Amazon may be looking to expand Prime Video’s offerings with live TV. As per a report by Protocol and multiple publicly available job listings, the e-commerce giant seems to be actively developing a live TV arm for its entertainment push.
Sources told Protocol that the company is “actively pursuing deals to license live and linear programming.”
“You should assume they’re talking to everybody,” they added.
The report further mentions that the new 24/7 live channels will host a variety of content including scheduled movies and TV shows, music, news, and sports.
One job listing for the product manager of “Prime Video Linear TV” says the company is looking for someone who can “redefine how customers watch 24/7 linear broadcast TV content” and lead development on “end-to-end customer experience for how customers discover and watch Linear TV content.”
The addition of live TV can potentially allow Amazon’s Prime Video to have a leg-up over its streaming rivals like Netflix that are, for now, restricted to an on-demand catalog. Live TV programming still accounts for a large chunk of online video traffic with platforms such as Hulu, Sling, and YouTube dominating the space.
Another one of Amazon’s job postings underlines this and points out that “although video on demand is on the rise, the global viewing hours weighs in favor of live or scheduled TV and OTT linear streaming is predicted to grow by 64% in next two years.”
We’ve reached out to Amazon for a comment and we’ll update the story when we hear back.
The on-demand streaming market itself has grown increasingly crowded over the past year as production houses lock behind their original content behind a new subscription — many of which are trying to undercut existing services.
Amazon itself is no stranger to live TV programming. The company has experimented with the format before. Last week, Amazon announced it would offer Premier League soccer streaming on its gaming platform, Twitch, starting June 29. Its 24/7 live TV efforts, however, seem in early stages at the moment, and it could be a while before there’s any official word on it. It also remains to be seen whether Amazon will go on a poaching spree and hire talent for the segment from existing live TV providers.
