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Amazon Plans Commercial Breaks for Prime Video

CTListener said:
Everyone who subscribes to ESPN, Peacock, Disney+, etc., etc., etc. Amazon Prime members who stream their sports coverage have been "paying to watch commercials" all along. They're baked into the games themselves.
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You can either watch commercials or at minimum graphics during timeouts and long breaks in the action when national networks would've normally taken commercial breaks, or you can watch a bunch of random shots and video of what's going on inside the stadium, likely with no sound or just crowd noise, which is still a long break and isn't much more exciting.

Last year during the NBA playoffs we watched a particular streaming service. They didn't insert any commercials, but during breaks in play the announcers just went silent and viewers of the streaming platform just saw a raw feed of what was being displayed on the scoreboard inside the arena...The the dancing grannies at mid-court, some act doing dog tricks, the audience dancing to get their faces up on the video display in the venue, etc. Luckily we were watching a replay of the game so we simply jumped past all that.
 
Mikey Radio said:
You can either watch commercials or at minimum graphics during timeouts and long breaks in the action when national networks would've normally taken commercial breaks, or you can watch a bunch of random shots and video of what's going on inside the stadium, likely with no sound or just crowd noise, which is still a long break and isn't much more exciting.

Last year during the NBA playoffs we watched a particular streaming service. They didn't insert any commercials, but during breaks in play the announcers just went silent and viewers of the streaming platform just saw a raw feed of what was being displayed on the scoreboard inside the arena...The the dancing grannies at mid-court, some act doing dog tricks, the audience dancing to get their faces up on the video display in the venue, etc. Luckily we were watching a replay of the game so we simply jumped past all that.
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Interesting. I subscribe to MLB TV and, as far as I know, there's no way to opt into a feed that remains in the ballpark between innings or during pitching changes. The feed goes to commercials (or MLB promos) immediately and often doesn't return to the game until the first pitch after the break has been thrown. I'm curious what the "particular streaming service" on which you watched NBA playoff games was. Was it legal?
 
Amazon Prime Video will still be commercial free for those who pay an additional $2.99 a month. That's what this is about. They're trying to hold the line on the subscription price. Adding commercials is a way to do it. But costs go up every year. You know the writer's strike they just settled? Writers got a pay increase. That gets passed on to consumers. So this is a short term solution to a long term problem.
 
CTListener said:
I'm curious what the "particular streaming service" on which you watched NBA playoff games was. Was it legal?
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It was legal and we subscribed and paid for it but it's been months since the playoffs so I don't recall which service it was. They carried the NBA on TNT feed with TNT's graphics and announcers during play, but during what would normally be commercial breaks and time outs, they just carried the raw audio feed from the PA in the arena, and the video sent to the scoreboard. Then once it was a few seconds to return to air, they faded back to TNT.
 
Mikey Radio said:
It was legal and we subscribed and paid for it but it's been months since the playoffs so I don't recall which service it was. They carried the NBA on TNT feed with TNT's graphics and announcers during play, but during what would normally be commercial breaks and time outs, they just carried the raw audio feed from the PA in the arena, and the video sent to the scoreboard. Then once it was a few seconds to return to air, they faded back to TNT.
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Was it the NBA’s streaming service?
 
welcome to the "Basic Streaming" era, this is the new reality, cause Streaming is the new Cable/Satellite and if you don't want ads, you got to pay for the premium version of the service, just like how premium cable gave you ad free content with the only ads being promos in between the movies/shows/events that air on the networks.

i expect this to become more common as ads tend to pay for itself if you are paying the cheapest package (which is the "With ads" package) as while you get lots of ads interruption, it's giving you access to the same content without paying 20 to 40 bucks cause ad free content is becoming too expensive for streaming as the bubble has already busted in this model and the basic streaming model is the new model and will become the norm. also the next thing you know, uncensored content that is TV MA TV Shows/R Rated movies will become part of the premium packages while basic versions will have the "Censored" version to keep advertisers happy the same way basic cable censored things out for decades.
 
If I am paying for a service I expect to not see any ads. If they want to throw ads on the free side fine.
 
CTListener said:
Interesting. I subscribe to MLB TV and, as far as I know, there's no way to opt into a feed that remains in the ballpark between innings or during pitching changes. The feed goes to commercials (or MLB promos) immediately and often doesn't return to the game until the first pitch after the break has been thrown. I'm curious what the "particular streaming service" on which you watched NBA playoff games was. Was it legal?
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The only way to see the truck feed is through a backhaul. Maybe some streams have access to it.
 
TheBigA said:
Their view is that the amount you pay doesn't cover the cost of the service.
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Isn't Amazon Prime Video a perk of Amazon prime. As in a side project that Amazon funds. Why should I pay more for something I am already paying for. Amazon is not hurting for cash.
 
Don CT said:
The only way to see the truck feed is through a backhaul. Maybe some streams have access to it.
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That was possible back in the 1980s and early '90s with C-Band satellite...if you scanned the right 'bird'. Most of those MLB feeds, even now with digital receivers, are now BISS/Digicypher encrypted and not available to the public nowadays.
 
Don CT said:
Isn't Amazon Prime Video a perk of Amazon prime. As in a side project that Amazon funds. Why should I pay more for something I am already paying for. Amazon is not hurting for cash.
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They're holding the line on price by adding commercials. The way to go bankrupt is to sell something for less than what it costs.
 
crainbebo said:
That was possible back in the 1980s and early '90s with C-Band satellite...if you scanned the right 'bird'. Most of those MLB feeds, even now with digital receivers, are now BISS/Digicypher encrypted and not available to the public nowadays.
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Exactly. That's why I'd be surprised if there were a legit streaming service offering access to the in-house video of the arena during timeouts in NBA games in recent years. Sure wish Mikey could remember what service he was using. Even back in 2010, when I had both MLB and NHL streaming, they would always switch to commercials, promos or "Stand by" slides during timeouts and between innings/periods.
 
CTListener said:
Exactly. That's why I'd be surprised if there were a legit streaming service offering access to the in-house video of the arena during timeouts in NBA games in recent years. Sure wish Mikey could remember what service he was using. Even back in 2010, when I had both MLB and NHL streaming, they would always switch to commercials, promos or "Stand by" slides during timeouts and between innings/periods.
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I've made a mental note that if we need to use it again this season or if I happen to come across it, I'll let you know which service it is.
 
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