5 ms·

This is infuriating. I'm paying for the service--that's supposedly what's sustaining it--why are there ads? If you (Amazon) decide you want more money, let me d

This is infuriating. I'm paying for the service--that's supposedly what's sustaining it--why are there ads? If you (Amazon) decide you want more money, let me decide to pay more to eliminate ads. Similar things abound with Hulu. Even the more expensive "ad free" version has some ads for certain shows/movies due to "licensing agreements" (read: Hulu wanting more money).

benologist 8y ago
Once these companies decide their best path to new profits doesn't include new or improved products or growth it's just a question of who they are going to fuck, their employees or users.
- thfuran 8y ago
  What do you mean "or"?
kemitche 8y ago
Wow, glad to hear about that Hulu situation. I used Hulu for a while, then dropped it when they added ads to my paid account. When I heard they had an ad-free version again I thought I might come back - but if the ad-free version is not ad-free then I'll just keep my money.
- ovao 8y ago
  The option I subscribe to is ad-free, at least for the shows I’ve been watching.
  - tracker1 8y ago
    Depends on the program source... some have an ad in front of the episode even for the ad-free tier. The "live tv" option sometimes keeps you from skipping some ads as well. Most frustrating to me is they have an updated app on the fire tv devices, but won't update the android tv app (NVidia Shield TV).
zanny 8y ago
Its not new whatsoever. I'm sure double dipping predates newspapers who combine recurring billing and ads in between the articles. Cable TV today is a really obvious offensive case of it because unlike with the papers you aren't as constrained by recurring distribution costs.
- tracker1 8y ago
  Newspaper subscriptions mostly pay for the delivery costs... the printing costs are largely from the ad revenue. Also, Cable is a bit of a mixed bag as the cable company you pay doesn't pay for ALL the content on 100+ channels. Even if you only want like 10 of them. That's where ads pick up the slack. That said, the ever shrinking runtime is really annoying... late 70's hour long programs had around 48-50 minutes of content... today, it's inching under 42 minutes of content (and overlays on credits most of the time).
untog 8y ago
This is hardly new. Cable TV, magazines and newspapers have always cost money and had ads included.
- thiagocsf 8y ago
  I beg to disagree. I remember a golden age when cable tv was known to be better because it didn’t have any ads. Slowly they became as ad infested as open channels.
  - zokula 8y ago
    What are you talking about? cable TV has always had ads in the very beginning in the 1950s and 60s on through the 1970s when the first cable TV stations came out.
    - dhimes 8y ago
      Now when I hit "guide" I get a modal popup serving me an ad, that I then have to exit. Soon it will be two, then three, then.... The same thing happened to "previews" when you go to the movies.
    - autoexec 8y ago
      Nope. local channels continued to have ads but cable did not. Cable TV was advertised as being ad free because you were paying for it. It was part of the sales pitch. My household was a subscriber in those early days and I remember the concern that ads were coming. I remember that they started by putting the ads between shows and only advertising upcoming shows on that channel. Then it moved to general ads about shows on that channel, then to ads about shows on other channels. At that point I knew the cause was lost and sure enough soon it was normal TV ads interrupting shows. Here is a newspaper article from around that time asking how much longer cable TV will be ad free https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-invaded-by-commercials.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...
- ryandrake 8y ago
  Will Cable TV Be Invaded By Commercials? [1981]: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-invaded-by-commercials.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...

benologist 8y ago

Once these companies decide their best path to new profits doesn't include new or improved products or growth it's just a question of who they are going to fuck, their employees or users.

thfuran 8y ago
What do you mean "or"?

kemitche 8y ago

Wow, glad to hear about that Hulu situation. I used Hulu for a while, then dropped it when they added ads to my paid account. When I heard they had an ad-free version again I thought I might come back - but if the ad-free version is not ad-free then I'll just keep my money.

ovao 8y ago
The option I subscribe to is ad-free, at least for the shows I’ve been watching.
- tracker1 8y ago
  Depends on the program source... some have an ad in front of the episode even for the ad-free tier. The "live tv" option sometimes keeps you from skipping some ads as well. Most frustrating to me is they have an updated app on the fire tv devices, but won't update the android tv app (NVidia Shield TV).

zanny 8y ago

Its not new whatsoever. I'm sure double dipping predates newspapers who combine recurring billing and ads in between the articles. Cable TV today is a really obvious offensive case of it because unlike with the papers you aren't as constrained by recurring distribution costs.

tracker1 8y ago
Newspaper subscriptions mostly pay for the delivery costs... the printing costs are largely from the ad revenue. Also, Cable is a bit of a mixed bag as the cable company you pay doesn't pay for ALL the content on 100+ channels. Even if you only want like 10 of them. That's where ads pick up the slack. That said, the ever shrinking runtime is really annoying... late 70's hour long programs had around 48-50 minutes of content... today, it's inching under 42 minutes of content (and overlays on credits most of the time).

untog 8y ago

This is hardly new. Cable TV, magazines and newspapers have always cost money and had ads included.

thiagocsf 8y ago
I beg to disagree. I remember a golden age when cable tv was known to be better because it didn’t have any ads. Slowly they became as ad infested as open channels.
- zokula 8y ago
  What are you talking about? cable TV has always had ads in the very beginning in the 1950s and 60s on through the 1970s when the first cable TV stations came out.
  - dhimes 8y ago
    Now when I hit "guide" I get a modal popup serving me an ad, that I then have to exit. Soon it will be two, then three, then.... The same thing happened to "previews" when you go to the movies.
  - autoexec 8y ago
    Nope. local channels continued to have ads but cable did not. Cable TV was advertised as being ad free because you were paying for it. It was part of the sales pitch. My household was a subscriber in those early days and I remember the concern that ads were coming. I remember that they started by putting the ads between shows and only advertising upcoming shows on that channel. Then it moved to general ads about shows on that channel, then to ads about shows on other channels. At that point I knew the cause was lost and sure enough soon it was normal TV ads interrupting shows. Here is a newspaper article from around that time asking how much longer cable TV will be ad free https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-invaded-by-commercials.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...
ryandrake 8y ago
Will Cable TV Be Invaded By Commercials? [1981]: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-invaded-by-commercials.html https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...