After a year of litigation, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Amazon’s Prime Video. According to The Hollywood Reporter, platform subscribers filed a class action suit alleging Amazon misled them after requiring an additional fee to stream content ad-free.
Today, U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein ruled the streamer made clear the various benefits of the Prime membership — including its streaming service — were subject to change. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she found the multifaceted company “never promised subscribers” Prime Video would stay without ads.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon mimicked several other streaming platforms and introduced an ad-tier version of its TV and film service last year. It optioned to make its entire platform ad-supported, requiring those wanting to continue streaming content ad-free to pay an additional $2.99 each month. A standalone Prime Video subscription is $8.99; subscribers receive the service at no extra charge if they have an annual Prime membership. Since this move, Amazon closed its free, ad-supported service Freevee, with the content shifting to Prime Video.
In the suit, plaintiffs made up of annual Prime subscribers, alleged a breach of contract and accused Amazon of violating state consumer protection laws. However, The Hollywood Reporter lists the court sided with the company, that “both the Prime Terms and the Video Terms repeatedly reserve to Amazon the right to modify, add, or remove benefits associated with memberships.” When lawyers argued Amazon’s decision to make the ad-free service the default option, effectively increasing the price, was not within the scope of the company’s terms, Rothstein retorted users did not subscribe to the streaming service alone, but the packaged deal as part of their overall Prime membership.
Rothstein later described Amazon’s terms — the distinction between the streaming platform and the Prime membership — allowed them to alter access to benefits as they saw fit, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“It is true that Amazon’s introduction of commercials to its streaming service, for those Prime members who chose to pay more to keep their streaming ad-free, ultimately had an effect on those subscribers’ wallets tantamount to a ‘price increase. The Court, however, is compelled to maintain the distinction between a benefit removal and a price increase,” Rothstein stated in today’s filing via The Hollywood Reporter.
The Hollywood Reporter adds this is the second lawsuit dismissed against Amazon for a similar reason. Last year, Prime subscribers alleged they were misled regarding a delivery fee of $9.95 associated with Whole Foods purchases.