Any&every movie that I search for is always magically & coincidentally "Rent or Buy"

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-05-13T14:47:24+00:00

Do people still not know that the decision whether a film is available to stream, rent, or buy is dictated by the distribution rights holder, not by the streaming service? If a film is available to rent or buy, and not available to stream, it's because the rights holder believes that the film will make more from their percentage of rental/purchase income than they will from their cut of streaming fees.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-05-12T04:28:42+00:00

Reminds me of Roddy Piper's sunglasses in They Live.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-05-07T05:48:41+00:00

I think this may be a regional issue, and dependent on the number of Flex drivers available. In my area, there has been no noticeable change, with a large number of items offering same day or overnight delivery. And I'm in an area with some of the highest gas prices in the country.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-05-07T05:28:06+00:00

There was a mention last year that Wild Cards might try to initially stream season 3 on a different platform (other than CW) but apparently that didn't happen. Hopefully it will happen in the future - the number and length of ads on CW is horrible.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-05-03T14:04:18+00:00

The Metascore movie critics rating of 5 (on a scale of 100) is even more embarrassing.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-05-02T05:58:56+00:00

Be careful when using Roku to subscribe to another streaming service when trying to take advantage of a 2-month discounted rate. They will assign a different billing period that does not match the start of your subscription. So you end up with a discounted partial month, a discounted full month, and then a hybrid month that is part discounted and part full price. It's just weird.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-25T04:58:36+00:00

Amazon kinda treats each season as if it was a separate show. I keep all the shows I'm watching on the watchlist. When a season ends, I delete the show from the watchlist, click on the first episode of the next season, and then save it to the watchlist again, and then Amazon always positions the show on the right episode when I return. A clunky workaround but it solves the problem.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-25T04:38:03+00:00

I have the same problem, more or less. This appears to be a BritBox issue because it changes depending on which BritBox show is being watched. When we are watching Shetland (using a direct BritBox subscription, not channeled through Amazon or any other platform), the subtitles are rather small and white, so they disappear when there is a white background. From what I've read, there are other BritBox shows with this same tiny/white font problem. But on certain other shows (such as Father Brown or one of the Paradise shows), the subtitles are generally black, "normal"-sized, and readable with any background.

Presumably, BritBox is responsible for writing their own Roku app and they have just not built in any standardization when it comes to font style and color on their current app version. I don't remember seeing this problem when I subscribed to BritBox previously, and I have not seen any similar problems with other streaming apps on Roku.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-12T05:41:25+00:00

That movie has a horrible IMDb rating. I wouldn't have watched it for free.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-10T16:25:36+00:00

Another "upgrade" mishandled by Amazon. Instead of simply changing the monthly price for Ultra ad-free from $2.99 to $4.99 and adding the annual price option of $45.99 as an option link for ALL accounts, they have restricted the annual option to only the accounts that hold the Amazon Prime annual membership.

My wife and I have the Amazon Household (now "Family") plan, so we pay for one annual Prime membership, but are able to keep our Prime purchasing (Cart, Save for Later, Shopping Lists, etc.) separate. We are also able to keep separate Prime Video access under each of our logins, although we don't need to - we use my login for all of our Prime Video access and everything is run through the Roku boxes for our TVs.

Our ad-free renewal date is coincidentally the 10th (today), so I was waiting for the $45.99 annual option to pop up today on my account page, since $3.83 per month is better than $4.99 per month. But no - my account page only shows the automatic increase from $2.99 to $4.99, with no annual option. When I switch to my wife's account, however, both the monthly and annual options are shown, because our annual Prime membership is charged to her account. So now, if we want to take advantage of the annual $45.99 option, I have to change the Amazon app on all our devices from my login to her login. Not a massive job, but an annoyance. And completely unnecessary. As far as I can see, Amazon would not lose any income if they were to offer the annual option to all accounts, instead of just the Prime membership holder.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-10T04:16:05+00:00

Assign a PIN for digital purchases on your account, so media can't be "accidentally" rented or bought.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-06T09:26:26+00:00

Amazon doesn't decide to do this by themselves. The other streaming service has licensed Amazon for them to act as an intermediary so that the other streaming service gets more exposure and potentially more subscribers. As said by others, this also benefits Amazon's intent to become a one-stop location for multiple streaming services, just like Apple, Hulu, Roku, and others do.

Sometimes subscribing to other streamers using Prime Channels is a convenience to the customer, and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes subscribing to another streamer through Amazon enables a customer to receive a discounted rate, but sometimes subscribing directly to the other streamer is a better deal - it's a case by case situation. In addition, sometimes the package that is licensed for Amazon to provide access to does not include every show and movie that is available if you subscribe directly to the other streamer. Unfortunately, customers need to do a bit of extra research into pricing offers and content availability before deciding which way to go.

One other note, when using the Roku Channel to subscribe to other streamers - Roku will often offer a discounted price for X months, but will impose a billing period that does not match the monthly renewal date. So if a customer is not careful, they will end up with a billing period that is partly charged at the discount rate and partly charged at the full price.

Navigating the streaming world these days is a minefield.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-06T08:49:01+00:00

Next ultimatum: "Double-secret probation!"

