Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Amazon’s new 4K video streaming service won’t cost Prime members an extra dime

By

Amazon original series 'Alpha House'
Amazon original series 'Alpha House'
As Amazon prepares to launch its much anticipated 4K streaming service, the company released a statement promising something Netflix couldn’t: Amazon won’t charge its Prime members extra for access to its new library of streaming 4K content.

The news comes just weeks after the company’s largest rival in the streaming space, Netflix, announced a rise in subscription service charges to $12/month. The raise is $4 more than grandfathered members currently pay, and $3 more than the $9 per month fee for new members, which went into effect on May 9, 2014. Like the regular subscription rate, Netflix members will enjoy a grace period until Aug 12, 2016 before the new 4K pricing kicks in.

Recommended Videos

In contrast, Amazon has promised there will be no special pricing tier for 4K/UHD TV access. The fee will remain $99/per year to access all Prime Instant Video content, including 4K, and retain free 2-day shipping on select retail products.

Related

“We want to be the best entertainment destination for customers. We’re confident that offering Ultra HD content, whether it’s a TV series or a film, will help create the ultimate viewing experience and can’t wait to start making it available this year,” said Michael Paull, VP of Amazon’s digital video department.

Only a handful of offerings have so far been slated for release in 4K once the service goes live, including Amazon originals Alpha House, Mozart in the Jungle, and the live concert Tony Bennet and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live. While that list is pretty slim, Paull also promised more titles will arrive in Ultra HD “later this year and into next year.”

The news comes at what looks to be a turning point for the meager selection of content now offered in 4K resolution — especially if you happen to own one of Samsung’s newer 4K/UHD TVs. Comcast and DirecTV are both still on track to launch trial introductory 4K services available on Samsung TVs by the end of the year, according to a recent report by Multichannel News. And video on-demand service M-Go also announced today it will launch as many as 100 new titles available exclusively on Samsung TVs by the end of the year.

Today’s news from Amazon should be pinned with a slight asterisk, as the company only recently raised its Prime Member pricing, which offers free shipping on a wide selection of products on the e-commerce site, along with access to its Amazon Instant Video offerings. The price went from $79 to $99 per year in March 2014. Still, at just over $8 per month, the service stacks up with current Netflix pricing. If Amazon can offer an enticing catalog in 4K, it may give it some more skin in the ultra-competitive streaming video game.

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Ryan Waniata
Ryan Waniata
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…
BenQ’s new 4K HDR projector is designed with gamers in mind
benq announces one of kind 4khdr projector x3000i x1300i

BenQ is looking to grab the attention of gamers attending the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES.) The company that is most known for its monitors has just announced a new lineup of gamer-first products, including a 4K HDR gaming projector.

Being called the "only gaming projector on the market offering settings for 4K HDR game audio-visual enhancement," the new addition to BenQ's lineup is the X3000i 4K LED gaming projector. This projector is unlike any other as it covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, with preset audio-visual gamer modes. Those modes are tuned to 8.3ms response times, at the 120Hz frequency. These response times and frequencies are quite important when playing fast-paced games like Fortnite or even Call of Duty. 

Read more
Where to watch the best 4K content: Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Hulu, and more
HBO Max Logo on a TV.

Not sure where to watch the best 4K content out there? Once upon a time, a 4K TV was a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Not anymore. Today, you can get 4K TVs for less than $500, and with 8K just around the corner, they're bound to become even more affordable. But despite the great price, finding good 4K content still isn't that easy. Just because it exists doesn't mean it has become standardized on every platform. Once you know where to look, though, there's plenty of 4K content available. Yes, you'll need to pay for it, and you'll need the right gear, but it's worth the visual experience. We've found all the best sources of 4K content around and have gathered them here for you. Check out our guide on why you're not getting Netflix in 4K and how to fix it.
Related reading

Best 4K TVs
720p vs. 1080p vs. 4K UHD
Best movies on Netflix
Best movies on Amazon Prime
Best movies on Hulu

Read more
Roku revamps its midrange lineup with the Streaming Stick 4K and 4K Plus
Roku Streaming Stick 4K plugged into a TV.

Roku's fall update is in full swing, first with the introduction of Roku OS 10.5, and also with a refresh to the midrange of its line of streaming media players. New to the Roku lineup are the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, and the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+.

Both are of the stick variety (as opposed to the little deck of cards shape in the Express line), and both sport 4K resolution, with support for Dolby Vision and HRD10+. Both boast a new quad-core processor that Roku says is 30% faster. More important, probably, is the revamped wireless receiver, which Roku says "offers up to 2x faster Wi-Fi speeds." That's not really how Wi-Fi works -- and the devices leading up to this refresh already were using Wi-Fi 5 (aka 802.11ac), so we'll just say that they're "better" for now.

Read more