The video-on-demand sector has just got a little more crowded, and this time, it’s due to a big player entering the fray: Amazon is launching an online store of TV shows and movies called Amazon Video on Demand.
The service, which has been launched today to a number of selected customers, but will be fully launched later in the summer, with all US Amazon.com customers able to use the service.
Masses Of Content
40,000 movies, and episodes of television shows will be instantly accessible, with most movie studios, and television networks making their content available, with the exception of Disney, and ABC, who are close to Apple, the company behind market leader iTunes.
Easy Streaming
However, Amazon Video On Demand will be different from Apple iTunes, as well as other competitors, as well as the original incarnation of Amazon’s video store, Amazon Unbox, by allowing customers to stream content, rather than download to their hard drive.
No special equipment will be needed, and nothing will have to be downloaded. Instead, the service should be available on PCs and Macs, and allow every Amazon customer the opportunity to purchase content.
Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president for digital media told the New York Times:
“For the first time, this is drop dead simple. Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can’t help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button.”
Where this will leave the Amazon Unbox service I’m not too sure and there has been no word from Amazon about the fate of Amazon Unbox either.
Side-Stepping DRM Issues
As soon as customers click on a title on the new video store, the first two minutes will automatically play. This is obviously an effort to entice browsing visitors to purchase content.
Streaming rather than downloading allows Amazon to sidestep the obvious worries about DRM. Further helping this will be the fact that each video will be stored in Your Video Library. This will allow purchased content to be watched at any time, and from any computer through Amazon.
Sony Bravia Deal
Amazon has also inked a deal with Sony, that sees the new online video store accessible through the Sony Bravia Internet Video link. New Bravia TVs are due to have the system built-in, meaning the current expense of having it will disappear.
This seems to be just the first deal of many, with Amazon keen to pursue similar deals with other makers of TVs and Internet devices.
The Amazon Video On Demand service is a big deal, as it is another step towards the Web becoming the main distribution method for TV and movies. I wonder if Apple has anything up its sleeve to counter with?
