Amazon Prime has gotten awful for adverts. They have pre-rolls for their other shows, which you could consider OK at the moment but this is exactly what happened with their Fire $TV_DEVICE line. They had a banner ad for new shows and that banner ad slowly morphed into advertising for financial services and such.

I've never been so upset about a product like this. I think I paid ~70GBP for the Fire TV and 20 each for two Fire TV sticks and then they sneak advertising in with a software update after the fact. It's particularly egregious because they've recognised the equivalence of ads and charging you money on their tablet range which I think you can buy at a discount if you agree to have ads shown to you on the home screen.

Bin them. Bin Amazon Prime too. Be sure to tell them why you're doing it.

Cable was originally advert-free. It was slipped in gradually over time. They got away with it because people put up with it and didn't call foul and stop subscribing. Expect Amazon, Netflix, everyone to do it. Precedent was set with cable subscriptions. The bar is set very low, and our resistance is known to be pitiful.

> Cable was originally advert-free.

I don't think that's true, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13460306

> Bin them. Bin Amazon Prime too.

That would be altruistic but I don't think that enough people will do it with me (and I have no interest in organising them to do so). I'm tempted to return the device since they've changed the fundamental functionality, IMO.

I realize I'm not the prime demographic for this.

But why would I ever be interested in watching a season in progress when I can watch backlog until it finishes, then watch the entire season on my own schedule?

Two reasons. First, because during the initial transition from cable, you might want to keep watching existing shows from where you left off, without having to wait for the end of the season. And second, because other people watch the show live and you want to keep up with them.

The first problem goes away after the initial transition, and the second goes away when everyone you know also uses Netflix and/or Amazon Prime. But don't underestimate the value in getting people to switch.

There's a social aspect to popular TV shows that are airing.

If you keep up to date you can discuss the EP on various forums right after it airs. Then it's something to talk about with your co-workers who are also fans.

Both Netflix and amazon have season in progress with weekly releases not as much in the US tho.