Lovefilm Instant becomes Amazon Prime Instant Video

It’s been a few years since Amazon bought Lovefilm and it looks like they are finally dropping the Lovefilm name. The streaming service becomes Amazon Prime Instant Video part of Amazon Prime costing £79 per year (with a £49 introduction price), including Amazon’s one day shipping. Subscribers that don’t want to pay the yearly fee can still pay a monthly subscription but they won’t get the Prime shipping.

I was a Lovefilm subscriber but switched to Netflix as it offered more content. I wonder how Lovefilm subscribers feel about the change and whether current Amazon Prime subscribers will be happy with the price increase.

Luxembourg, 21st February 2014: With millions of subscribers, Amazon Prime and LOVEFiLM Instant are two of the most popular subscription services in the UK. Today, Amazon announced that it is combining these two services beginning February 26. Amazon Prime offers members unlimited One-Day Delivery on over 7 million items and access to 500,000 Kindle books to borrow. LOVEFiLM Instant includes unlimited streaming of more than 15,000 popular movies and TV episodes. When the two programmes combine, Prime will be offered at the low price of £79 a year – a 35% saving for all the benefits of the two previously separate services. As a special offer, for the next week only, new customers can lock in a full year of Prime at £49. Current Prime members can enjoy unlimited streaming at their current price until their renewal date. Customers who are not already members can start a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime by visiting www.amazon.co.uk/prime.

As LOVEFiLM Instant becomes Prime Instant Video, Amazon is increasing its investment in exclusive content and original programming only available through Prime. Members will have unlimited access to exclusive movies such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hangover Part II, One Direction: This Is Us, Friends with Benefits and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, as well as TV shows such as The Walking Dead, Dexter, Vikings, Downton Abbey, Desperate Housewives, and children’s favourites Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, and SpongeBob SquarePants. They will also have exclusive access to Amazon original TV series Alpha House at launch and Betas, which debuts soon.

“We’ve worked hard to offer the best selection of TV shows and movies for Prime Instant Video—in fact, we’ve more than tripled selection since LOVEFiLM became part of the Amazon family,” said Tim Leslie, Vice President of Amazon Instant Video for the UK and Germany. “We also added high definition video and introduced apps for popular devices like Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Samsung and Sony TVs and iPads and iPhones. Customers who love movies and TV will love Amazon Prime Instant Video.”

“Millions of customers in the US have streaming video included as part of their Prime membership and they tell us they love the combination of unlimited delivery, the ability to borrow Kindle books, and convenient access to thousands of the most popular movies, TV shows and exclusive videos,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President of Amazon Prime. “We are delighted to be bringing that same combination of services to the UK, providing members truly unique benefits they can enjoy every day of the year.”

Prime members can watch movies and TV shows on hundreds of popular devices such as Kindle Fire, iPad and iPhone, Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, Nintendo and Samsung, Sony, LG and other smart TVs.