Amazon is showing signs that it may be increasing its efforts in linear TV streaming, confirming long-time speculation about the tech giant’s evolving streaming strategy.
Several job postings in the company’s Prime Video division point to a major effort to provide Prime subscribers with live offers. One of the posts announces “Day 1 for the Linear TV Experience on Prime Video.” Twitch, owned by Amazon, already offers live streams of Premier League soccer, NFL games and other sports programs. Amazon also has a stake in the YES network in the US. USA And he is expected to start broadcasting live streams of the New York Yankees in due course.
Live offerings would complement Amazon Studios’ on-demand programming as well as third-party streaming apps. Roku, a smaller but ingenious rival, has recently expanded its live offerings and is seeing a significant influx of advertising, especially as the traditional pay-TV ecosystem is under pressure. Advertising revenue is one of many potential rewards for Amazon from a linear push, which could also help limit Prime’s abandonment and promote its Fire TV and Alexa lines. Amazon has recently consolidated its position as the No. 3 seller of digital ads behind Google and Facebook.
Related story
Amazon will celebrate the LGBTQ community with the virtual festival ‘Pride Inside’
“We are looking for an experienced Product Manager for the Prime Video Linear TV team to redefine how customers watch linear streaming TV content 24/7. Linear TV allows customers to view broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, of their favorite television stations broadcasting programs including sports, news, movies, awards, special events and television shows “Low” ratings preferred, “the publication listed” experience with linear television transmission technology. “
Another post says: “Linear (television programming or 24/7 broadcast) is one of the key options for Prime Video customers. At Prime Video Catalog we are creating next generation linear catalog systems to provide the best linear TV experience to Prime Video customers. It’s day 1 for the linear TV experience on Prime Video. “
Protocol, a technology media brand launched this year by the publisher of Politico, was the first to report on Amazon’s plans and said the company is “actively seeking” licensing deals.
Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels was asked Wednesday in a virtual session held by Bank of America Securities on Wednesday whether the unscripted power would consider a distribution deal with Amazon.
“We believe that one of our priorities is to distribute our content as widely as possible, but it has to fit the general business model,” he replied. “A to the letter Offering with individual channels in our portfolio is highly unlikely. But it is not very clear what they are for. We will have to see.”
Even if it didn’t fully authorize existing channels, Amazon could select player channels like Pluto, creating a range of always-on linear channels that don’t compete with pay-TV offerings.
Jill Goldsmith contributed to this report.
