It’s been just five years since Amazon launched Freevee, but a new report indicates that the Emmy-nominated streaming service will be shuttering for good. According to AdWeek, Amazon is planning to close down the free, ad-supported streamer “in weeks,” possibly as soon as April. This news comes weeks after Amazon Prime Video launched a new ad-supported tier, which would be direct competition for Freevee.
“If the question is whether or not Amazon will persist with two stand-alone streaming services, I’m certain the answer is no,” one source told the outlet. Amazon Freevee has been the home of a number of movies and TV shows, including originals such as Leverage: Redemption, Bosch: Legacy, Judy Justice, and the Emmy-nominated mockumentary-reality series . There is currently no word on what may happen with the Freevee exclusive shows.
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As noted, the report comes after Prime Video began introducing commercials in January. “This change will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” the streaming service explained in a statement to subscribers. They added, “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”