The following is an excerpt from Alistair Barr | September 4, 2012 | reuters.com |
(Reuters) – Amazon Inc and Hollywood studio partnership Epix struck a deal that adds about 3,000 movies to Amazon’s video streaming library, ramping up competition with the likes of Netflix Inc and Apple Inc.
The news pushed Netflix shares down as much as 11 percent and comes two days before Amazon is expected to unveil at least one new tablet computer at an event near Los Angeles.
The agreement gives Amazon Prime Instant Video subscribers access to such movies as “The Avengers,” “Iron Man 2″ and “The Hunger Games” from Epix’s Hollywood studio owners and partners.
The Epix deal adds “thousands” of videos, said an Amazon spokeswoman, who declined to comment further. About a week ago, Amazon said its Prime Instant Video service had more than 22,000 titles to stream. On Tuesday, the company said the Epix deal brought that number to more than 25,000.
Amazon is expected to launch at least one new version of its Kindle Fire tablet on Thursday. Lining up easy access to content such as movies for tablet users is part of Amazon’s strategy.
“Content is king – and Fire’s killer app,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at R.W. Baird. “We expect new devices to provide further integration with Amazon’s digital content platform and cloud infrastructure, with movies, books and music.”
Netflix has been paying $200 million a year since 2010 for exclusive rights to Epix movies. The exclusivity expires this month, but Netflix will keep Epix movies on its service through September 2013. Netflix has the option to extend its non-exclusive use of Epix through September 2014.
To read more visit: reuters.com
