Amazon Plans Unlimited Movie and TV Streaming Service
Streaming movies and TV shows to consumers is big business. Hulu was created around the concept, Netflix and YouTube have both included it as a feature of their service, and Apple is rumored to be planning TV show rentals. Now Amazon wants into the game.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is pitching a new subscription service to media companies. Amazon plans to create a streaming service for movies and TV shows in order to compete with Netflix and similar services . Amazon already sells TV shows (for download) at $1.99 each, and also "rents" movie downloads, so the streaming service would be an expansion of those features.
Anonymous sources say that the Amazon model will be quite similar to Netflix's, namely a back catalog of movies and TV series. Media companies are less intimidated by streaming services that offer older content, as opposed to services like Hulu that have fairly current episodes of show. Media executives worry that services such as Hulu, which has a subscription service for $10 per month, cut down on viewership, and consequently ad revenue, for primetime shows because consumers just watch an episode on Hulu the day after it airs.
Amazon's streaming service would work inside a Web browser, but it will also integrate with connected devices such as Blu-ray players, Internet TVs and the Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console.
So far Amazon has reportedly talked to NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp. and Viacom about potential streaming deals.
