Moving further beyond its origin as a mail-order online retailer, Amazon.com has taken another leap into full media services, agreeing to a licensing deal with Viacom to add dozens of shows to its streaming lineup.
Viacom's TV channels include MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo, and it doesn't give up its content easily. The company is embroiled in a legal battle with Time Warner Cable over streaming-content rights which prevents subscribers from accessing those channels via Time Warner's recently released apps for Android and Apple's iOS.
Prime Content
The content is available to Amazon Prime members, who pay $79 a year for free shipping on many items available for purchase, access to the Kindle Owners Lending Library for digital reading and commercial-free, instant access to movies and TV shows. Streaming movies and TV shows are also available a la carte via Amazon Instant Video.
News of the agreement greets customers on the site's landing page in the form of a letter from founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. "We've just wrapped up another deal," he says.
Access to Viacom shows like The Hills, iCarly and Jersey Shore brings the total number of Prime Instant videos to 15,000, Amazon said. Prime content is available on 300 different devices.
"Over the last year we have received fantastic customer feedback about Prime Instant Video. We are constantly working to improve the service by adding the shows that our customers enjoy the most," said Brad Beale, director of video content acquisition for Amazon.
"This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids' shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available."
The Kindle Fire is a 7-inch touchscreen tablet that runs a customized version of Google's Android operating system.
Amazon previously struck deals with CBS, Fox, PBS,... newsfactor.com » |
