Amazon Video on Demand to Launch

By: Bill Waters
Staff Writer
Published: Jul 19, 2008

Online retailer Amazon will introduce a new online store of TV shows and movies called Amazon Video on Demand.

Amazon.com Inc will introduce a new online store to give customers the ability to watch any of 40,000 movies and television programs immediately after ordering them.

The new TV service is different from most Internet video stores, such as Apple's iTunes and the original incarnation of Amazon's video store, which require users to wait as video files are downloaded to their hard drives.

The online retailer has partnered with electronics giant Sony to place its Internet video store on the Sony Bravia line of high-definition TVs.

Amazon's vice president for digital media, Bill Carr, said the company will pursue similar deals with other makers of TVs and Internet devices.

Amazon Video on Demand will be accessible to a limited number of invited Amazon.com customers on Thursday before it opens more broadly to other users later this summer.

TV shows from almost all the major studios and television networks are available for sale or rental to Amazon's customers in the United States, at varying prices depending on the program and whether people buy or rent it.

However, the new discreet service will not provide content from Walt Disney and ABC, which Disney owns. Both have close relations with Amazon's digital rival, Apple.