Amazon's new anime service: Amazon Strike

[usamimi]

So Amazon has launched a new "addition" to their video streaming service called Amazon Strike: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ce/.110924

Basically it's an add - on for Amazon Prime, kinda similar to how you can add a Showtime or HBO subscription to your Prime account. So you first need a Prime subscription, then it's $5 more.

Anyone gonna try this service? I don't have a Prime account, so I probably won't. It'd be a little too pricey for yet another streaming service for me, at about $160 a year. I did see they do offer some older titles in their streaming catalog, such as Akira & Vampire Hunter D, but since I already own them, that's not tempting enough for me xD

[SteveH]

All other issues aside, I'm just not that keen on streaming. It might be different if I had a good fat pipe (or old style, plenty of bandwidth) but my crappy ATT DSL is just not that good for watching TV on my computer.

Are there any other Amazon provided 'channels' that require an addition fee? Be careful here, I DO NOT mean outside providers like Showtime or HBO, I mean Amazon generated content exactly like 'Strike'.

AMAZON GENERATED. NOT OUTSIDE THIRD PARTY SOURCE.

Any others or is this their first dip of the toe, easy to throw away if it doesn't generate the giant income expected?

Big mistake. What they SHOULD do is offer the service for that fee if you DON'T have Amazon Prime, but free WITH Prime.

What I see is, after 6 months to a year max, they'll kill 'Strike' or they'll try to sell that access to some outside company.

[usamimi]

As far as I know, this is the only Amazon-created, add-on service for Prime. Like you said, HBO and Showtime aren't controlled by them, and their Prime stuff isn't separated by genre, so it's a bit strange to have them shuffle all the anime into it's own separate thing....except that they see, y'know, services like Crunchyroll & Funimation doing well, and probably want a piece of that pie.

I assumed at first it WOULD be free with Prime, or a $5 free for people who didn't have Prime. Having to have Prime just to have the OPTION of signing up for it is a pretty big hurdle that I don't think most fans will want to jump. I mean, even Crunchyroll is technically free if you watch their back catalogs with ads, so while a lot of people pay for it, there's still options for people who don't want to. Amazon doesn't have anything like that.

I agree that it wouldn't surprise me if Strike doesn't last....OR if they try to fix their business model somewhere down the line when they realize that fans would rather go elsewhere if you don't make access to your titles easy.

[Akage]

I have Prime and I won't pay extra to watch the handful of titles they have. I already pay for Crunchy. I am not going to pay for multiple platforms when there is a free alternative. Companies seem to forget about people still having the ability to watch on pirated sites. Not all of us old timers have been guilt tripped into supporting the industry. I would be more inclined to 'support the industry' if the actual industry, and not the corporations, skimmed so much off of what I pay that I'd be lucky if even 1 yen of my yearly CR fee went into the hands of an animator.

Strike won't last unless they bundle it with Prime. And, I'm sure that will likely happen and that my Prime fee will go up next year because of it.

[jdoll]

yet to check it out but will soon and will report back its interesting and for someone like me with prime its one of the cheapest streaming options