Amazon Clarifies: ‘No Changes to Freevee’ After Elimination Speculations
By Movieguide® Contributor
On Feb. 21, Adweek reported that Amazon planned to let go of TV app Freevee, but Amazon is saying otherwise.
“With Amazon’s Prime Video launch of ads by default last month, rumors and speculation have heated up that the tech giant would no longer have a strategic need for Freevee — its free, ad-supported streaming service that is separate from Prime Video,” Variety reported.
“Amazon is planning to sunset its free, ad-supported television application Freevee in the coming weeks,” the Adweek article said, “according to three people familiar with the strategy—part of a broader effort to focus its advertising and product efforts on Prime Video, which launched an ad-supported tier in January.”
The article quoted one unnamed person: “If the question is whether or not Amazon will persist with two stand-alone streaming services, I’m certain the answer is no.”
Now, Amazon tells Fortune that Freevee will stick around, at least for now.
“There are no changes to Freevee,” an Amazon spokesperson said on Thursday. “Amazon Freevee remains an important streaming offering providing both Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of hit movies, shows, and Originals, all for free.”
Fortune noted that Amazon’s statement is ambiguously in the present tense and doesn’t necessarily speak to the platform’s future.
Movieguide® recently reported on a lawsuit against Amazon over the implementation of its ad-tier streaming and unfair ad fees:
A California resident has brought a class action suit against Amazon Prime for its “deceptive” plan to run ads in all Prime Video programming.
“Wilbert Napoleon, who brought forth the lawsuit in the interest of all Amazon Prime customers said they were led to believe by Amazon’s ‘false and misleading’ advertisements that they would have ‘ad-free access to tv shows and movies,’ according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington state on Feb. 9,” USA Today reported...
Napoleon renewed his Prime subscription in June 2023, ahead of Amazon implementing a $2.99 fee for ad-free streaming. Although he had already paid for his year-long subscription, Napoleon began seeing ads after Amazon’s policy change on Jan. 29, which he stated was “unfair.”
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