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The race to control the TV\u00a0is\u00a0on, and today comes some news out of Europe underscoring Amazon\u2019s\u00a0ambitions in that department. The e-commerce giant announced the launch of Amazon Channels in the UK<\/a> and Germany<\/a> \u2014 its two biggest markets in the region \u2014 which will see Amazon, for the first time, offer close to\u00a050\u00a0live and on-demand streamed channels<\/a> to the region as part of its Amazon Prime service.<\/p>\n This is not just the first time that Amazon will offer live TV in Europe, tapping into what remains the most popular format for TV viewing in the region, despite the insurgence of on-demand content via the internet. Notably, Amazon Channels\u00a0will be the first time that many popular channels like Discovery will be available for people to pay for and watch without subscribing to a larger, more expensive bundle of channels through a pay-TV provider like Sky or BT.<\/p>\n In other words, this will let Amazon squarely target consumers who are tired of paying high monthly\u00a0premiums and are considering\u00a0\u201ccord-cutting.\u201d Prices for each channel on Amazon Channels will range from \u00a31.49\/month to \u00a39.49\/month, with many coming in at around \u00a33.99-\u00a34.99. I\u2019m asking Amazon what kind of cut it will get from this and will update as I learn more.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first time, Prime members in the UK and Germany will be able to choose to watch premium TV channels without having to sign up to a bundle or a contract, giving them the freedom to pay for only what they want to watch,\u201d said Alex Green, MD, Europe, Amazon Channels, in a statement. \u201cFrom live sport to Bollywood, arthouse cinema to reality TV, and award-winning TV shows from popular channels like Discovery and ITV, Amazon Channels gives power back to customers to choose exactly what they want to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n While cord cutting has been a pretty significant theme in the U.S. market, in the U.K. and Germany there have been precious few options for people to pick and choose what they want to watch, with most people instead getting tied into large packages, or taking nothing at all.<\/p>\n Amazon Prime, for background, is the company\u2019s all-in-one subscription (\u00a37.99\/month or \u00a35.99\/month for just video in the UK; \u20ac8.99\/month or \u20ac7.99\/month for video in Germany), and as in the U.S., Amazon throws\u00a0in lots of things\u00a0to\u00a0tie people into paying for it each month and using\u00a0Amazon for their various\u00a0shopping needs. These days, this includes free and fast shipping, and entertainment like\u00a0Amazon Music and Prime Video.<\/p>\n And as with other Amazon video services \u2014 and unlike some others like Apple TV \u2014 there\u00a0is no shortage of ways to consume Amazon Channels. You will be able to access Amazon Channels via Amazon\u2019s Prime Video app, as well as the Amazon Video app on smart TVs, iOs and Android mobile devices; Amazon\u00a0Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets; games consoles; and finally through the good old world wide web<\/a>. (Oh, and if you believe the reports, possibly through Apple TV<\/a> soon, too.)<\/p>\n This is a somewhat slow rollout of Amazon Channels, which first launched in the U.S. back in 2015 with the\u00a0significantly less catchy title of Amazon Streaming Partners<\/a>. It comes on the heels of Amazon already offering a sizeable number of titles on demand either directly or through third-party partners.\u00a0Launching Amazon Channels in Europe gives Amazon a direct line for providing content itself. It follows a number of other moves that Amazon has been making in the areas of video, entertainment and TV.\u00a0These include:<\/p>\n While other new players in the TV arena like Facebook and Twitter have secured deals in sports broadcasts in recent times, we have yet to hear of anything from Amazon. I say watch this space\u2026 literally and figuratively. Notably, the launch of Amazon Channels today\u00a0includes the Eurosport channel, which already broadcasts coverage of\u00a0the French Open tennis tournament and the Tour de France bicycle race (a personal favorite of mine).<\/p>\n The Eurosport launch, and the bigger Amazon Channels move, both high\u00a0an important point, perhaps just as significant as Amazon\u2019s obvious strategy to keep adding more services to Prime to attract more subscribers (a strategy it\u2019s been following for years now).<\/p>\n By\u00a0offering Amazon Channels, it\u2019s giving the company \u2014 a veritable vacuum and conjurer<\/a> when it comes to big data \u2014 a direct line to being able to observe what it is that people like to watch. This, in turn, will help Amazon itself build up ideas for what areas it can move into next \u2014 be it securing sports rights, ideas for what original content it might want to produce next, or perhaps deciding what to try to sell to you<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the part of broadcasters, having Amazon wade into the TV fray with Amazon Channels is probably coming just at the right time. Companies\u00a0like ITV \u2014 a commercial, terrestrial channel that is the largest broadcaster\u00a0in the UK in terms of overall weekly viewers \u2014 have long been looking for ways of boosting its numbers and recapturing\u00a0more users who have turned away from traditional, linear TV and now opt to watch video on demand on their tablets or computers, or TVs connected to the internet.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ITV Hub is all about giving viewers more choice about how and when they access their favourite ITV shows, including watching without the ads via ITV Hub+ for \u00a33.99 per month,\u201d said Simon Pitts, ITV Managing Director, Online, Pay and Interactive, in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be part of the Amazon Channels launch line-up in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n While pay-TV companies have long held the upper hand when it comes to offering consumers these\u00a0channels and the on-demand components behind them, now the broadcasters\u00a0will have one more way to bypass this and stand apart from noisy bundles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are delighted to bring our premium factual and sports content to Amazon Prime members.\u00a0This partnership underlines our strategic ambition to reach people across every screen,\u201d Susanna Dinnage, president of Discovery Networks UK and chief content officer, international, said in a statement.\u00a0\u201cAmazon Prime members can now experience the shows that are loved by Discovery fans as well as enjoy an exciting summer of sport which is about to kick off on the Eurosport Player.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be looking forward to seeing just how well this is used. If it\u2019s up to Amazon, as with so many other sales and audience figures in its wider product universe, I\u2019m not expecting to see any hard numbers for viewing, although hopefully this will get picked up by some of the analytics firms who track TV viewing.<\/p>\n Below is\u00a0the full run-down of channels in the UK. For you are interested in the German list, you can find that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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The race to control the TV\u00a0is\u00a0on, and today comes some news out of Europe underscoring Amazon’s\u00a0ambitions in that department. The e-commerce giant announced the launch of Amazon Channels in the UK and Germany — its two biggest markets in the region — which will see Amazon, for the first time, offer close to\u00a050\u00a0live and on-demand streamed channels to the region as part of… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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