Amazon.com Inc is about to announce a Web video deal with Viacom Inc in what sources said was one of the last steps in a plan to launch a standalone subscription service to compete with Netflix Inc. The online retailer will unveil the deal as soon as this week, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%. Although the number of unique online video viewers only increased by 3.1% from last January, level of activity was up as viewers streamed 28% more video and spent 45% more time watching. Total video streams also saw significant year-over-year growth, up 31.5% to 14.5 billion streams.
RerunCentral.com links to studio-produced content hosted at popular sites. Included are historic primetime schedules and a guide to DVDs of TV shows of the 1940s through the 1990s.
This year’s election season is giving The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post ample opportunity to experiment with video. The challenge is not to just reinvent television.
