Prime Video with ads is The Rings of Power bill coming due

OPINION: After Amazon spent more than a billion dollars and produced an objectively bad Lord of the Rings TV show, the bill was always going to be placed at consumers’ doors.

Amazon’s The Rings of Power TV show was an absolute dog. That’s the hill I’m willing to die on.

Expensive, ambitious, but ultimately deeply flawed and a massive disappointment for those expecting the huge investment to pay dividends with an original story worthy of the world Tolkien created and the LOTR movie trilogy Peter Jackson conjured from the novels.

Amazon spent a billion dollars on crafting that first season exploring the origins of Galadriel, Isildur, Elrond, Gandalf and Sauron during the second age of Middle Earth. Many would argue, with a coherent story, this was a can’t miss premise.

And, in Middle Earth, it offered a canvas any production company would dream of painting and exploring in great deal.

Ultimately, though, that billion dollars was spent on loads of CGI, some uninspiring acting talent and not a huge amount of substance in the script or the story.

The series was a flop and there’s zero buzz about the second season Amazon is probably going to spend a similar amount on. You know, the season where The Rings of Power referenced in the title are likely to be created.

Now the bill is coming due.

Amazon has confirmed the date Prime Video viewers will begin seeing advertisements unless they pay an additional fee atop their Amazon Prime membership dues.

For standard Prime subscribers, January 29 is D-Day for ads being inserted into Prime Video content in the US. Those in the UK and Germany get an extra week of grace, with ads arriving on February 5.

In an email to subscribers Amazon says the ads would be “limited” but can be avoided if Prime subscribers are willing to pay an extra £2.99 a month to continue receiving the ad-free experience.

Amazon previously said the decision is being taken to enable Prime Video to “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing investment over a long period of time.”

So, what it is essentially saying is you’re getting the bill or will have to watch ads for something you thought you were already paying for with your Prime subscription. Or, in other words, it’s Amazon saying “that Lord of the Rings bill isn’t going to be paid by us!”

We’ll have to wait and see how obnoxious the advertisements are but Amazon is promising Prime Video will have “meaningfully fewer ads than ad-supported TV channels and other streaming TV providers.”

Amazon also points out the unlimited one day delivery, access to ad free Amazon Music, Deliver Plus, books magazines, and comics through Prime Reading and loads more for £8.99 a month. So it’s not the worst value around – far from it – and it wouldn’t be such a bitter pill to swallow if Amazon hadn’t whiffed on a sure fire home run.