Amazon Allegedly Moving into Connected and Smart TV

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Posted by Richard Kastelein in Breaking News on September 01, 2010  |  0 Comments

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Amazon (AMZN.O) has approached media companies including Time Warner Inc. with plans to start an online video subscription service to rival Netflix Inc. and it would be accessible via the web as well as devices such as Smart and Connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and the Xbox game console. It has been pitched to media giants News Corp., Time Warner, Viacom, and NBC Universal, according to The Journal and is reportedly planning a new subscription service that will send television shows and movies over the Internet and Connected and Smart TV's. The service will comprise older films and TV shows and will be sold for a monthly fee.

The WSJ reports:

Amazon's subscription push is a challenge to rivals such as Netflix Inc. and Google Inc. as they race to dominate digital delivery of TV shows and films, encroaching on turf traditionally controlled by cable- and satellite-television providers.

Apple Inc. is also pushing more deeply into TV, and plans to announce 99-cent rentals of television shows through its iTunes store from News Corp.'s Fox and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC as early as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Amazon rumours include they like to launch its new service in time for the holiday season. The report comes as the crowded fight for domination of digital movie and television content distribution fires up. Apple is hosting a media event Wednesday during which the company is expected to announce that Disney and Fox have signed on to rent TV shows on iTunes for 99 cents. 

The US television business has emerged as the next big battleground in digital media, where Apple and Netflix have aggressively courted pay TV and free-to-air programme owners for shows to rent or offered as on a subscription basis.... Google TV wants to merge the web and broadcast television and CES manufacturers along with Yahoo have their own TV widget and TV application ambitions.

 
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