Amazon to offer movie streaming service: report
US online retail giant Amazon plans to offer a movie streaming service that would compete directly with Netflix, Britain's Financial Times has reported. The Seattle, Washington-based Amazon is planning to bundle access to the movie service with Amazon Prime, which costs $79 a year and gives Amazon customers unlimited free shipping of books and other items, the FT said.
US online retail giant Amazon plans to offer a movie streaming service that would compete directly with Netflix, Britain's Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The Seattle, Washington-based Amazon is planning to bundle access to the movie service with Amazon Prime, which costs $79 a year and gives Amazon customers unlimited free shipping of books and other items, the FT said.
The FT's report came after technology blog Engadget briefly published a screenshot of a promotion for the upcoming service.
"Your Amazon Prime membership now includes unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost," it said.
Amazon already offers online movies for rent or purchase as part of its video on demand service but not digital subscriptions offering unlimited streaming like Netflix for a flat monthly fee.
"Amazon is switching focus away from the rental business in favour of the subscription model which connects far better with its core, online retailing profit centre," Arash Amel, research director at media consultancy IHS Screen Digest told the FT.
"This is about keeping consumers in the Amazon environment while providing extra value -- providing subscription video is a far better way to do that than by selling digital downloads (of movies)," Amel said.
The report of Amazon's plans to offer an unlimited streaming service comes after the company completed its acquisition of British-based movie and games rental service Lovefilm.
LoveFilm, which has been compared to Netflix, has become one of Europe's top movie subscription services over the past seven years.
The LoveFilm site boasts 1.4 million members across Europe and, like Netflix, offers DVD rental by post and online movie streaming direct to computers, Internet-enabled televisions and other devices.
(c) 2011 AFP
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Feb 02, 2011
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1) My TV is web enabled and has a Netflix ap.
2) My BD player is web enabled and has Netflix.
3) My Xbox360 has Netflix
4) I have a PC hooked up to the HD tv which of course can get netflix
5) I can plug in a mail-order hard copy disk.
Or I can watch it on my phone.
Of course Google TV could change everything. Amazon may take a small share of the growing market but I don't think Netflix is going to worry much.
Feb 02, 2011
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They already own the rights to all produced movies through their DVD sales contracts. They won't be subject to the delay period imposed on Netflix by several producers.
Feb 02, 2011
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Notice the quantity of Amazon streamed movies is also comparable to the Netflix quantity of streamed content, though it looks like Amazon is planning to host more than Netflix. If Amazon is able to get better quality movies for streaming than Netflix, that could tip the scales though.
Feb 02, 2011
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Feb 02, 2011
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Feb 02, 2011
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That's not true. Digital distribution is completely different from hard copy sales and rental. It's an entirely different revenue structure with a completely seperate agreement between the content provider and the distributor. For example, the movies that Netflix can stream are far more limited than the ones they can rent. They would host more for streaming if they could.
Feb 02, 2011
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Feb 02, 2011
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Feb 02, 2011
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Feb 02, 2011
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Feb 03, 2011
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Well, I'm just saying Netflix because they are already in the market. If Amazon gets to the same level of market penetration, then use them. My point is that I see a potential fusion of information and service that could benefit both the video provider and IMDB in a way that the Amazon/IMDB partnership isn't quite achieving.