Amazon is dropping Prime price to $73 for the weekend
“Mozart in the Jungle” actors Lola Kirke, left, and Gael Garcia Bernal attend Amazon Studios’ Golden Globe Awards party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday. The show won the Golden Globe for best TV series, musical or comedy and Bernal won the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV series, musical or comedy.
Amazon.com is temporarily chopping the price of its Prime entertainment and shipping subscription service to $73 from $99.
The offer begins at 9 p.m. Pacific time Friday and ends 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
Amazon is waged in an expensive video battle against fellow streaming competitors Netflix, Hulu and HBO. Each service has its own perks -- Prime, for example, gives you free two-day shipping when shopping on Amazon, while Hulu provides on-demand access to shows soon after they air on television.
But Amazon and Netflix are also rapidly producing high-quality shows that are exclusive to their own service. Subscribers are key to the companies’ fortunes, and unique video has become a main attraction.
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Amazon said the Prime price slash was to celebrate a pair of victories -- best series, musical or comedy and actor in a series, musical or comedy -- at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards last Sunday.
During the promotional period, non-Prime subscribers will be able to stream all episodes of the newly Globe-winning show “Mozart in the Jungle.”
Amazon’s two Globe trophies, compared with Netflix’s zero, provided a fresh selling point. And Amazon, never afraid to sacrifice profits for customers, regularly has used price cuts as part of its marketing gimmicks.
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