Earlier this year, Google caused some upset amongst owners of some Sony and Panasonic TVs and BluRay players by dropping support for their built-in YouTube functionality. Now it looks like it’s the turn of some LG owners to be upset by Amazon.
Update: Not just LG. Since I first posted, I’ve heard from a Samsung owner, who has had a similar email, regarding that brand’s 2011 TVs and BluRay players.
If you have a 2012/2013 LG BluRay player, support for the built in Amazon Video app will cease on the 14th of September, as the company wrote to users:
We’re writing to inform you that the Amazon Video app will no longer be available on your LG 2012/2013 Blu-rayafter midnight on 14th September, 2015. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause. We are continually upgrading our service and this can occasionally mean we are unable to support certain models of a small number of Blu-ray devices.
To continue to access Amazon Video on your TV after this date, you can connect a compatible streaming device (e.g. Amazon Fire TV, and Fire TV Stick) or games console (e.g. PlayStation and Xbox).In recognition that we will not be able to offer you our application on your LG 2012/2013 Blu-ray, we would like to offer you an Amazon Fire TV for £39 (saving 50% on the RRP of £79). This product will plug into your existing TV and gives you access to our upgraded service so you can continue to watch the great range of movies and TV shows available on Amazon Video in your
living room.
You have until the 19th of September to take advantage of the discount, if you’ve received a letter with the appropriate code.
I’ve not been able to find a list of affected devices, but it’s notable that the US Amazon site doesn’t list any LG BluRay players at all – though there are models from other manufacturers as far back as 2010 that are still supported. If there’s a supported devices list on the UK site, it’s well hidden. Instead this page shows what features are available on which type of device, but doesn’t give detail about exactly which models are supported.
Once again, then, owners of ‘smart’ home entertainment products are being left behind – and in this case, it could include devices that were bought less than two years ago.
Nice that they offer a discounted Fire TV stick – one way to shift people into your walled prison and get then hooked into your ecosystem.
Perhaps the owners should claim that cost from the retailer that sold them the TV/player ? After all, the equipment has not proved “reasonably durable” as required by UK consumer protection rules.