As streaming services have surged in popularity over the last decade, we have also seen prices soar and additional tiers used as a way to ramp up subscription costs.
And Amazon Prime Video is the latest service to up its prices, with its ad-free tier going up from $2.99 to $4.99 in the US, starting from 10th April. This tier is also being rebranded as Amazon Prime Video Ultra.
Paying for this tier removes advertisements and gives you access to 4K content. You also get more offline downloads (100 rather than 25), the option of more concurrent streams (five instead of three), and Dolby Atmos audio.
However, this change does mean that 4K UHD content is now locked behind a paywall and no longer available through the 'free' package included with a Prime membership.
The tech giant says, “this structure aligns with other major streaming services while ensuring customers have the flexibility to choose how they want to watch”.
It’s certainly true that Amazon is far from the first company to remove 4K content from the basic tier, with Disney+ and Netflix both limiting 4K video to more expensive package options.
The price increase is only in the US for now but we'd be surprised if it didn't come across the pond to the UK at some point soon.
MORE:
Here is our review of Amazon Prime Video
I pay for Amazon Prime Video, so why am I seeing ads?
Check out our review of Apple TV 4K
