What your favorite streaming services will cost you in 2024
If you were planning on watching the final season of “Jack Ryan” or eight seasons of “House” without commercials on Amazon Prime next year, get ready to dig a little deeper into your pockets.
In September, Amazon announced it would soon add advertisements to Prime Video, its streaming service, and this week announced when that change would go into effect: Jan 29. Customers wanting to avoid the ads would have to pay an extra $2.99 a month.
Less than a decade ago, the streaming era took off on the promise of letting users cut the cord from expensive cable bills and enjoy a blissful ad-free viewing experience. But as we enter 2024, Amazon isn’t the only service bringing back ads or driving prices higher.
Studios and streaming companies that make all this entertainment say that they are struggling and that it’s getting increasingly hard to attract new customers. The result is higher prices, or plans that are cheaper but include ads.
There are also other measures. This fall, Netflix announced a price hike and said it would start clamping down on users who share their passwords with people outside their households for free.
To help you make a choice for the new year, here’s what some of the main services will cost and what they will offer. (All prices are in U.S. dollars and apply to U.S. accounts.)
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon executives have said that including the video service helped keep people subscribed to its Prime memberships, which include free shipping.
In 2022, the company completed its purchase of Metro-GoldwynMayer — and, crucially, its extensive catalog of movies and television shows, including titles including James Bond, which is available on Prime Video.
The current price for an Amazon Prime membership is $14.99 a month (or $139 per year). Prime Video by itself is $8.99 a month. For ad-free viewing, Amazon will add $2.99 per month to your bill starting Jan. 29. And take note: If you opt into a free trial, Amazon will automatically start charging you after it ends.
Apple TV+
In 2019, Apple announced that it would start creating its own television shows and movies at an extremely star-studded event in California. The streaming service offers Apple originals — “Severance” and “Ted Lasso” — and a subscription can be shared with up to five people. There are no ads.
A monthly subscription for the streaming service costs $9.99. Apple also offers three free months when you buy one of its devices.
Disney+
For $7.99 a month, subscribers get content with ads. For $13.99 a month (or $139.99 a year) you can stream Disney+ without ads and download content for when you’re offline.
Its offerings include Pixar and Disney movies as well as “Star Wars” and Marvel movies and TV shows, 34 seasons of “The Simp