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Amazon.com Inc. is playing catch-up to video-streaming provider Hulu.

The Seattle retailer on Tuesday said it is now offering on-demand programming from channels such as Showtime and Starz to Prime members for as much as $8.99 each a month.

Hulu this summer rolled out an add-on subscription to Showtime—at the same price Amazon is now charging—its first such deal with a premium channel.

Amazon's new offering furthers its ambitions in streaming video and could lure new subscribers to its $99-per-year Prime program, which offers unlimited two-day shipping, the streaming video offering and other goodies. Amazon covets Prime members because they spend more money on the shopping site than non-Prime customers.

Amazon has long sought such a deal to sweeten its Prime streaming-video offering. The add-on subscriptions are available through Amazon's apps on mobile devices, streaming boxes and connected televisions.

While Starz and Showtime, with its popular "Homeland" series, may be a draw, the list of available channels delves quickly into the obscure. For $3 to $5 each a month, customers can subscribe to Shudder, Gaia or Urban Movie Channel, for example. Other channels include Comedy Central Stand-Up Plus and Acorn TV.​

The offering from Showtime, a unit of CBS Corp., is about two dollars cheaper than it would cost to get the pay-TV channel without a Prime subscription. For Starz, the channel on Amazon is its first online offering in the U.S. covering its breadth of programming without requiring a pay-TV subscription.

Amazon sells a streaming box and stick called Fire TV through which customers can stream the Prime service, as well as Netflix, Hulu and other apps. The on-demand versions of some channels, like Showtime and Starz, are available to customers who already get access through their cable subscription.

Amazon's announcement Tuesday seemed aimed as much at convincing content providers to participate in the new program as it was selling the service to Prime customers. The company highlighted how it would assume customer acquisition, billing and customer service costs for what it calls the "Streaming Partners Program."

"We're making it easy for video providers to reach highly engaged Prime members," Michael Paull, vice president of Digital Video, said in the news release. Amazon says it has "tens of millions" of Prime members, though the exact number is closely guarded.

Premium networks like Showtime and Starz are already sold a la carte by traditional pay-TV operators like Comcast Corp. But it would be a shift if Amazon were able to convince traditional cable and broadcast networks to offer on-demand versions of their channels through Amazon either a la carte or in a bundle.

That could give customers who cancel their traditional cable packages, or cut the cord, another option in the expanding streaming-TV world. Such products threaten to hasten the decline of traditional cable bundles, which net Time Warner Cable Inc., Comcast and others profits by offering, and charging for, more channels than most customers ever need.

A spokeswoman for Amazon declined to discuss the financial arrangement between the company and providers of the new pay channels.

Shalini Ramachandran contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 08, 2015 12:55 ET (17:55 GMT)

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