Amazon’s launches live TV streaming service today

Prime members

Prime members can choose from 40 channels –
for an additional monthly fee

News Feed

For an additional fee, Prime members can watch 40 TV networks on
Amazon Channels. Prices per channel range from £1.49 to £9.99 each
month on top of the £70 Amazon Prime membership fee and there’s no
word on whether package deals will be offered. 

On offer will be content from the likes of Discovery,
Eurosport Player and ITV Hub+. US reality TV show network Hayu and
the global film streaming service Mubi will also be
available. 

However, “many of the UK’s major broadcasters have declined to
join in”, including channels under rival networks such as Sky
and BT, the Daily Telegraph reports. 

This may be due to the services “seeking to attract
subscribers to their own pay-TV packages rather than allow Amazon
to become their distributor”, adds the paper.

Tom Harrington, research analyst at Enders Analysis, told the
Financial Times the new service “makes
sense” for both the retail giant and the TV network.

“If more people are watching Horse and Country through
Amazon then they are more likely to buy more saddles through
Amazon,” he said.

Convention TV viewership was “declining”, added
Harrington, but “people are not watching less televisual content,
they are probably watching more. It’s just how they are watching
it.”