Amazon Says It's Open To Pushing Content Through Cable Boxes (bloomberg.com)

Amazon, the e-commerce giant that's shaking up the entertainment industry, says it's open to pursuing deals to stream content through cable operators' set-top boxes, much like Netflix has done in the U.S. and Europe. From a report on Bloomberg: "Amazon is definitely open to those partnerships and to be fair, we haven't done as much there as Netflix have done," Alex Green, managing director of Amazon Video, said Thursday at the Cable Congress conference in Brussels. So far, Amazon has been more focused on growing its customers and building its own devices, he said. But "we do talk to all sorts of players in the cable industry." Amazon, which won its first Academy Awards last month for movies "Manchester by the Sea," and "The Salesman," is challenging pay-TV providers and video-game developers as the Seattle-based company expands beyond its online retail roots with growing media ambitions. The rise of internet-based subscription services from the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Alphabet's YouTube, have stoked analyst predictions that consumers will increasingly ditch cable and kill traditional TV.

Comments

Chromecast support

[elzurawka]

Maybe they should first offer something and basic as Chromecast support on their mobile apps.

Re:Chromecast support

[Altus]

Maybe they could make an apple TV app while they are at it.

Re:Chromecast support

[DontBeAMoran]

Make that a 3rd-generation Apple TV app and also offer their service in Canada.

Re:Chromecast support

[elzurawka]

Apparently there is an Prime Video app on Roku. I borrowed a roku from a friend who was not using it anymore, can't find the app. Looks like again they don't offer that app on Roku in Canada.

But hey, lets go after the Cable box market, because that is clearly a growing market segment...

Re:Chromecast support

[EvilSS]

None of that is likely to happen. Amazon and Google don't play nice, Amazon wants to push their Fire devices, and Amazon doesn't want to pay Apple 30% to sell content in their apps. It's gone so far that Amazon doesn't even sell Chromecast or Apple TV anymore. The only right now options are FireTV, FireTV Stick, Roku, some TV's, and the latest NVidia Shield TV firmware, where there is an Amazon Video app side loaded in the firmware.

Re:Chromecast support

[elzurawka]

Amazon.ca does not sell the fireTV, or Firestick, unless they are actually $150, in which case i dont think they understand their target audience. Since amazon prime video came to Canada, i've watch 3/4 of one movie, because I want to watch things on my TV, not my phone or PC.

Re:Chromecast support

[Altus]

They have an app for the iphone, you have to go to the web if you want to buy content but you can view it on the device. I'm a whole lot more likely to buy content from their store if I can actually view it on my TV.

Re:Chromecast support

[unrtst]

IMO, everything is shitty because of anti competitive practices.
* amazon devices should support all the normal android things (ie. google apps, like hangouts, mail, chromecast, etc)
* amazon should provide their apps via the normal google play store, rather than requiring use of their own app store (amazon underground), so that normal android devices can easily get prime video/etc.
* Ditto for supporting airplay from the various apps, assuming that doesn't have overly restrictive licensing
* cable/satellite/networks/content-providers should have supported true a la carte selection DECADES ago
* TV providers should have well supported cablecard access to allow 3rd party boxes/DVRs/PCs/etc. This came far too late and with too many restrictions, so it's still difficult/impossible to get it working on computer, and few DVR's support it. IMO, they also should not charge per-TV.
* Those last two combined would have made it almost impossible for other streaming services to compete, and not due to anti-competitive measures, but because the service would then fullfull what most people wanted, and it's a more efficient delivery method.
* OTA (over the air) TV should have far better integration in all the products. This would greatly reduce the bandwidth consumption on the wire as a lot of content is already broadcast OTA in HD for free - just DVR it and watch it later.
* Guide data for all services should be free and open. It's just a dick move to lock it down and doesn't benefit anyone except those clinging to broken/old things.
* Per-network content needs to DIAF. It's great that Netflix and Hulu made so much headway with pulling in lots of content to one streaming site (and similar kudo's to Apple for breaking down the mp3 walls), but now they're all repeating the same business moves by making exclusive content. Content production and distribution to the end user need separated, which would make it easy and clear for the content producers to offer standard licensing terms that could be used by all last mile delivery services (cable, sat, hulu, netflix, itunes, amazon video, youtube, hbo, showtime now, etc).

