Financial expert criticizes planned advertising breaks on Amazon's Prime Video

Financial expert criticizes planned advertising breaks on Amazon's Prime Video

According to a report by www.heise.de, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) plans to take legal action against the changes to Amazon's Prime Video. From February 5th, the Amazon streaming service will feature commercial breaks in films and series as standard. If you want to avoid the commercials, you have to pay an additional 3 euros per month. Consumer advocates believe this is illegal because Amazon did not obtain the consent of its customers.

These changes by Amazon could have a significant impact on the market and consumers. According to vzbv boss Ramona Pop, this is a “significant contractual change” for which customer consent would have to be obtained. The vzbv assesses the change in the Prime subscription as a hidden price increase. If Amazon loses the case, it could affect its overall business practices, particularly in the way it communicates price changes and contract changes.

It is important to note that vzbv has had success with similar lawsuits against other streaming services in the past. This shows that such legal disputes can have a significant impact on the industry. Streaming services must obtain consent from their customers before making unilateral price adjustments.

The vzbv's upcoming lawsuit against Amazon could therefore not only have an impact on the company itself, but also on the entire streaming industry. It remains to be seen how Amazon will respond to the legal action and how this will impact the future design of subscription services.