AT&T said that it will no longer offer HBO as a subscription via Amazon Channels.

The cutoff is coming during the third quarter, AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said Tuesday at the Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications conference.

Desroches said the Amazon move was  a “strategic decision” made by its WarnerMedia unit. WarnerMedia wants to focus on HBO Max and is trying to convert its HBO subscribers to the newer direct-to-consumer streaming service.

WarnerMedia announced plans last year to no longer offer HBO Max via Amazon Prime Video Channels. HBO Max was removed from the channel store earlier this month, according to published reports.

AT&T is in the process of spinning off WarnerMedia and selling it to Discovery.

AT&T expects that taking HBO out of Amazon Channels will have an impact on HBO Max/HBO domestic subscribers in the third quarter, but that effect has already been considered while compiling the company’s global subscriber guidance for the full year.

Desroches reiterated the recently raised guidance that it expects to have between 70 million and 73 million global HBO and HBO Max subscribers by the end of the year.

AT&T’s next CEO, John Stankey, released a media-technology bombshell earlier this week, when he announced that his company’s new subscription streaming service, HBO Max, would likely launch May 27 without app support for the world’s top OTT device ecosystem, Amazon Fire TV.

“I’m pleased to say we’re going to be in virtually all app stores [with] maybe one exception. It looks like we may not be in the Amazon Fire app store when all of this is said and done,” Stankey said.

Visit Next TV to read more stories like this one. 

LightShed Partners analyst Richard Greenfield said in a blog post targeted to investors Thursday that the impasse between AT&T and Amazon likely centers around the way HBO Max will be distributed within Amazon’s Prime Channels, the tech giant’s pioneering aggregated marketplace for SVOD services.

Also read: AT&T’s Stankey: HBO Max Probably Won't Launch with Amazon Fire TV Support

Notably, AT&T’s legacy SVOD service, HBO Now, has been a lynchpin for Prime Channels since the aggregated platform launched in 2015.

“We believe it all comes down to the legacy HBO Now service, which will continue to exist for some period of time,” Greenfield wrote.

Also read: HBO Max: Everything You Need to Know About the Big OTT Service AT&T Has Its Entire Future Riding On (No Pressure!)

The decision by the erstwhile Time Warner Inc. to allow Amazon to “dis-aggregate” HBO Now into Prime Channels, resell the programming and handle all portions of the customer relationship, spurred the growth of a “channels” movement, Greenfield contends.

“HBO was quickly joined by Showtime, Starz, CBS All-Access and an array of smaller legacy media owned streaming apps who all embraced channels stores. As Amazon became the primary driver of SVOD subscribers for its channel partners (taking a meaningful share of the subscription economics), Roku Channels and Apple TV+ Channels followed with similar strategies,” the analyst said.

According to a report published in late 2018 by BMO analysts Daniel Salmon and William Lowden (detailed here by Variety), Amazon takes as much as 70% off the top of subscription revenue from its Prime Channels SVOD partners, who in turn, access as many as 45% of their subscribers through Prime Channels. The analysts estimated at the time that Amazon was taking in annual revenue of around $1.7 billion through Channels.

Netflix and Hulu, however, never allowed their content to be disaggregated into third-party “channels” apps, Greenfield noted. And notably, neither did Amazon Prime Video.

Why go to the trouble and expense of building a direct-to-consumer platform, only to cede the customer relationship—and a big portion of the profits—to a third party like Amazon or Apple, which in turn, is directly competing with you in the SVOD arena? Greenfield and LightShed wondered in a previous investor missive published last year.

The Walt Disney Company probably was thinking the same thing when it too reported a late-inning impasse with Amazon in the run-up to the successful launch of Disney Plus last November.

Also read: Disney Plus Still Lacks an Amazon Fire TV App a Week Away from Launch

Ultimately, Disney managed to gain Amazon Fire TV app support, but it refused, like Netflix and Hulu, to let Amazon process and resell Disney Plus through Prime Channels. (But as Greenfield noted, it does allow Apple+ TV Channels to include Disney Plus programming in its app. But once users select Disney Plus programming, they’re booted out of the Apple TV app and sent to Disney Plus.)

As Greenfield sees it, AT&T and Amazon are probably arguing about similar things, with the dynamics complicated by the legacy HBO Now streaming service.

