Have you ever wanted to watch TV, but not feel obligated to also buy books, appliances, and household necessities? Amazon is here for you. The company announced today that it is releasing a standalone subscription service to Prime Video — home to Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Catastrophe, and a bunch of movies — for $8.99 a month. It is also making a general Amazon Prime subscription, which offers access to TV and movies, music, and free shipping, available for $10.99 a month. Previously, the only way to get Prime Video was through a yearly subscription to Amazon Prime, which still costs $99. Though it’s more than the yearly package, Amazon’s monthly video-only price undercuts the cost of a Netflix subscription, which is $9.99 a month under a new plan. In terms of You’ve Got Mail (now streaming on Amazon!), Amazon is Tom Hanks’s Fox Books, trying to undercut Netflix Meg Ryan’s Shop Around the Corner — except Amazon is actually killing off stores like both Fox Books and the Shop Around the Corner in real life. Man, this rom-com is not fun.
