September 27, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team
Amazon announced Monday that it has partnered with Fox to add new streaming content for Amazon Prime members.
The deal will add a wide variety of popular Fox movies and TV series to Amazon Prime’s streaming library, including favorites such as 24, The X-Files, Arrested Development, and The Wonder Years. With the new additions, the number of titles available for streaming from Amazon will hit 11,000, more than double the number available back in February. The video library currently has content from CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Warner Bros, and the Fox content will become available later this fall. An Amazon Prime membership costs $79 a year and includes access to the video streaming service as well as unlimited two-day shipping on all shopping cart orders.
Netflix, Amazon’s main competitor, also has a new partnership with Dreamworks Animation. The deal will make new releases from Dreamworks available to Netflix customers starting in 2013. Netflix has also recently lost a partnership with content provider Starz that will mean the removal of approximately 1,000 titles from its streaming library. The Netflix streaming library currently still has almost double the content of Amazon Prime’s, at approximately 20,000 titles.
Netflix has recently received a lot of negative attention for its decision to separate its streaming and DVD-by-mail services and charge for each. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote an apologetic blog post last week detailing the direction that the company is heading in. The company has suffered a significant loss of customers who no longer want to pay for separate subscriptions. Many former Netflix subscribers are jumping ship to competitors such as Amazon, Blockbuster, and Hulu.
Amazon will hold a press conference in New York on Wednesday, where the company’s CEO Jeff Brezos is expected to unveil a new tablet computer that will compete with Apple’s iPad. Amazon Prime’s streaming service is not currently available on Apple devices, Windows Phones, or video game consoles, making Netflix a more accessible option. With the upcoming release of a new tablet device from Amazon, it is likely that access to the streaming library will be part of the marketing strategy for the device. It is projected that the ecommerce solution will price its tablet computer at $249, significantly cheaper than the iPad.
The fight for video streaming superiority will rage on as Amazon Prime and Netflix both have their successes. Despite Netflix’s subscription losses, the company recently launched its streaming service in 43 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and is expected to begin expanding into Europe as well. Amazon Prime has less streaming content than Netflix, but the deal with Fox is another step towards closing the gap. The bonus of free two-day shipping for members’ shopping cart items is an added incentive for customers deciding on the right streaming service for themselves.
Gavin is a graduate of Washington State University where he studied Communication with a public relations emphasis. He left Pullman behind and currently resides in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle where you might run into him at happy hour. When he is not writing something for ZippyCart he enjoys travelling. His favorite film is Pulp Fiction (Say what again. Say what again, I dare you, I double dare you...! ) and his favorite movie genre is zombies. Follow him on Twitter: @_gdonnelly