“A new subscriber to HBO Max or an existing HBO Now subscriber who is automatically upgraded to HBO Max at launch, via the Amazon Prime channel store would only be able to watch legacy HBO content via the Prime Channel platform and would need to download the HBO Max app separately to watch content that is exclusive to HBO Max (catalog such as Friends and The Big Bang Theory to original series and movies). We believe Amazon looks at that consumer experience as subpar and overly complicated. We agree.”

AT&T and its WarnerMedia division have already announced HBO Max distribution deals with Hulu, Charter Communications and Google, the latter of which controls the increasingly critical Android TV OTT device ecosystem, as well as virtual pay TV service YouTube TV.

For its part, Amazon Fire TV is the world’s most proliferate OTT device ecosystem, announcing the surpassing of 40 million active users globally back in January.

In the U.S., Fire TV ranks second to Roku, which also has around 40 million active users.

While Stankey said most OTT platforms are locked up outside Amazon Fire TV, it’s notable that the conglomerate hasn’t specifically touted a partnership with Roku yet.

In fact, after Stankey's comments, Roku issued this statement: "As the No. 1 streaming platform in the U.S. with over 40 million active accounts that rely upon Roku to access their favorite programs and to discover new content, we are focused on entering into win-win distribution agreements with all new OTT services as part of their launch strategies. While we don't typically comment on specific deal terms or negotiations, the fact is that in this instance while we believe that HBOMax would benefit greatly from distribution on Roku at launch, we do not currently have an agreement in place."

Stay tuned. A lot will happen before HBO Max launches on May 27.

Amazon is launching a new promotional program that lets its Prime members preview the first seasons of shows on participating Amazon Channels SVOD services at no extra charge.

The selection of shows will refresh each month. The first set of shows in the program include Showtime’s Kidding, which stars Jim Carrey is a kids TV icon. The show re-teams Carrey with Michael Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Also featured is Starz historical drama Black Sails. 

From now until March 31, here’s what’s streamable for Prime members:.

Amazon Channels is service that lets Amazon Prime members sign up for subscription streaming services through Amazon. The online retail giant collects a percentage of the subscription revenue and handles the customer relationship. 

For most of the SVOD services participating in the program’s first month, Amazon Channels supplies the bulk of their subscriber base. 

YouTube is talking to subscription OTT providers about marketing their services in a model similar to Amazon Channels and Apple TV Channels.

According to The Information, the talks have been held over the previous several months, and it’s unclear as to what in the way of actual dealmaking has come out of them.

Related: YouTube TV Surpasses 2M Subscribers

Amazon has since 2015 let its Prime Video customers sign up for hundreds of OTT subscription services ranging from HBO to Showtime to CBS All Access through the Amazon platform, pocketing a portion of the subscription revenue while handling the customer relationship.

Apple recently launched its own version of that model called Apple TV Channels.

It’s believe that Amazon and Apple are collecting between 30% - 50% of subscription revenue from each transaction.

The Google-owned video platform now has a growing subscription model of its own to prop up such a business.

Google/YouTube parent company Alphabet, during its fourth-quarter earnings call last week, said that it now has 20 million paying customers combined for subscription services YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. Meanwhile, it also said that virtual MVPD YouTube TV has surpassed 2 million subscribers.

YouTube is talking to subscription OTT providers about marketing their services in a model similar to Amazon Channels and Apple TV Channels.

According to The Information, the talks have been held over the previous several months, and it’s unclear as to what in the way of actual dealmaking has come out of them. 

Related: YouTube TV Surpasses 2M Subscribers

Amazon has since 2015 let its Prime Video customers sign up for hundreds of OTT subscription services ranging from HBO to Showtime to CBS All Access through the Amazon platform, pocketing a portion of the subscription revenue while handling the customer relationship. 

Apple recently launched its own version of that model called Apple TV Channels. 

It’s believe that Amazon and Apple are collecting between 30% - 50% of subscription revenue from each transaction. 

The Google-owned video platform now has a growing subscription model of its own to prop up such a business. 

Google/YouTube parent company Alphabet, during its fourth-quarter earnings call last week, said that it now has 20 million paying customers combined for subscription services YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. Meanwhile, it also said that virtual MVPD YouTube TV has surpassed 2 million subscribers. 

Apple has formally launched its Apple TV Channels direct-to-consumer video play, including it in the latest updates for its iPhone, iPad and Apple TV devices.

With the free iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3 software updates, customers in more than 100 countries have access to HBO, Starz, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, EPIX, Tastemade and other OTT apps.

