Amazon UK to debut Extant

Amazon’s Prime Instant Video on-demand service will premiere Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi series Extant to subscribers in the UK a day after its broadcast in the US.

The move marks the first time that Amazon has picked up first-run rights to a CBS drama and follows the firm’s agreement with CBS Studios International signed last year that gave the VoD service access to CBS shows such as The Good Wife and Blue Bloods.

Extant stars Halle Berry as a female astronaut trying to reconnect with her family when she returns after a year in space. It is being produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Television and will be available to Prime Instant Video subscribers on July 10 following its debut on CBS the day before, with subsequent episodes being made available each week.

Chris Bird, Amazon Instant Video Film & TV strategy director, said the addition of the series showed the firm’s “ongoing commitment to bringing the very best in movie and TV entertainment to our customers in the UK.”

Prime Instant Video, which was known as LoveFilm Instant before being rebranded in February, was the exclusive UK online home of thriller Under the Dome last year.