Amazon Slashes Prices on 4K Content in Response To Apple TV 4K's Launch

An anonymous reader shares a report: One of the many announcements at Apple's keynote a couple weeks ago was that 4K movies would be added to iTunes at the same price as HD content. Previously purchased HD movies would also be upgraded to 4K for free, though for streaming only. In response, Amazon Video has drastically slashed the prices of its own 4K content to match iTunes. As Pocket Lint notes, Amazon Video's 4K selection is not only limited in comparison to Apple's, but was incredibly expensive with purchases running over $30. (This price was comparable to services like Vudu and Google, but Apple's worked out deals to offer 4K HDR movies at $19.99.) Over the weekend, it appears prices for 4K titles on Amazon Video are now starting at around $5, with newer releases in the range of $7 to $19.

Agency Model?

[Luthair]

One wonders whether its Amazon making the change, or whether the studios were setting the prices and are obligated to offer through Amazon the same pricing as the best elsewhere.

that was a plot twist

[kwoff]

I would've expected it to be the other way around: Amazon lowering prices to defeat Apple's expensive launch, heh.

This is Free Market in action.

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, if/when someone gets market control, that's when Free Markets become bad. When a firm controls a market, it is no longer free and worse than a government controlled market.

Government intervention is necessary because the Free Markets will ALWAYS end up in a monopoly and hurt consumers.

Like all religions, Free Market Capitalism needs reform.

Free Markets are based on human irrationality. There is nothing rational about human choices - and the Chicago school are a bunch of delusional fanatics.

Re: This is Free Market in action.

[MemeRot]

Don't forget Sudan

Re:

[farble1670]

Government intervention is necessary because the Free Markets will ALWAYS end up in a monopoly and hurt consumers.

Or, like cable in most locales, end up with a few large competitors owning the market, and refusing to engage in true competition. It's great because they can't be classified as a monopoly but they are able to fix prices to their hearts' content.

I am not a consumer bot...

[Frosty Piss]

...So I really don't care.

I mean, if you have to have "IT'S NEW AND SHINY, I MUST GET OUT MY CREDIT CARD NOW!", and there's nothing wrong with that if it turns you on, than fine, pay the price and play the game.

By the time it get's to me, it's usually $5 anyway.

Patience, young Grasshopper...

Re:

[alvinrod]

I think I'll just sit this one out and wait until 8K or whatever else comes out after this because you know they're going to need something new to sell everyone in another five years. Hopefully they'll reach a point where they can just quit though so we can break the cycle. I mean 64K ought to be enough for anybody.

Re: This might matter some day

[MemeRot]

Subtle... love it

Buy The Disc

[nick_davison]

Amazon and Vudu have both been selling $30 4K copies.

Alternatively virtually every disc now comes with an Ultraviolet (Vudu/bunch of other branded services) code.

Buy a 4K movie on disc for the same price as the Vudu digital copy and you get the 4K Vudu version plus discs that never degrade quality due to bandwidth and, best of all, still play when your digital merchant of choice decides to retire their service.

Plus Vuduâ(TM)s disc to digital generally lets you stick Blu-ray copies in your drive and convert to Vudu for $1 each as soon as youâ(TM)re doing ten or more ($2 each for less than ten).

Getting the discs as well as the digital copies, for the same price as the digital copies... it amazes me anyoneâ(TM)s been buying digital only for just as high a price.

Oh... and a lot of discs come with both Vudu and iTunes codes. So you commonly get discs and two digital services for the cost of a single digital service buy.

Re:

[madbrain]

I don't collect movies, but I do care about having the best quality in my home theater. All 4K streaming services, including Amazon and Vudu, both have much lower bit rates for streaming than what's available on a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc

This is true for HD streaming vs Blu-ray discs, too.

I don't care one bit about the "right now" argument. Most streaming movies sound like crap in my 11.4 speaker setup in my home theater.
About the same as DVDs. HD streaming picture is quite noticeably worse on the 106" projectio

Re:

[JustNiz]

Totally agree.
Streaming 4k looks crap compared to a just a 1080 blu-ray disc upscaled to 4k by my 60" 4k oled tv..

3D and 4K content has always been overpriced.

[Mrakodrap]

Even on Blu-Ray discs. Paying for a two-hour-long mild entertainment with the equivalent of multi-tens-of-hours of fun with some video game is pretty insane concept to me. This is the main reason why bittorrents proliferated so much. And they will. They will once again rise just like a Phoenix out of ashes.

Yeah no thanks

[JustNiz]

Given $3 or $4 gets you an actual DVD that you can hold in your hand and own for ever, $20 just to stream something still seems like an insanely blatant rip-off, especialyl considering with streaming they also have zero media manufacture and distribution costs. 4k is nice but I can't see how they can justify that kind of cost difference over 720 or 1080, other than absolute greed and what they think they can get away with.

Re:

[91degrees]

I guess they're selling to a small niche with a lot of spending power, and a need to justify the initial expenditure. Honestly, I'm surprised 4k was pushed so soon. 1080p still feels pretty new.