Amazon merges Lovefilm Instant with its Prime service
AmazonÂ’s Lovefilm Instant video on demand service is to be folded it into the online retailer's Prime subscription service next week and rebranded as Prime Instant Video.
While Amazon Prime offers its members access to over 7 million items and 500,000 Kindle books, Lovefilm Instant offers unlimited streaming of more than 15,000 popular movies and TV episodes.
When the two programmes combine, Amazon will offer Prime membership at a cost of £79, making it 35% cheaper than subscribing to the two previously separate services.
The new service will be seen as a direct rival to streaming service Netflix.
Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime said: “Millions of customers in the US have streaming video included as part of their Prime membership and they tell us they love the combination of unlimited delivery, the ability to borrow Kindle books, and convenient access to thousands of the most popular movies, TV shows and exclusive videos. We are delighted to be bringing that same combination of services to the UK, providing members truly unique benefits they can enjoy every day of the year.”
Amazon has also confirmed that it is increasing its investment in exclusive content and original programming to include movies such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hangover Part II, One Direction: This Is Us, as well as TV shows such as The Walking Dead, Dexter, Vikings and Downton Abbey.
Tim Leslie, vice president of Amazon Instant Video for the UK and Germany, said: “We’ve worked hard to offer the best selection of TV shows and movies for Prime Instant Video—in fact, we’ve more than tripled selection since Lovefilm became part of the Amazon family. We also added high definition video and introduced apps for popular devices like Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Samsung and Sony TVs and iPads and iPhones.”