It's an awful mess with no signs of getting any better.

Re:Chromecast support

[swb]

I'd also add -- where is our long-tail library of older content *at least* for on-demand rental?

Why are they still keeping content decades old away from us? I'm sure there's all the usual arguments about how on-demand streaming was never included in the rights negotiations, but in many cases every other format including Super-8 was negotiated so what makes on-demand rental so much harder?

It's like they don't want to make money.

Re:Chromecast support

[squiggleslash]

It's certainly available in the US - they do both Amazon Video and Amazon Music apps. The latter, unfortunately, doesn't provide access to Prime Music, but the former does do Prime Video and works pretty well. Just logged into the Channel Store and it's one of the highlighted apps, to confirm that it's available for new users.

Also the Roku remotes for the last few years have a dedicated Amazon Video button (together with Vudu, Netflix, and the integrated service whose name I forget. You don't expect me to get up and go to the living room to find out do you? Tsk.)

Roku has always been fairly neutral so it gets mostly decent support from Google and Amazon. I don't think Microsoft or Apple support it, but I think the latter is trying to use its service to sell AppleTVs (I'm not sure I've ever seen an Apple content player outside of the Apple ecosystem with the exception of iTunes for Windows) and Microsoft seems to be unsure what it's trying to do.

Re:Chromecast support

[EvilSS]

They have an app for the iphone, you have to go to the web if you want to buy content but you can view it on the device. I'm a whole lot more likely to buy content from their store if I can actually view it on my TV.

iPhone yes, but not Apple TV. I think iPhone is just too big for them to ignore it, unlike the TV platforms. Apple TV is also missing a few others like all of the Ultraviolet apps like VUDU (also available on iOS). Honestly Shield and Roku are the best streaming TV devices at the moment. The only major vendors missing on both of those are Apple and the new DirecTV Now, and those aren't going to make much difference to most people.

Plus the Apple TV remote makes me want to club baby seals.

Re:Chromecast support

[EvilSS]

Yea that's weird. Maybe now that they launched prime video up there they will get the Fire devices out as well.

But Hey!

[invictusvoyd]

You are showing me the wrong movie! and you wont give me a refund!! .

What is a cable box?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that where I keep my extra hdmi cables?

Great news...

[__aaclcg7560]

I'm still getting used to picking up packages from Amazon Locker at the 7-11 down the street. Can't wait to get packages to arrive via cable!

Force

[Anonymous Coward]

If they force stuff on people, they should expect a military response. A lot of people are tired of stuff being rammed down their throat, especially if they don't need or want anything offered.

How about an AndroidTV app first

[Anonymous Coward]

Who fucking cares if they decide to start getting MVPD's to pay them to include their app on their stb's.

How about they release an AndroidTV app that works on any* AndroidTV device first? Amazons really doesn't give a shit about anything but getting extra licensing dollars.

* yes, some Sony AndroidTV TV's get it as now does the NVidia ShieldTV, but the app refuses to play video on any other device.

Re:How about an AndroidTV app first

[Anonymous Coward]

lol to MVPD's paying to get an amazon app. In all these instances where an MVPD has added a third party streaming app the terms a mutually beneficial. Usually the MVPD will get a large cut of any new subscriber that is signed up through their device

Click

[Neuronwelder]

Will we be doing extra work clicking the "x's" on commercials that pop up?

Let's hear it

[Anonymous Coward]

for innovation! Of 30+ years ago. Hype is all silicon valley are capable of creating. Very, very expensive hype. Don't be fooled by any of it. Nothing is 'just around the corner' and there are no 'new paradigms'. It's a joke at this point. I hope Amazon and others enjoy being the profiteers of the new/old cable television, the ******s. The republicans always wanted the web to be corporate controlled cable tv, who'da thunk it would be silicon valley handing it to them on a platter (newsflash number 2: there are no parties, just corporations)?

Comcast X1 and friends

[Ritz_Just_Ritz]

Who is to say they aren't already prepared to launch it. Seems like the MSO's are lapping up reselling Comcast's X1 platform. It would simply mean creating an app to run on those STBs and they would have wide penetration of the US market's STBs.