Amazon expands original content program with feature films as Apple TV adds more live sports
With access to in-demand content an increasingly important differentiator for internet streaming services, retailing giant Amazon has announced that it will move beyond television series and produce original theatre-bound movies, while Apple has struck yet another agreement to carry a live sports channel on the Apple TV with Tennis Channel Everywhere.
Amazon's plans include the production of 12 movies each year, Amazon Studios chief Roy Price said on Monday. Each film will debut in theaters before arriving on Amazon Prime Instant Video less than two months after their theatrical release, compared to the typical 9-month lag time for Hollywood films.
Seattle, Wash.-based Amazon has already experienced critical success with its Transparent television series, and will lean on Hollywood veteran Ted Hope to helm the movie program.
Unlike Amazon and industry leader Netflix, Apple has sidestepped the original content trend and continued to expand the library of licensed content available via iTunes and the Apple TV. To this end, the company recently added Tennis Channel Everywhere to the Apple TV's live sports lineup, which already includes options from ESPN, Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, ACC, WWE, and UFC.
Tennis fans can access live coverage either by signing in via a supported cable or satellite provider or paying a separate $69.99 yearly subscription fee for the Tennis Channel Plus service, which also enables access on the Tennis Channel's iOS apps. Highlights can be viewed without a subscription.
Amazon's plans include the production of 12 movies each year, Amazon Studios chief Roy Price said on Monday. Each film will debut in theaters before arriving on Amazon Prime Instant Video less than two months after their theatrical release, compared to the typical 9-month lag time for Hollywood films.
Seattle, Wash.-based Amazon has already experienced critical success with its Transparent television series, and will lean on Hollywood veteran Ted Hope to helm the movie program.
Unlike Amazon and industry leader Netflix, Apple has sidestepped the original content trend and continued to expand the library of licensed content available via iTunes and the Apple TV. To this end, the company recently added Tennis Channel Everywhere to the Apple TV's live sports lineup, which already includes options from ESPN, Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, ACC, WWE, and UFC.
Tennis fans can access live coverage either by signing in via a supported cable or satellite provider or paying a separate $69.99 yearly subscription fee for the Tennis Channel Plus service, which also enables access on the Tennis Channel's iOS apps. Highlights can be viewed without a subscription.
Comments
I mean beside live shows, who watch live TV anymore?
Just get all the live shows in, then let me make a list of shows I want to watch in sequential order
Until Apple unlocks the ATV for any content provider I'm not buying one. As clunky as the Roku is, it does carry the content I want.
It could be that Amazon doesn't want its app on the ATV. Now that they have their own hardware they hope people will buy a Fire TV instead.
The silver bullet is to allow the user to pay for what they watch. Several models can accomplish this. I hope whatever Apple is up to they succeed. I can't help to remember the days of buying a whole crappy album just to get 1-2 songs...today I pay too much for a handful of stations and/or programs. That needs to end. Who's with me?
In full agreement here. My head spins with how much money I've wasted on ESPN (about $10/month) solely because ESPN has negotiated an all-customers-or-nobody contract with every cable/satellite provider.
Until Apple unlocks the ATV for any content provider I'm not buying one. As clunky as the Roku is, it does carry the content I want.
I have 2 Roku 2 XS's, 3 Apple TV 3's, and even a Amazon Fire Stick I got for Cheap to screw around with. Besides my 4 Xbox 360's, Xbox One, a PS3, and a Wii that i can also stream from. So I get to play around with different setups myself. I do have to say I use the ROKU far more then the other devices for streaming content, just for the fact I use PLEX daily!!! ROKU works great for that, and the Xbox systems now also support PLEX, and Amazon Fire Stick does, and even AppleTV. Forget the Hack, pain in the butt, when you can just AirPlay form your iOS device which works great also. Though the Fire Stick had issues playing some of my content then the other devices played just fine!!!
I've been saying that Apple really needs to just open it up for it's own App Store. Why is Apple wasting time adding content like this themselves that I'll NEVER want and now have to block this one also from showing up. Why can't anyone make a App for it? AppleTV for the most part I use for AirPlay. If it did PLEX natively without a cluckly hack, I would use it more. Wither it's Apple TV or ROKU or a Amazon Fire device, they all use far less Watts (Power) then a Hungry Game Console!!!
my content providers are (besides my own content in iTunes library) Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes. A Roku would let me stream Amazon, but it won't help with iTunes. Apple TV lets me stream iTunes and Amazon via AirPlay. how do you obtain the same feature party on Roku?
your mistake is assuming it's designed for one to subscribe to everything. call me crazy, but I won't be paying for tennis any time soon. entire seasons of the shows I like cost less than a month of cable. and because I happily don't watch a million shows, it's cheaper than cable period. I cut the cord in '99.
What other reason could there be? The app is on the Roku, but only because Roku doesn't sell content, though they do have a partnership with a company called M-Go, but that came after Amazon already had their app on it.
In full agreement here. My head spins with how much money I've wasted on ESPN (about $10/month) solely because ESPN has negotiated an all-customers-or-nobody contract with every cable/satellite provider.
SlingTV.com is coming. To get a bundle with ESPN included, my comcast bill would go up about $60/mo. I refuse. Really looking forward to the SlingTV.com option.
By the time I add in all my monthly fees for all these apps and my internet I am better off just getting the cable subscription bundle...My sense is that in the end the cable companies will win.
There will be conscientious sophisticates (e.g. NolaMacGuy) who will successfully use this new approach,
but I would guess that your approach is the one that will "play in Peoria"...
At least until a few major iterations of "Peoria" have evolved.
The question then becomes, if providers can make significantly more money
from the newer model, for how long will the old model even be a choice?
Still waiting for what Steve said that he had it all figured out in his biography.
Content is KING and Apple really blew this one. Instead of blowing all that cash on Beats Apple should have developed its own content. Looks like Jeff Bezos is now a major Hollywood player. Who knew?
Kudos to Amazon and Bezos for making history by winning a Golden Globe for Best TV Series with an iSeries! Amazing.
I have an ATV and just got a Roku stick around the holidays just because it has the Amazon app for my Prime. Really only need my ATV for my iTunes content and mirroring.
Still waiting for what Steve said that he had it all figured out in his biography.
Me too.
Looks like Jeff Bezos has already figured out that content is everything. Only by offering something of quality and exclusively will one draw people to your service. I will sigh once iTunes starts selling Amazon's video content i.e. Transparent and the new Woody Allen. Mozart in the Jungle is another great new Amazon series.
I thought that was Harvey Weinstein I saw standing on a corner holding a 'will make movie for food' sign.
He already has successful critically acclaimed TV series and won a historical GG. Not too bad for a newbie.
Whatever it take to get you locked into the ecosystem. Stolen right from Apples playbook.
Meanwhile Apple iTunes has nothing. Zilch. Prime and Netflix streaming 4K are so far ahead at this point.