Amazon Leaks Details About Netflix-Like Movie Subscription Service, Free For Prime Members
Dan Rayburn submits: Not much news usually takes place on the weekend, but on Saturday afternoon, Engadget.com posted multiple screenshots of an Amazon (AMZN) page offering free unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows. Amazon wording on the page said, "Your Amazon Prime membership now includes unlimited, commerical-free instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost". Shortly after it was reported, the Amazon user who found the page could no longer access it, but multiple screenshots at Engadget.com clearly show the details and this is the best proof yet that Amazon is getting ready to challenge Netflix (NFLX) with a subscription based streaming service. Offering free streaming to Amazon Prime members would be a really interesting way for Amazon to enter the content subscription market, which was something the WSJ first reported rumors about in August of last year. For $79 a year, consumers can sign up for Amazon Prime, giving them free two-day shipping from items on Amazon.com. Free shipping is good to begin with, but offering free unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows on top of that would make Prime extremely valuable and would drive a lot of people to sign up for it. At $79 a year it would be cheaper than Netflix, and while Amazon would only have about 25% of the inventory Netflix has today, if they do in fact launch with 5,000 titles, one would expect Amazon to build up their inventory pretty quickly.Complete Story »
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