Amazon to offer live ITV, Discovery

Amazon in the UK is set to offer live streaming of third-party linear networks from broadcasters including Discovery and ITV via its Prime service.

Amazon Channels will offer access to networks and on-demand services such as NBCUniversal’s streamer Hayu and Discovery’s Eurosport Player, with add-ons costing between £1.49 (US$1.94) and £9.99 per month.

The latter will provide access to an array of sports programming on Amazon, including the French Open tennis tournament starting next week. The streamer agreed a deal for 10 NFL matches in the US earlier this year.

Discovery Channel will be accessible for £4.99 per month, allowing subscribers to watch the linear network and access on-demand programming such as Deadliest Catch. Subscribers will still have to pay £79 a year for Prime membership.

An ad-free version of ITV’s streaming service will be available for £3.99, with its free channels ITV2 and ITV Be also included, while niche offerings such as cookery service Panna and workout offering Daily Burn will also be available.

Movies from the BFI and US studio MGM will also be available, allowing access to films such as The Hobbit.

However, fellow UK free TV operators, including pubcasters Channel 4 and the BBC along with Channel 5, are not involved.

The UK launch comes as Amazon in Germany prepares a similar roll-out of channels on its service, following the debut of Amazon Channels in the US, which went live last year.

The US service offers a wide array of networks and programming from providers such as HBO, Showtime and Cinemax.

Alex Green, MD for Europe at Amazon Channels, said the launch would allow Prime members in the UK and Germany “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.”

It’s Amazon’s latest effort to ramp up competition in the UK not only on fellow streamer Netflix but also pay TV operators such as Sky. No deals have been struck between Amazon and the satcaster, which is focused on its own on-demand service Now TV.

Sky was also recently engaged in a carriage war with Discovery, with the two striking an 11th-hour deal in February to keep the latter’s portfolio of channels on the pay TV platform in the UK and Germany.

Susanna Dinnage, Discovery Networks UK president, said the UK partnership with Amazon “underlines our strategic ambition to reach every person across every service and every screen.”

Paolo Pescatore, director of Multiplay and Media at analyst group CCS Insight, described Amazon’s move as “highly disruptive” and one that “threatens Sky’s dominance in the pay TV market both in the UK and Germany.”

He added: “Beyond free-to-air services, the addition of Discovery’s channels is hugely significant. This is the first time its channels have been made available outside of the Sky universe and out of a bundle.

“This will force many households to think twice about their pay TV subscription and cut the cord as we’ve seen in the US. Especially if Amazon will add more live TV such as sports in the future.”

Pescatore said the deal would be followed by similar arrangements as consumers look for “large bundles of content” rather than “skinny bundles.”

“There’s been a rush toward online video services and so-called ‘skinny’ bundles, accompanied by a proliferation of separate apps for each provider. But in reality, customers will not want to sign up to numerous services, receive more bills and be forced to open several apps to find the content they want.

“In our view, the disparate and disjointed nature of these apps will lead frustrated customers to re-engage with big content bundles delivered over internet connections.”