Freevee will close in August, moving free titles to Prime Video
Freevee will close in August, moving free titles to Prime Video
After announcing that the free streamer would be phased out last November, Amazon has finally announced when Freevee will shut down.
In a move that has been in the works for nearly a year and a half, Amazon has confirmed that it will finally shutter its free streaming service Freevee in August, but that doesn’t mean that the online giant is getting out of the free streaming game. After announcing that Freevee would be shutting down in late 2024, Amazon has begun notifying streamers that the Freevee app will shut down next month, and its library of free titles will migrate to Prime Video.
Key Details:
- Shutter date: Freevee will shut down next month, with Prime Video becoming the home of its free content.
- Long time coming: Rumors of Freevee’s demise began circulating in February 2024, though Amazon denied them at the time.
- Eliminating redundancies: By folding Freevee into Prime Video, Amazon is consolidating its streaming presence and likely saving money.
The closing of Amazon’s free, ad-supported streamer has been hanging over the heads of Freevee users since late last year, but this week, viewers began seeing a notice warning them that the app would be shutting down next month. However, the cord-cutters who have come to rely on Freevee’s content will have an alternative, as Prime Video has already begun streaming the titles.
“Prime Video is the new exclusive home for Freevee TV shows, movies and Live TV,” Freevee said. “The Freevee app will be accessible until August 2025. Continue watching your favorite Free Originals and our library of hit movies, shows, and live TV on Prime Video for free, no subscription needed. Download Prime Video to get started and sign-in with your Amazon account.”
While Prime Video is largely known as the subscription streaming home of popular titles like “The Boys,” “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Reacher,” and others, it does have a robust slate of free content as well.
Since announcing that Freevee would be shuttered last November, Prime Video has been streaming the vast majority of the platform’s free titles as well, including Freevee hit originals like “Jury Duty” and “Bosch: Legacy.” So, while Freevee will be closing, cord-cutters will not be losing out on its content.
Amazon’s move comes as a way to streamline not only its streaming efforts but also to save money. By essentially folding Freevee into Prime Video, the tech giant is eliminating the redundancies of operating two services while also bulking up the offerings on its flagship streamer.
In February 2024, rumors began circulating that Freevee would be eliminated in favor of Prime Video. While Amazon denied it at the time, the move made a certain kind of sense as the era of streaming consolidation had already gotten underway. Despite the denial, late last summer, Amazon rebranded the free linear channels on Fire TV devices from “Freevee channels” to “Prime Video Channels,” suggesting that a larger move was afoot. Then, in November 2024, the company finally confirmed that it would be shutting down its free service and moving its free content to Prime Video.
Now, after nine months, Freevee will go the way of Quibi, CNN+, PlayStation Vue, and other services that have been consigned to the annals of streaming history.
Prime Video
Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.