EXCLUSIVE: It’s official — the free, ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service Amazon Freevee, home to originals such as Jury duty, Bosch: Legacy And Judy Justicewill be phased out over the coming weeks. Its content, already migrated and available on Prime Video, will remain there, with new episodes of Freevee shows, including Judy Justice, Neighbors, Court Justice, America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation And Bosch: the legacy as well as older originals, including Jury Duty, High School, Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis And Firstremaining in front of the paywall and available to non-Prime customers.

The update will roll out to territories where Freevee is currently available, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Austria. Going forward, content currently labeled Freevee will be designated for non-Prime customers as “Watch Free” on detail pages.

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No layoffs related to the move are expected. As part of previous restructurings, Freevee’s content team had already been integrated into Amazon MGM Studios; its sales team is part of Prime Video.

With the consolidation, Amazon is building on Prime Video, which is already a hybrid destination for Prime members and non-members. It’s broader than a typical streamer because it also offers new and old movies to rent or buy, a FAST channel library as well as a sampling of Prime Video originals in front of the paywall, like the first season of The summer when I became pretty, the first three episodes of The boys and the first episode of To fall. This will continue.

“We have built Prime Video into a premier entertainment destination where customers can personalize their viewing experience by streaming exclusive Prime member entertainment produced by Amazon MGM Studios, licensed movies and series, content other services in the form of an additional subscription, live sports. , hit movies and series to rent or buy, FAST channels and the full Amazon Freevee content offering,” said an Amazon spokesperson. “To provide a simpler viewing experience for customers, we have decided to phase out the Freevee brand. There will be no changes to the content available to Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be available to non-Prime members, including a selection of originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed films and series, and a wide range of content. FAST channel library – all available on Prime Video.

Speculation about Freevee’s demise has swirled since Amazon announced late last year that Prime Video would introduce ads on January 29, 2024. The move largely eliminated the distinction between Prime Video, the streaming platform of subscription video on demand (SVOD) from Amazon, and Freevee, its sister AVOD service.

Freevee helped Amazon get into the advertising business; the company instantly became the dominant player in the field when Prime Video moved to an ad-supported model, having been partially in the game since its acquisition of Thursday Night Football.

Yet Amazon in February pushed back against rumors that it planned to shut down Freevee, calling the platform “a major streaming offering offering Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of blockbuster movies, shows and originals, all for free.”

But there was very little mention of Freevee at the Amazon Prime show in May, with Prime Video being the focus of the company’s pitch to advertisers.

Original series scripted by Freevee such as American Rust: justice broken and the next On call had already started migrating to Prime Video before the ads were introduced. This was followed in recent months by the announcement that the third and final season of Bosch: the legacy would be shared on Freevee and Prime Video, with Freevee’s latest new scripted series, The Pittsburgh Pradeepswhich also recently debuted on both platforms. Show as Judy Justice, Judge of the Tribunal And Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis have also been made available on Prime Video, while Freevee Live FAST channels have been rebranded as Amazon Prime Video Channels on Fire TV.

While development of scripted series at the company had been centralized at Amazon MGM Studios, producers have always been able to pitch shows to Freevee. I recently learned that all upcoming pitch meetings as well as all current agreements for such projects have been canceled.

Freevee traces its origins to January 2019, when it was launched by Amazon subsidiary IMDb under the name Freedive. It was later renamed IMDb TV, Freevee and Amazon Freevee.

Jury duty proved to be a smash hit for Freevee, earning four Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series. Other notable series originating from Freevee include Bosch: the legacy, continuing one of Prime Video’s iconic series.

Amazon did not disclose audience statistics, but said in 2022, when it rebranded the service Freevee, that its monthly active user base had tripled between 2020 and 2022.

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