Apple has not disclosed what percentage share it gets of subscriptions made through its service, but CNBC said a standard rage is around 30%.

Up to six family members can share authentication on the service, Apple said.

Notably, Apple also published a version of the Apple TV app supporting Amazon Channels for 2019 Samsung smart TVs, as well as select models made in 2018.

Similar Apple TV Channels support for Roku is set to arrive later this year.

The “channels” concept isn’t new—Amazon Channels pioneered the launch of a la carte aggregation several years ago.

Apple is launching the new service ahead of its new originals platform, Apple TV +, which will launch later this year.

With the updates, Apple also enabled AirPlay 2 support on Samsung start TVs, allowing users to play content from their iPhone, iPad or Mac directly on their television. Similar support is coming to owners of Sony, LG and Vizio TVs later this year. 

Fourteen months after acquiring pay TV start-up Layer3 TV and promising massive disruption of the video business with a new nationally distributed service, T-Mobile says it’s finally ready to unveil its new platform in the first half of this year.

Don’t look for the third biggest wireless carrier in the U.S. to compete in the crowded virtual pay TV market, where DirecTV Now, Sling TV, Hulu+ with Live TV, YouTube TV, Sony PlayStation Vue, fuboTV and others are competing with similar linear-like bundles of live-streamed networks.

What T-Mobile is describing is an a la carte, subscription aggregation model that sounds like—wait for it—Amazon Channels.

“We don't have plans to develop an undifferentiated skinny bundle out there,” said T-Mobile President and COO Mike Sievert, speaking during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday. :There are plenty of those. We think there's a more nuanced role for us to play in helping you get access to the great media brands out there that you love, and to be able to put together your own media subscription in smaller pieces $5, $6 $7, $8 at a time.”

But while it sees a future in aggregating the subscriptions of other services, Sievert also joined the legion of video executives putting the yellow caution flag up in terms of peddling its own subscription service, with Disney and WarnerMedia set to launch new paywalled platforms in the next 24 months.

“It’s subscription palooza out there,” Sievert said. “Every single media brand either has or is developing an OTT solution, and most of these companies don't have a way to bring these products to market. They're learning about that. They don't have distributed networks like us. They don't have access to the phones like we have.”

Amazon executives have began telling entertainment companies that they’re going to be more selective moving forward in regard to what video services to include in the popular Amazon Channels a la carte service, according to The Information.

Amazon Channels is a component within the larger Amazon Prime Video ecosystem. It lets Prime users subscribe to more than 200 over-the-top video services—everything from HBO to Acorn TV—with billing to multiple platforms centralized and handled through Amazon.

Beyond indicating that the e-commerce giant may be more selective, The information report doesn’t seem to signal that Amazon is backing off its popular Channels marketplace. BMO Capital Markets estimates Channels generated $1.7 billion in revenue for Amazon last year, more than double what it generated in 2017.

Simultaneously, The Information reported that Apple is ramping up a similar OTT bundling model with an eye for an April launch. Meanwhile, Roku has begun to deploy a new feature within its AVOD platform, the Roku Channel, that lets users buy premium video services like Starz through Roku.

“We believe [Prime Video Channels] is a material driver of standalone [over-the-top] subscribers for many entertainment companies,” representing anywhere from 25%-45% of total OTT users depending on the channel, BMO analysts Daniel Salmon and William Lowden wrote in their December report.

Amazon’s Prime Video Channels service will generate an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue in 2018, BMO Capital Markets predicts.

The tally represents more than a doubling of the $700 million BMO said that Channels wrought in 2017.

Factoring in a speculative 70% average cut Channels doles out to content partners including HBO, Showtime and CBS, just to name a few, total revenue of $1.7 billion translates to revenue of $500 million for Amazon … without producing a single show for the platform, or really doing much of anything in the way of marketing.

Related: Ad-Free CBS All Access Available Via Amazon Channels

By 2020, BMO predicts that Prime Video Channels will generate total revenue of $3.6 billion, keeping as much as $2.5 billion for itself.

"We believe [Channels] is a material driver of standalone OTT subscribers for many entertainment companies,” representing anywhere from 25%-45% of total OTT users depending on the channel,” BMO analysts Daniel Salmon and William Lowden wrote in the report." analysts Daniel Salmon and William Lowden wrote.

