking this is going to get worse before it gets better!

  10. Torrey Huerta - 8 years ago

    Netflix all the way here.

  11. PMZanetti - 8 years ago

    Undoubtedly this was probably the last puzzle piece missing before the AppleTV app comes out.

  12. Robert Wood - 8 years ago

    My short answer. Amazon IV offer is for $1.99 or $8.99; until it’s App is natively supported on Apple-TV, to me it’s dead on arrival. Some wise people advice, why not use airplay ? I politely reply. It’s horrible experience and on top you got to engage extra IOS device just to to watch Amazon IV on large TV. Why ?.So until Amazon offers on Apple-TV, I will continue happily using friend’s prime membership to buy few things that I need from Amazon which sometime happen to be cheaper and for free shipping. I like to give Amazon’s ego taste of it’s own medicine. Moreover, comparing between two(Amazon,Netflix) streaming entities, Netflix is way better than Amazon and plays natively well on Apple-TV. I have the same message for others like Dishnetwork for it’s SLING app not yet supported on Apple-TV..

    • raist3001 - 8 years ago

      LOL….Amazons ego? Less or worse then apples ego? Good grief.

  13. raist3001 - 8 years ago

    Hopefully amazon updates their roku app. The interface is just terrible.

  14. pdixon1986 - 8 years ago

    Highly annoying in terms of still no Apple TV app announcement.

    Considering Netflix, Hulu, etc are all on Apple TV – yet Amazon are like “we can’t handle the competition… we know our service isn’t as good, and is limited in areas, but we have to charge more… to make up for our lack of service we do offer discounts on our products… but to force you into buying our stuff we wont share our service elsewhere.” — there is no reason for them not to include an Apple TV app… after all, you still have the app on iOS devices and can view from most web browsers on laptops and desktops — so what is wrong with adding a TV app???

    Yes you can stream from an iphone to apple TV – but i like to mess around with my phone while watching TV, which i cannot do while streaming from the amazon app :-(

    as for the price — America is getting screwed… I live in japan and pay just under ¥4000 a year — thats around $36… it still includes prime video, music, photos etc, plus same day deliver in the Tokyo area, free next day delivery, scheduled delivery, advance time sale, prime only sale, amazon pantry delivery, and amazon product discounts — granted, we dont have a huge western catalogue, but for the price we get a very good deal.

  15. Barbara Eberly - 8 years ago

    I have premium channels on Comcast cable, so I get Starz, Showtime, HBO, etc. on my Apple TV, no extra charge.

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.