That’s because all of Amazon’s “premium” video is bundled into its Amazon Prime subscription offer, which gives you free shipping and other goodies. It just wants you to watch some video and spend some money. Amazon doesn’t want to compete with Netflix or the other biggies for watch time and subscriber dollars. But it’s playing a different game than the “real” streamers. So does that mean Amazon is finally getting ready to take on the streaming heavyweights - Netflix, Disney, and maybe WarnerMedia/Discovery?Īmazingly, the answer is no: The company is indeed more serious than ever about video. And now, probably, another $9 billion for MGM.
#Amazon haunted space station tv#
Which gives you a sense of how all over the place Amazon’s efforts to break into Hollywood have been, despite the fact that Jeff Bezos has spent a lot to make it happen.īezos is still trying, though: Amazon is sinking at least half a billion dollars into a Lord of the Rings TV show, and $10 billion over 10 years to show an NFL game once a week. But you probably don’t remember Amazon’s first shows - Alpha House? Betas? - and you probably can’t think of many Amazon shows at all, except for Transparent and a few others. Now that we’re done with the CliffsNotes, a little context about Amazon and Hollywood, which remains one of the weirder media stories of the last decade:Īmazon has been making and buying its own TV shows and movies since 2013 - the same year Netflix got into streaming its own stuff with House of Cards. So this is akin to waving a red flag in front of the likes of Sen. In theory that’s for running a marketplace and selling its own items in the same marketplace, but really just for being so. On the other hand, Amazon is already in regulators’ cross-hairs. MGM, meanwhile, has been trying to sell itself for years.Īnd the way regulators respond to this will be fascinating: Amazon will claim that it’s too small in video for this to pose a competitive threat.
Not so much because it wants to own streaming, but because it wants you to keep coming to Amazon. Amazon has spent many billions on video without much to show for it, and thinks owning a studio - and, crucially, the rights to the intellectual property the studio owns - could help it create Really Big Movies and TV Shows You Really Want to Watch. Short answers here: The media world is consolidating and there aren’t many targets left for a would-be acquirer. Why now? Why Amazon? Why MGM? And, just as important: Will regulators let it happen? Now it’s finally, probably happening: Amazon is getting ready to pay $9 billion for MGM Holdings, the Hollywood studio that brings you James Bond and a smattering of other stuff, like the Pink Panther movies and The Handmaid’s Tale TV show. Update, March 17, 10 am: Amazon’s $8.45 billion deal has closed, and the company announced that MGM will be joining Prime Video and Amazon Studios.īig tech companies have been eyeing big media companies for years - but they’ve never gotten together before.
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