Amazon.com and Viacom merging to topple Netflix?
Viacom Inc., which owns movies and TV shows, partners with Amazon for its Prime Instant Video service. The latter has also teamed up with CBS Corp, Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros, News Corp’s Fox, Sony Corp, Comcast Corp’s NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co to build one huge network to battle Netflix.
Amazon’s Prime Instant Video has been a feature to Amazon Prime members. Membership costs $79 per year for free shipping in the US for most of what they buy.
Amazon is planning to open its licensed library TV programs and movies as a stand-alone service and to increase Kindle Fire’s popularity. The company estimated that they have sold about 5 million Kindle Fire’s during last year’s fourth quarter.
The Viacom titles will slowly be introduced and which will include MTV shows like The Hard Times of RJ Berger, The Hills, The Real World and Jersey Shore.
Kids will also love this new partnership as beloved Nickelodeon programs like Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Yo Gabba Gabba and iCarly will also be included.
Comedy Central shows such as Chappelle’s Show and The Sarah Silverman Program will also be rolled out, as well as TV Land favorite, Hot in Cleveland.
This market is currently being dominated by Netflix. But this combination can shake up the market and competitiveness will increase since Google Inc and Verizon Communication Inc have launched their over-top-services.
Image source: missingremote.com