Amazon Prime Video Channels delivers 156 streaming video services in the U.S., handling billing and signup for its partners. The service is also available in the UK, German and Japan.

Channels is one component in a broad Amazon Prime Video offering, which also includes movie and TV show rentals and sales, as well as an SVOD services that offers popular original series including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Amazon doesn't break out the performance of its various video businesses in its earnings report, leaving analysts and press to come up with exercises in guess-timation. 

Roku is planning to launch a video subscription video marketplace that would share similarities with Amazon Channels, the SVOD aggregation service that was launched more than two years ago, according to Variety.

Per the report, Roku’s plan is to provide a streamlined, more simplified way for users to sign up for and view subscription video services on Roku players and integrated Roku TVs without having to download separate apps.

Roku declined to comment on its reported plans. 

Under its curation model, Amazon streamlines access to dozens of OTT-delivered subscription services, including Starz, HBO Now, Showtime, CuriosityStream and BritBox, to name a few, to its Prime customers.

Under Roku’s Switzerland-style approach, the platform has become a streaming home for thousands of OTT apps and services. Under Roku’s purported approach with aggregation, users wouldn’t need to separate apps for partners that are part of the program. Variety said Roku is also working on a new billing platform called Roku Pay.

Elsewhere in the OTT world, Ellation-owned VRV platform has also hitched its wagon to the aggregation model, selling a mix of individual SVOD services alongside a value-driven combo pack.

RELATED: VRV Adds Titles from Warner Bros. Animation, Sci-Fi Service Dust

Comcast, meanwhile, has also been using its pay TV platform to offer and sell more than two dozen, separate subscription video services, including AMC Premiere, FX+, TumbleBooks TV, History Vault, Lifetime Movie Club, and Acorn TV.

Roku appears to be eyeing an approach that is paying dividends particularly for Amazon Channels. About 55% of direct-to-consumer subscription video purchases are made through Amazon, according to The Diffusion Group.

RELATED: Study: Amazon Dominates Direct-to-Consumer Video

The move to drive the subscription model through a more targeted, streamlined offering also appears poised to bring more dollars to Roku’s fast-growing Platforms unit, which includes advertising, subscription revenue sharing and licensing fees from TV manufacturer partners.

RELATED: Roku’s Platform Revenue Exceeds Player Revenue in Q1

Sports Illustrated is once again trying to get into the video business, this time launching a streaming version of Sports Illustrated TV on Amazon Channels.

Amazon Prime members can subscribe to SI TV for $4.99 a month. The channel will be accessible through the Prime Video app on TVs, streaming media players, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick and Fire tablets or online at Amazon.com/amazonchannels.

Related: Amazon Denies It’s Building Free Version of Prime Video

Sports Illustrated was part of Time Warner before the company spun off its troubled Time Inc. publishing businesses. SI the magazine is cutting its print run to just 27 issues this year.

Time Warner offered a CNN Sports Illustrated cable channel in 1996, but the network was unable to get enough distribution amid competition from ESPN, Fox and others.

Read  more at broadcastingcable.com.

Amazon is hoping its "Channels" service will provide more value and choice to cord-cutting consumers looking to access traditional cable services, Amazon Channels head Richard Au said Wednesday (Oct. 18) at NYC Television Week.

Read More: Complete Coverage of #NYCTVWK

The service, launched in 2015 to Amazon Prime subscribers, offers access to more than 130 premium channels from cable networks such as Showtime, Starz and PBS Kids as well as to streaming services like Acorn TV and AMC’s horror-themed service Shutter.

Au, who spoke at a Next TV Summit morning panel moderated by B&C/Multichannel News editorial director Mark Robichaux, said Amazon Channels was created to provide increase content selections to consumers beyond Amazon’s original programming and on-demand content available through Amazon Prime.

Read More: Complete Coverage of the Next TV Summit

“It’s a great time to be a fan of video because there’s so much great content, but one of the challenges as a consumer is how to find the things that you like,” Au said. “We want to offer all of that content in a very integrated, easy way.”

Along with serving Amazon Prime subscribers, Au said that the Amazon Channels service also provides opportunities for participating cable networks to reach cord-cutting and cord-never consumers.

“We talk to our channel partners like HBO, Showtime and Starz to help them find incremental customers who may not have a cable subscription who have dropped one,” Au said. "We want to continue to make it really easy for our customers to discover new content, whether its Amazon original content or third-party content.”

