Amazon and Netflix both recently announced large content licensing deals. Over the weekend, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos said his company will provide Amazon Unbox customers with access to FOX content, bumping the Unbox library to more than 11,000 available movie and TV show titles. The new content includes 24, Arrested Development, Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files and The Wonder Years. Amazon is expected to announce a tablet during a press event on Wednesday and it is largely expected to offer access to all of Amazon’s services, including Unbox. Hit the break for more.
In addition, The New York Times reported on Sunday that Netflix has reached an agreement to provide DreamWorks content to its Netflix Streaming subscribers. “This is a game-changing deal,” DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told The New York Times, which noted that this is the first time a company as large as DreamWorks has decided to push its content to the web instead of to pay TV subscribers. Netflix will begin to offer DreamWorks titles in 2013 starting with a few upcoming titles including “The Croods,” “Peabody & Sherman” and “Turbo.” Other DreamWorks titles will filter in over time.
The following is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s email to Amazon Prime subscribers alerting them to the new content:
Dear Customer,
I have big news for Amazon Prime members – we’ve just signed a deal with FOX to add a broad selection of movies and TV shows to our unlimited instant streaming service later this fall. The new additions from the FOX library include 24, Arrested Development, The X-Files, Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and – available on digital video for the first time – The Wonder Years. We now have deals with CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Warner Bros, and adding FOX will bring the total to more than 11,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited instant streaming.
Since launching earlier this year, we have now doubled the number of titles available in Prime instant videos, and there’s still more to come. Prime membership remains $79 a year, and of course features our unlimited free two-day shipping on millions of products. Prime is one of the best values anywhere.
If you’re a Prime member, start watching now. If not, start your one-month free trial today.
Thanks for being a customer,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEOP.S. You can also watch movies and TV shows instantly at our Amazon Instant Video Store, where we offer more than 100,000 movies and TV shows for rent or purchase, no Prime membership required.
