Amazon has announced an extension of the content licensing deal that it previously had with CBS. As a result, more shows are being added for Amazon Prime Instant subscribers to watch. New titles include Undercover Boss, Star Trek, Everybody Loves Raymond, America’s Next Top Model, The L Word and United States of Tara – in no particular order.This comes in a context where video streaming behemoths like Netflix and Amazon are pouring money to either buy content licenses, or create their own shows. This is their way to attempt breaking the lock that cable companies have on that kind of content. In the end, “content is king” as you may often hear, and it is particularly true in the video world, at least much more so than it is for websites.
Although the old Star Trek license may not tilt the balance of power significantly, each step towards getting more content weakens cable companies. This is most likely going to be a long process, but eventually, it should start to have a significant impact on the TV business as a while, and it may have an impact on your desire to pay for a $100+ cable subscription.
Do you think that this is a sound strategy, or do you think that Amazon is not being aggressive enough? What kind of content do you want to see on Amazon Prime? By the way, I got Amazon Prime mainly for the shipping aspect – what about you?
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