Before Amazon (AMZN) gets ready to unleash its new Kindle Fire tablet, the retail giant on Tuesday announced a new partnership with EPIX that looks to beef up the company’s Prime streaming service. The multi-year licensing agreement between the two companies will deliver 25,000 new movies and TV episodes such as “The Avengers” and “The Hunger Games” to the Prime Instant Video service, which is available for $79 per year and also offers customers free two-day shipping. “We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the Prime Instant Video library for our customers. We have now more than doubled this selection of movies and TV episodes to over 25,000 titles in just under a year,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Video and Music at Amazon. Amazon’s press release follows below.
Amazon and EPIX Announce New Prime Instant Video Agreement – Prime Instant Video Selection has more than Doubled since the Launch of Kindle Fire Last Year
New agreement will add popular new release movies like The Avengers, Iron Man 2, The Hunger Games, Super 8, Thor and more
Over 25,000 movies and TV episodes in Prime Instant Video available on Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iPad and hundreds of connected TVs and Blu-Ray players
All Prime Instant Videos available to watch in seconds via instant streaming-no need to wait for download
Prime Instant Video continues to expand as another benefit of Prime membership, Kindle Fire ownership and one of the many unique advantages of Amazon’s content ecosystem
Customers who are not yet Prime members can enjoy a free one month trial right out of the box with Kindle Fire, or sign up for a free trial at Amazon.com to enjoy on any device that streams Prime Instant Video
SEATTLE & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 4, 2012– (NASDAQ: AMZN) – Over the past 12 months, Amazon has announced agreements with every major Hollywood studio, as well as top cable networks. Today, Amazon and EPIX announce a multi-year licensing agreement in the U.S., which will add thousands of new releases, classic library titles and original programs to Prime Instant Video. Programming from the agreement includes movies from EPIX studio partners, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and Lionsgate. The agreement between Amazon and EPIX will more than double the number of titles available with Prime Instant Video since Amazon introduced Kindle Fire last September. Prime Instant Video now stands at over 25,000 movies and TV episodes available to watch with instant, unlimited streaming at no additional cost to Prime members. Customers who are not yet Prime members can enjoy a free one month trial right out of the box with Kindle Fire. To start watching Prime Instant Video, visit http://www.amazon.com/PIV.
This agreement between Amazon and EPIX will add new releases such as The Avengers, Iron Man 2, The Hunger Games, Transformers Dark of the Moon, Thor and Rango as well as popular favorites such as Kick Ass, Paranormal Activity 2, True Grit, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Justin Bieber Never Say Never. EPIX also brings original programming including comedy specials and concerts such as Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell and Usher: Live from London.
“We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the Prime Instant Video library for our customers. We have now more than doubled this selection of movies and TV episodes to over 25,000 titles in just under a year,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Video and Music at Amazon. “We are thrilled to be able to offer our customers such popular EPIX titles, many of which were just recently in theaters. We can tell from the data that our customers love watching movies on Prime Instant Video. We think customers will really enjoy watching new titles like The Avengers, Iron Man 2 and The Hunger Games on their Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Xbox, iPad or any of the other of the Amazon Instant Video compatible devices.”
“We are excited to be working with Amazon and to bring our compelling content to
Amazon Prime and Kindle Fire customers,” said Mark Greenberg, President and CEO of EPIX. “This partnership is yet another great example of EPIX’s ability to broaden our reach through a digital platform, underscoring the incredible value of the EPIX content offering.”Prime Instant Video offers Prime members access to more than 25,000 movies and TV episodes to instantly stream and enjoy at no additional cost on Kindle Fire or any of the hundreds of compatible devices, including Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 gaming console and the newest addition, iPad. Prime Instant Video is a subset of the more than 120,000 movies and TV episodes available on Amazon Instant Video, which includes new release movies and day after TV shows, for customers to rent or purchase.