HBO, Showtime and Starz are merely using Amazon Channels as an intermediary to reach viewers, substituting for the role played by conventional multichannel video programming distributors rather than providing true "direct-to-consumer" services, according to a new research note from BTIG Research's media/cable analyst Richard Greenfield.

He calculated that half of HBO Now subscribers and 75% of Starz viewers watch those networks' shows via Amazon Channels, a service for Amazon Prime members, while "the vast majority" of Showtime online viewers come in via Hulu add-ons, he said.

These factors auger early signs that virtual MVPDs "are cannibalizing" traditional cable, satellite and telco TV operators -- an “elephant in the room” topic that "nobody talked about at the 2017 TV Upfronts," Greenfield said.

At the same time, the ease of cancelling vMVPD accounts should make investors cautious about "who is in/out of each bundle" since subscribers don't need to commit to a full year at any time.

Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and over-the-top video factors constitute six of the "baker's dozen" topics in Greenfield's June "media thoughts."

"Direct-to-consumer has failed for cable networks," Greenfield said, refuting network programmers who "talk about their direct-to-consumer strategy and focus on their early success stories. "DTC is really just new, wholesale relationships. ... While it is phenomenal that premium channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz are adding paying subscribers, they are not building a direct-to-consumer relationship."

He also pointed out that Amazon itself is a program producer. It can use its massive data analysis to monitor the choices of premium network customers and use that intelligence to commission its own, competitive programming.

In other OTT analyses, Greenfield compared the "bandwidth disparity" in usage of Netflix vis-à-vis Amazon and Hulu, noting that, "despite increased competition, Netflix’s ability to identify and either license or produce 'buzzworthy' content appears far better than its peers'."

He said he expects that Hulu's 2018 plan to revamp its next-day-delivery of ABC, Fox and NBC shows (for a higher fee) will convert Hulu into a "direct copy of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video," offering a combination of original programming and archived broadcast network shows.

Live and Cheap
Another new Amazon initiative -- which surfaced after BTIG published its June report -- could further appeal to cord-cutters seeking to reduce their media bills. The Greenfield analysis came within days of Amazon's announcement that it will offer Prime subscriptions for about half price (roughly $6 per month) to low-income customers, such as families who receive public assistance. That plan was greeted by an array of opinions, seen by some as an effort to move beyond mid- and upscale customers into the "Walmart shoppers" category -- many of whom may want to reduce their cable expenses.

Greenfield said cord-cutters are "embracing vMVPDs" with expectations they bring from the "legacy MVPD ecosystem." In particular, viewers expect live, real-time programming and easy-to-access program guides. As vMVPDs grow, "the majority of subscribers are going to be coming from the legacy MVPD ecosystem and they will want live TV surfaced faster, not to mention a traditional program guide such as Sling just added."

Greenfield's latest commentary reiterates a point he made in April, when he emphasized that Amazon's growing subscription relationships give it advantages that "legacy media executives need to pay attention to." At that time, he cited Amazon's chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky, who observed that the "volatility" in Amazon Prime activity was coming from the growth in digital video and music, and other digital services.

Greenfield concluded his current analysis by citing the power of Amazon's brand plus its "deep pockets, willingness to think longer-term than most other companies and incredible consumer data." Acknowledging that Amazon has stumbled in its early attempts to enter some categories, he warned that the company is "capable of iterating until they succeed."

Observers expecting Amazon to explore deeper dives into streamed content distribution take note: Former Suddenlink Communications and Cox Communications programming executive Kathy Payne has joined the online retailer as head of content acquisition for pay TV offering Amazon Channels.

Payne is well-versed in the ways of negotiating carriage deals with programmers. She served in various capacities for more than 20 years at Cox — last as vice president of content acquisition — before moving to Suddenlink in 2014 as senior vice president and chief programming officer. She left Suddenlink in June, after its purchase by Altice N.V., now Altice USA.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed Payne is an employee and her official title is head of content acquisition, but declined further comment. Payne did not respond to The Wire’s request for comment.

Payne’s experience dealing with the likes of The Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox and Time Warner Inc. could indicate Amazon is getting serious about beefing up the services available through Amazon Channels. Launched in 2015, Amazon Channels is an offshoot of the Amazon Prime Video service, selling premium channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz as well as about 100 specialized streaming channels like Seeso, Shudder and Acorn TV. Amazon Channels is part of the overall Amazon Prime Video subscription, but some channels carry an additional fee.

