Amazon Streaming Service sighted

digitalbabe

Premium Supporter
Apr 12, 2009
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USA
As previously posted, there were rumors that Amazon would launch a service as part of Prime. More details are now surfacing.

Per Homemedia Magazine:

Amazon’s much-anticipated foray into content streaming reportedly received a fissure of credibility when a screen shot purporting such a service materialized online briefly over the weekend.
The unlimited subscription option ($79 annually) would offer about 5,000 titles in standard definition and be an add-on to Amazon’s Prime service, which currently offers 72-hour transactional video-on-demand rentals and electronic sellthrough, according to Engadget.com.
The annual fee, if true, would be less than a year of Netflix streaming at $96, or $7.99 per month.

Amazon, which recently acquired remaining interest in streaming/disc service Lovefilm International in the United Kingdom, has been rumored to be launching a subscription serviced aimed at undermining market trailblazer/leader Netflix. At its financial last week, Thomas Szkutak, Amazon SVP and CFO, said followers would have to “stay tuned” to see how Amazon leverages its recent acquisition of Lovefilm.

Analyst Eric Wold with Merriman Capital in New York said he wasn’t able to get confirmation from Amazon, but did track down the domain name www.primeinstantvideos.com, which is owned by an Amazon subsidiary.
“We continue to believe Amazon is one of two potential strategic partners for Redbox (Walmart remains our most likely candidate) and that this streaming offering could be part of a combined online/offline subscription plan,” Wold wrote in a Jan. 31 note.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has been forthright discussing potential competitors to the streaming market it all but invented. In Netflix’s most recent fiscal call, Hastings said he expects third parties to enter the streaming space and believes it has established a sound first-mover position to compete effectively.

Wold said Netflix's exclusive content deals and CE relationships allow it to compete effectively against new domestic entrants, which it did successfully in the DVD by-mail segment.

“Further global expansion in the [second half of 2011) will demonstrate the true value potential of the [Netflix] franchise,” he wrote.
Engadget reported that subsequent efforts to track down additional information and/or links to the Amazon service proved unsuccessful.