Prime Video Subscribers’ Ad Tier Class-Action Lawsuit Dismissed

The dismissal comes just over a year after the suit was first filed The post Prime Video Subscribers’ Ad Tier Class-Action Lawsuit Dismissed appeared first on TheWrap.

Feb 8, 2025 - 00:36
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Prime Video Subscribers’ Ad Tier Class-Action Lawsuit Dismissed

A judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Amazon’s Prime Video service of misleading subscribers with an extra charge to stream their content free of ads.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein found that Prime Video “never promised subscribers” the streaming service would remain ad-free while also making it clear the pricing and bundles for the service were subject to change.

“In contrast, both the Prime Terms and the Video Terms repeatedly reserve to Amazon the right to modify, add or remove benefits associated with memberships,” Rothstein wrote in court docs, obtained by TheWrap.

In January 2024, the platform introduced an ad-supported tier with limited advertisements and switched all of its users to the plan by default, with the option to avoid ads by paying a $2.99 per month fee. A class-action lawsuit was filed in California shortly thereafter claiming the service’s move was “unfair,” “deceptive” and “unlawful.” Amazon was accused of committing breach of contract and violating consumer protection laws in the state for people who saw their subscription terms change due to the pivot.

The court disagreed with the suit and the subscribers’ lawyers, however. Rothstein wrote that Amazon made clear in their terms that they reserved the right to alter membership bundles and ultimately subscribers were paying for access to the streaming platform itself and not specifically an ad-free version of it.

“It is true that Amazon’s introduction of commercials to its streaming service, for those Prime members who chose to pay more to keep their streaming ad-free, ultimately had an effect on those subscribers’ wallets tantamount to a ‘price increase,'” Rothstein wrote. “The Court, however, is compelled to maintain the distinction between a benefit removal and a price increase.”

This was the same point that Amazon’s lawyers made when they filed for a dismissal of the class-action suit back in October.

“Even though Amazon has the right to increase the Prime membership fee, Plaintiffs and other Prime members paid exactly the same fee for Prime before and after the change to Prime Video. Access to Prime Video is just one of the many Prime benefits that Amazon may change in its discretion,” the company wrote in that dismissal motion. “But Plaintiffs still have complete access to Prime Video, and all of its content, and pay nothing extra for it. In other words, even though Amazon could permissibly change, or remove entirely, any Prime benefit, it did not do so with Prime Video.”

The post Prime Video Subscribers’ Ad Tier Class-Action Lawsuit Dismissed appeared first on TheWrap.