Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) said video streams on its Prime Instant
Video service nearly tripled year-over-year, helped along by the
company's heavy spending on original shows and new content.
"We've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in great TV
shows and movies for Prime members and it's working," said Bill
Carr, vice president of digital video and music for Amazon.
The announcement comes about a week after Amazon unveiled a $99
set-top box, called Fire TV, for streaming video and games, which
should allow the company to reduce its dependence on other hardware
manufacturers such as Roku Inc. to deliver its streaming-video
service to televisions.
Amazon has been pushing more aggressively into streaming video
to compete with Netflix Inc. (NFLX), with shows like political
comedy "Alpha House." Last month it selected a new slate of
original programs it will produce for prime subscribers and is
weighing an ad-supported video service with additional content that
may be available to a broader swath of consumers, people familiar
with the matter recently said.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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