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by Andy Fixmer and Brian Womack, 2014-01-23 05:26:45.0
LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, has approached US media companies to acquire rights for an online pay-TV service, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
The service would expand on the web retailer's Prime Instant Video subscription service by offering live programming similar to traditional pay-TV providers, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Amazon began reaching out to media firms in recent weeks.
An initiative by Amazon would bring to three the number of US companies planning web-based pay-TV businesses to challenge existing cable and satellite providers. Sony this month said it would offer an online service, while Verizon Communications announced yesterday that it would introduce a nationwide plan with technology acquired from Intel, expanding beyond its existing FiOS territories.
"We continue to build selection for Prime Instant Video and create original shows at Amazon Studios," Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said. "We are not planning to licence TV channels or offer a pay-TV service."
Amazon advanced 1.9% to $407.05 on Tuesday in New York. The stock gained 59% last year.
The online retailer has been moving into entertainment, competing with subscription-streaming leader Netflix with its $79-a-year Amazon Prime. The service offers unlimited viewing of 41,000 films and TV shows, including "Downton Abbey", along with free shipping on many items and book rentals to read on its Kindle tablet.
The company was planning to release a television set-top box that would stream video over the internet into customers' homes, people familiar with the matter said in April.
Services from Sony, Verizon and Amazon would compete with traditional pay-TV. That could in turn prompt companies such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and AT&T to use the web to expand from current geographic franchises and spark a free-for-all for subscribers.
"To be successful, an over-the-top service, whether that's from Amazon or anyone else, will have to be incremental and not threaten to cannibalise media companies' existing business model," Jim Goss, analyst with Barrington Research Associates in Chicago, said in a phone interview.
Bloomberg
LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, has approached US media companies to acquire rights for an online pay-TV service, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
The service would expand on the web retailer's Prime Instant Video subscription service by offering live programming similar to traditional pay-TV providers, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Amazon began reaching out to media firms in recent weeks.
An initiative by Amazon would bring to three the number of US companies planning web-based pay-TV businesses to challenge existing cable and satellite providers. Sony this month said it would offer an online service, while Verizon Communications announced yesterday that it would introduce a nationwide plan with technology acquired from Intel, expanding beyond its existing FiOS territories.
"We continue to build selection for Prime Instant Video and create original shows at Amazon Studios," Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said. "We are not planning to licence TV channels or offer a pay-TV service."
Amazon advanced 1.9% to $407.05 on Tuesday in New York. The stock gained 59% last year.
The online retailer has been moving into entertainment, competing with subscription-streaming leader Netflix with its $79-a-year Amazon Prime. The service offers unlimited viewing of 41,000 films and TV shows, including "Downton Abbey", along with free shipping on many items and book rentals to read on its Kindle tablet.
The company was planning to release a television set-top box that would stream video over the internet into customers' homes, people familiar with the matter said in April.
Services from Sony, Verizon and Amazon would compete with traditional pay-TV. That could in turn prompt companies such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and AT&T to use the web to expand from current geographic franchises and spark a free-for-all for subscribers.
"To be successful, an over-the-top service, whether that's from Amazon or anyone else, will have to be incremental and not threaten to cannibalise media companies' existing business model," Jim Goss, analyst with Barrington Research Associates in Chicago, said in a phone interview.
Bloomberg
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