Amazon to Unbox Video On Demand Store

Amazon is getting ready to pack up Unbox and launch a new streaming video service called Amazon Video on Demand.

According to The New York Times, online retailer Amazon.com is getting ready to take the packing tape to its not-very-well-received Amazon Unbox video service and replace it with a new streaming video service called Amazon Video on Demand. The new store will offer more than 40,000 movies and television episodes for immediate streaming, without forcing users to download the entire content first, and (unlike Unbox), Amazon Video on Demand won’t require users download special client software in order to view the content.

Amazon plans to launch Amazon Video on Demand to selected customers beginning today, and widen access to the service over the next few months.

“Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can’t help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button,” the paper quotes Amazon VP for digital media Bill Carr as saying.

Amazon’s Unbox service has a distribution agreement with DVR maker TiVo; it’s not known at this time what the introduction of a Video on Demand service would have on that arrangement. The New York Times says Amazon has struck a deal with Sony to include support for Amazon Video on Demand with Sony’s Bravia Internet Link, a $300 add-on for selected Bravia televisions that can bring online video to users’ living rooms. Amazon is reportedly interested in pursuing similar deals with other manufacturers and service providers.

Via the service, users will be able to purchase videos and televisions shows without immediately downloading them to their computers: purchases will be stored in an online Video Library that users will be able to access from multiple computers or devices, so long as they have broadband Internet access. By never enabling users to download the videos directly to their computers, Amazon sidesteps some piracy concerns associated with online video services—at least until enthusiasts figure out how to capture steaming video feeds.

There’s no word yet on service pricing, or the amount of advertising (if any) Amazon plans to roll into the service or enable its partners to embed or frame around video content.