Amazon Seals New Streaming Content Partnership With Viacom

By Catharine Smith for The Huffington Post

Amazon.com is expanding its selection of streaming video offerings for premium subscribers.

On Wednesday, the online retail giant announced a new content partnership with Viacom that will add around 2,000 titles to the catalogue currently offered under the Amazon Prime Instant Video streaming service.

Amazon will give its streaming subscribers access to TV shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo. According to a press release published by Amazon, the new selection will include past seasons of popular shows such as Jersey Shore, Chappelle’s Show, Hot in Cleveland, Yo Gabba Gabba, iCarly and more.

The retail giant said that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the number of Instant Video streams increased 300 percent over results from the third quarter, that the number of Instant Video customers doubled, and that the number of titles rented or bought also doubled.

If Amazon hopes to challenge Netflix in the streaming space, more announcements may be on the horizon. Writes Reuters, “Amazon is keen to open up its licensed library of TV programs and movies as a standalone service for non-Prime members, and to use it to boost its Kindle Fire tablet, according to people who have spoken with Amazon executives.

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