Wedbush Securities managing director, equity research Michael Pachter, who follows Amazon, told The Wire, “Payne’s skill set certainly lends itself more to linear programming than to on-demand reruns, and her hire by Amazon suggests that they might be considering getting into OTT services that include traditional pay TV.”

Amazon has said before it hopes to keep growing Amazon Channels, which grew from around 80 at its inception to more than 100 this year. Its a la carte menu includes HBO for $15 per month, Starz for $9, Shudder for $5 and Seeso for $4. It doesn’t offer live feeds of those services, or any broadcast or basic-cable networks, but Amazon has said over time it could consider packaging channels into bundles at a discount.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon became an OTT distributor of linear television programming, and given the company’s substantial investment in [cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services] and in licensed and original TV and movie content, it isn’t a big stretch for them to get into nationwide television service,” Pachter said.

Amazon Channels, the SVOD aggregation service for Amazon Prime members, has begun to sell subscriptions to Fullscreen for $5.99 per month.

RELATED: Amazon Boosts Subscription ‘Channel’ Count Near Century Mark

Fullscreen, an OTT service majority owned by Otter Media (the joint venture of AT&T and The Chernin Group), is also sold as a stand-alone for $5.99 per month, supporting platforms such as iOS and Android mobile devices, Apple TV, and Chromecast adapters.

RELATED: Fullscreen Joins Apple TV Mix

Amazon Channels will give the subscription OTT service an additional outlet for its mix of shows, series and/or exclusives that includ Shane & Friends, Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig, Psychobabble  with Tyler Oakley & Korey Kuhl,Magic Funhouse, The Deleted, as well as upcoming originals that include Unzipped with Lizzie Velasquez.

RELATED: SVOD Surge (subscription required)

Extending the service to Amazon Channels also makes Fullscreen compatible with more than 650 devices as well as IMDb “X-Ray” integration.

Fullscreen’s commercial-free subscription service debuted internationally in April 2016.

Amazon Channels, the OTT-SVOD service from Amazon, has launched Anime Strike, billing it as its first curated on-demand subscription offering.

Available to U.S. Prime subs, Anime Strike, a service that competes with SVOD services such as Crunchyroll, sells for $4.99 per month following a seven-day free trial.  Amazon said Anime Strike offers a mix of library and newly released episodes curated by Amazon, with more than 1,000 ad-free  episodes and movies on offer out of the chute.  Individual series include The Great Passage, Scum’s Wish and Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga.

RELATED: Amazon’s Streaming Partners Program Clicking With Content Makers, Consumers

Amazon launched its SVOD aggregation service about a year ago with about 30 channels. It has since expanded to about 100 SVOD channels, with HBO and Cinemax among the recent additions.

RELATED: Amazon Boosts Subscription ‘Channel’ Count Near Century Mark

About a year after its debut, Amazon Channels, Amazon Prime’s subscription VOD aggregation service, has expanded to nearly 100 ‘channels.’

That’s up from the 30-plus that were on board when the offering debuted in December 2015, and up from the 75 or so partners that were part of Amazon Channels as of September 2016.

RELATED: Amazon’s Streaming Partners Program Clicking With Content Makers, Consumers

Amazon Channels lets Prime members add on SVOD services without having to take a traditional pay TV bundle or sign on for a long-term contract. Amazon Channels recently added HBO and Cinemax to the mix.

Amazon didn't put an exact figure on the performance of Amazon Channels, but said Prime members now have “millions” of video subscriptions through the service.

So far, the most watched subscription service is Starz, with Inside Out (via Starz) as the most streamed movie and Outlander (also from  Starz) as the service’s most streamed TV show.

Showtime’s Shameless is Amazon Channels’s most streamed comedy, and Wild Kratts from PBS Kids is the most streamed kids show.

The performance of Amazon Channels is “a validation of this platform idea,” Michael Paull, vice president, digital video at Amazon said in an interview for an upcoming feature story from Multichannel News that will focus on the surge of SVOD services.

He said the approach provides “one simple integrated experience” that does not require viewers to jump from app to app.

“We’ve effectively opened it up to allow third party channels and branded SVOD services to be available to those engaged Prime members,” he said.

Based on the first week of sign-ups, HBO and Cinemax are poised to “be one of the most successful channels on our service,” he added. “The business is working for our customers and the business is working for the networks and the channel owners."