Amazon expanded its selection of pay-to-view television channels to the United Kingdom and Germany markets today. The announcement means users of Prime Video in those countries will be able to subscribe to popular channels individually, rather than having to pay for bundles of channels.
Previously, Amazon's on-demand Prime Video subscription service only offered movies and TV shows in the U.K. and Germany, which are two of the company's biggest European markets.
However, one analyst who spoke to the BBC said Amazon would struggle to attract satellite customers in the U.K., calling the list of channels - which includes the likes of Eurosport and Discovery - "not immediately desirable"."For 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," said Alex Green, head of Amazon Channels in Europe.
"From 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."
Close to 50 on-demand "Amazon Channels" will be available through Prime Video via a single click. Prices of the various channels in the U.K. vary between £1.49 and £9.49 a month, but are only available to Amazon Prime members."Amazon launched a similar thing in the U.S., and the big selling point was that you could get HBO and Showtime programs all under one umbrella," said Tom Harrington, an analyst at Enders.
"That's not going to happen here. Sky have HBO and Showtime locked down, at least for now, and will hold on to them aggressively. When you look at what's available in the U.K., it does lack the wow factor."
Most of the content will also be available to download for offline, on-demand viewing, with free trials being offered for the majority of subscriptions. Amazon also said additional subscriptions would be added in the coming months. The full list of available channels can be found here.
Article Link: Pay-to-View 'Amazon Channels' Come to Prime Members in the U.K. and Germany