The ad-free stream became another monthly upgrade.

In June 2026, the ACCC commenced Federal Court proceedings against Amazon AU over Prime subscription terms. The regulator alleges that contracts used with more than one million annual subscribers allowed Amazon to make negative changes during a contract period without giving subscribers a remedy, and that Amazon later relied on one or more of those terms when it introduced advertising to Prime Video in Australia.

Prime Video had been almost entirely ad-free before the change in July 2024. The ACCC says subscribers who wanted to retain ad-free streaming were asked to pay an additional AU$2.99 a month. These are allegations before the Federal Court, not established findings.

A service change needs a real choice

A platform can improve or adjust a service. The consumer question is whether the contract gives it a blank cheque to reduce what has already been sold, while making the customer pay extra to preserve the old experience. A price rise is visible; a tier change can be framed as a feature launch even when the practical result is a worse baseline.

Keep notices about material service changes with the plan details you originally accepted. At each renewal, compare the current tier against alternatives and decide whether the service still earns its place. Subscriptions are easier to reassess before a renewal than after years of quiet changes have made the original deal hard to remember.