

Amazon did the same thing with Prime, changed everyone to an ad-infested plan for the same price and created a new, ad-free tier for a higher price, and claims this change isn’t a price increase.
Spotify did the same thing when they raised everyone’s prices but started bundling audiobooks with music, but left behind the old, audio-book free plan for the old price without telling anyone.
I don’t feel bad for pirating as long as the middlemen of media continue to pull underhanded tactics like this.
100% this and also, consider allow-listing specific sites which deserve your support, or better yet, contribute directly if you can – e.g. your local bike club forum, your local newspaper, a blogger whose work you enjoy, etc., assuming of course, the ads are reasonable.