Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Amazon and Viacom strike deal to bring more exclusive content to Prime Instant Video

Ted Kritsonis
By
Amazon-Instant-Video-main
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In a statement issued on Amazon’s website today, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos outlined an agreement between his company and Viacom that would see 3,900 TV episodes from Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central come to Prime Instant Video.

Much of the new influx of content appears to be children’s programming, with Bezos citing a 55% increase in the number of episodes available to top Prime shows for kids. These include SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues and iCarly, among others. Also thrown in are 400 episodes of new shows, Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies, VICTORiOUS, Big Time Rush, and Drake & Josh. Key and Peele, Awkward, and Workaholics are two of the notable ones from Comedy Central.

Recommended Videos

Dora the Explorer was available on Netflix until that company’s deal with Viacom expired last month, seemingly opening up another opportunity with Amazon.

Related

Financial terms of the multi-year deal weren’t disclosed but there is speculation that the cost was significant, considering that the package ultimately includes more than 4,000 shows. Amazon Instant Prime currently has 41,000 available for streaming, though the company doesn’t disclose how many people subscribe to the service.

Bezos also touted the hybrid Prime membership that costs $79 per year and opens up streaming on Instant Prime, plus free two-day shipping and the lender’s library that allows members to borrow eBooks with no due dates.

The battle between the top three streaming services — Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Prime — looks to be heating up even more now that more of these deals are being signed with content owners. In addition, exclusive productions, spurred even further by the success of Netflix’s House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, will likely increase the stakes even further, as more consumers turn to streaming services.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ted Kritsonis
Ted Kritsonis
A/V Writer
A tech journalism vet, Ted covers has written for a number of publications in Canada and the U.S. Ted loves hockey, history…
More than 100 Amazon Originals head to Amazon Freevee
Amazon Freevee app on a TV.

If you needed any more proof that branding is out of control, consider the following sentence: Amazon today announced that more than 100 Amazon Originals, which first appeared on Amazon Prime Video, will be made available for free on Amazon Freevee.

Or, in other words, you'll be able to watch things like The Wheel of Time, Reacher, A League of Their Own, and LuLa Rich — to name but a few — for free, without a subscription to Amazon Prime.

Read more
The best drama series on Amazon Prime Video right now
The cast of The Expanse.

A subscription to Amazon Prime offers a lot of perks, including access to some amazing shows you can stream via Amazon Prime Video. That collection features a wide variety of excellent series spanning many genres, with critically praised drama projects well-represented among them. The Prime Video library is always changing too, with new shows coming to Amazon all the time. From original shows you won't find anywhere else to compelling programs that earned acclaim elsewhere, here are the best drama series on Amazon Prime Video.

If you've already burned through the Amazon Prime Video catalog and need more ideas, we've also put together a list of the best original series on Amazon Prime Video.

Read more
HBO Max is back on Amazon Prime Video Channels
HBO Max on Amazon Prime Video Channels.

After more than a year since disappearing from Amazon Prime Video Channels, HBO Max once again is available for subscription through your Amazon account. The price remains $15 a month, and you'll still have access to all the things you'll find on HBO Max if you subscribe to it directly. And you'll again be able to watch it through the Amazon Prime Video app on whatever device you want.

New this time, however, is that the full HBO Max library is on board, not just the linear (or "live") shows from the various HBO channels. Anything and everything on demand is here, all inside the Amazon Prime Video app.

Read more