Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has announced a content licensing agreement with CBS Corporation to extend the archive of television shows and films currently available on its streaming video site, Amazon Prime Instant Video.
The new deal will make Prime Instant Video the exclusive online subscription service to stream the new CBS Television series Extant, a mystery thriller about a female astronaut, produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television.
The new episodes will be available on Prime Instant Video just four days after they are broadcasted in Jun 2014. The new content can be streamed on all of Amazon’s platforms, including Kindle Fire and Fire HD, as well as Apple‘s (AAPL) iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. It will also be available on Roku set-tops, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360s, Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3s and Nintendo Wiis and Wii Us.
Additionally, episodes of Extant will be available for purchase and download exclusively at Amazon Instant Video.
Amazon Instant Video is a digital video streaming and download service that lets users rent, buy or subscribe to a range of video content.
The online retailer has been consistently upgrading and promoting movies and television shows on its streaming video service. Over the past 12 months, Amazon has entered into a number of deals with every major Hollywood studio, as well as some of the major cable networks. In Sep 2013, Amazon signed a deal with CBS Corporation to stream the second season of the hit CBS series Under the Dome, which bought in 15.06 million viewers and was the most watched scripted summer series in 21 years.
We believe expanding the video archive is one of the key strategies of Prime Instant Video. The deal is the latest effort by Amazon to strengthen its position versus Netflix, the leading online video subscription service in the United States.
Amazon is one of the leading players in an extremely fast-growing market. In the third-quarter 2013, Amazon’s revenues of $17.09 billion were up sequentially as well as from the year-ago quarter. Management attributed the revenue increase to the growing consumption of digital content across different categories owing to the advantageous value proposition Amazon was able to provide to its customers.
Amazon’s shares currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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