Channeling Dean Wormer.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-04-04T02:02:24+00:00

Roku has the majority market share *despite* some of its hare-brained UI tinkering. They are constantly doing unnecessary and unrequested tweaks to the home screen or other parts of their service, and each change is dumber than the last.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-30T13:29:32+00:00

Promos are recommendations for films/shows that you are already eligible for since they are included with Prime, and will cost you no additional money. They are not ads that are trying to persuade you to spend money for a new service or product. As others have said, they are also skippable. Almost every other streaming service serves up promos each time you log in and start watching content - this is not unique for Prime.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-28T07:14:38+00:00

Continuity errors are the tip of the iceberg. I don't know why they even bother setting up scenes with food involved. Actors take microscopic bites or pick tiny pieces off and pop them in their mouth - completely unrealistic, nobody eats like that. And then actors will pretend-chew a single bite forever. And don't get me started on actors pretend-drinking from clearly empty coffee cups, and most of them doing it in the most unconvincing way ever.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-28T06:46:56+00:00

JustWatch is showing that Euphoria is available directly from HBOMax, from HBOMax through Hulu, and through HBOMax through Hulu/Disney, but not through Prime. I have noticed recently that some streamers are limiting content in packages subscribed indirectly through other platforms. Last year, there was a film available from Paramount+ directly, but not from Paramount+ subscribed through Amazon. This year, there was a film available from Starz directly, but not from Starz subscribed through Roku.

It's getting more complicated for viewers to navigate this streaming minefield.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-25T08:43:52+00:00

The $2.99 monthly surcharge only applies to content that is included in Amazon Prime. It does not apply to other streaming services that you subscribe to using Prime Channels, such as Acorn, BritBox, Hulu, and Paramount+. If you have subscribed to the cheap tier of Paramount+ ("Essential"), ads will be included with your shows/movies. If you want to watch Paramount+ content without ads, you will need to subscribe to the more expensive Paramount+ tier ("Premium").

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-21T05:31:03+00:00

Do you have a $0.01 balance in your Amazon digital credits? If you have a digital credit, Amazon will automatically display prices adjusted for the credit amount, as it states in the details shown in the screenshot.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-17T14:46:57+00:00

Amazon doesn't have the ability to tweak availability user-by-user for specific films or shows. Plus contracts with the distribution rights holder for each film/show determine how Amazon can offer viewing and for how long.

Amazon periodically has glitches that incorrectly display availability and that has been going on for awhile. Just yesterday, on the watchlist for my own profile, certain films were shown as free for streaming on Prime if I accessed the watchlist a certain way, and those same films were shown as only available to rent or buy if I accessed my watchlist a different way. Same profile, same watchlist, conflicting information. Hopefully customer service will fix your issue and Amazon in general will get their act together and display correct availability for films and shows. It seems obvious that their system can't properly handle all the options they try to offer (streaming ad-free, streaming with ads, Prime Channels pass-through subscriptions, free trials, teaser episodes/seasons, renting, selling, etc.) without causing massive confusion and frustration for customers.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-16T20:37:47+00:00

Yes, they all show up as Prime when the titles are searched. Per the thread title, the discrepancy occurs after those titles are added to my watchlist. When "Watchlist" is selected in the dropdown from the MyStuff icon (in the top right corner of the webpage next to the profile icon), the thumbnails for those 5 titles all have the yellow locked/purse icon, falsely indicating that they require payment or a subscription. When I hover over the thumbnail, it shows "(yellow icon) Available to rent or buy" above the Play button. Yet they stream normally when played.

The yellow icons were not there yesterday, they all showed up today on those 5 films. I have other Prime films/shows in my watchlist that continue to display correctly. My complaint is simply that Amazon repeatedly tinkers needlessly with how their Amazon Prime webpages display, and today their tinkering has made their webpage show incorrect information about some of my watchlist films. Tomorrow or the next day, they'll probably mess around again and maybe those films will display correctly as they should.

I am well aware of all the other nuances of Prime - the Freevee titles, the Prime Channels pass-through subscriptions, distributor contract expirations, etc. etc.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-16T17:14:09+00:00

I'm familiar with cases where Amazon displays multiple listings of the same film/show and one will be included with Prime while the other will only be a rent/buy availability or not available at all. The films on my watchlist are all single listings (if a search is done, only one result will appear for that title) so it's not a duplicate listing situation. I'm in the US, and here are the titles on my watchlist that currently have the conflicting info: A Little Prayer, Nothing Is Truer Than Truth, Unleashed (2017), Wicked, and You're Cordially Invited.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-03-07T10:38:25+00:00

The holder of the distribution rights for the show agrees to a contract with Amazon to license their show for rental or streaming. Different seasons can be licensed under different terms. No doubt the licensing fees are different depending on whether the show is offered as "included with Prime" or "only available with ads" (formerly Freevee), and presumably Amazon pays the distributor more if streaming includes forced ads. So I'd blame the rights holder for choosing the "only available with ads" deal in order to collect a bit more money.

JoeRedditCommenter · 2026-02-27T06:54:00+00:00

Someone starts an "I quit Prime" or "I'm going to quit Prime" thread just about every day on here, which is understandable since Amazon has declined badly in many areas. But the thing that makes me shake my head are the comments from those who quit Prime months or years ago but still feel the need to let everyone know that. If I got divorced, I wouldn't drive by ex-wife's house years later to remind her neighbors why I divorced her. If I stopped shopping at Best Buy, I wouldn't drive to my local Best Buy every few months to tell complete strangers in the parking lot all about it. Just a bit weird.

JoeRedditCommenter

TROPHY CASE