Amazon to Start Ads on Prime Video from 2024

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022.  REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
TT

Amazon to Start Ads on Prime Video from 2024

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022.  REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

Amazon.com said on Friday Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements from early 2024.
The US tech giant said the advertisements will be introduced in the United States, the UK, Germany and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Australia later in the year.
Amazon will roll out an ad-free subscription tier for an additional $2.99 per month for US Prime members. Prime subscription in the US costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year.
Live event content such as sports will continue to include advertising even if the subscriber has paid for the ad-free plan, Amazon said.



Anna Netrebko to Sing at Palm Beach Opera Gala

FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
TT

Anna Netrebko to Sing at Palm Beach Opera Gala

FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Soprano Anna Netrebko attends a news conference on the premiere of Manon Lescaut in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Soprano Anna Netrebko is scheduled to give a recital at the Palm Beach Opera for its gala on Feb. 3 in what would be her first US appearance in six years.

Considered the world’s top soprano, Netrebko was dropped by the Metropolitan Opera in 2022 after she refused a demand by Met general manager Peter Gelb that she repudiate Russia President President Vladimir Putin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She has sued the Met, alleging defamation and breach of contract in a case that is pending, The AP reported.

She has appeared since then at major houses including the Vienna State Opera, Paris Opéra, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden but had not been engaged in the US or by The Royal Opera in London. She last appeared at the Met in 2019 in Verdi’s “Macbeth.”

Netrebko will perform with pianist Ángel Rodríguez at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

“I am honored to be lending my voice to the Palm Beach Opera’s annual gala,” Netrebko said in a statement Wednesday sent to The Associated Press.

Palm Beach Opera’s season includes three performances each of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" in January, Verdi’s “La Traviata” in February and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” in April. Casts have not been announced.

Past Palm Beach Opera galas featured Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel, with Isabel Leonard (2024), Piotr Becza³a (2023) and Nadine Sierra (2022) appearing in recent years.

“It means a lot to me to be joining the remarkable list of illustrious singers that have participated in this celebration over the last decades,” Netrebko said.