- Amazon.com (AMZN +1.1%) has made video distribution a key selling point for its Amazon Prime subscription service, and now the company has bigger designs, according to the New York Post: taking on premium channels like HBO and Showtime (CBS +1.4%).
- The company's in early stages of building a new paid channel with high-end programming, a model very much like HBO (TWX -0.5%), the paper says That channel would also help gather the growing number of first-run shows that Amazon is developing on its own.
- Sources told the Post that Amazon's awards-season prestige this year is fueling the development. Amazon Video became the first streaming service to draw an Oscar nomination for an original picture, Manchester By the Sea, which Amazon acquired for $10M.
- “In a few years, you’ll see an Amazon channel like HBO,” one employee tells the Post. “We’re looking at being a global news and media company. There are key people working on it.”