Prime users rage after Amazon gives one-month warning for major change

Customers will have to pay £3 extra to avoid ads

Amazon users in the UK are receiving emails warning them about a major change to its Prime Video service.

From 5 February, Amazon Prime Video will start including “limited advertisements” in its movie and TV shows. If customers want to avoid them, they will have to pay an extra £2.99 in the UK.

The company claimed that the change will allow it to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time”.

But many who received the email pointed out that it amounted to a significant change in the quality service – or a price increase.

Others also noted that Amazon has spent large sums on original programming such as The Rings of Power. That series – a prequel to The Lord of the Rings – was reported to have cost more than $700 million and received largely tepid reviews.

Amazon announced that it would be advertising and asking customers to pay up to avoid it over the festive period. But this week appears to have seen a large number of emails sent to UK customers, a month ahead of the introduction of ads.

Grime artist JME voiced his frustration with the change on Twitter.

“You pay for a service,” he wrote. “They say hi, I know you pay for this, but we’re not giving it to you anymore.

“We’ll still take your money, but if you want what you used to have… You must pay more.”

His was one of a number of posts about the email that generated a wave of frustrated replies. “I got this earlier and am actually fuming,” one user wrote in reply.

Amazon is already letting people “pre-order” the option not to have ads across the world. But users will not receive any reduction in price for doing so.