Amazon Prime to include TV and film streaming service

Amazon’s Lovefilm Instant is being rebranded and merged with its Prime membership.

Amazon looks set to rival Netflix with the launch of a new streaming service called Amazon Prime Instant Video.

The new deal, available from 26th February, is a combination of two existing Amazon services; Amazon Prime and Lovefilm Instant.

Lovefilm Instant is a streaming service which has a catalogue of over 15,000 TV and movie titles which can viewed on smart TVs, games consoles, mobile devices and computers.

Amazon Prime provides unlimited free one-day-delivery on millions of items, as well as access to borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which has over 500,000 titles to choose from.

The Lovefilm Instant streaming service is being rebranded as Prime Instant Video and rolled into the Amazon Prime subscription service.

The move brings the UK in-line with the US, which has bundled TV and movie streaming as part of its Amazon Prime service since 2011.

The cost

Amazon Prime currently costs £49 a year while Lovefilm Instant costs around £72 a year.

From 26th February you will be able to subscribe to Amazon Prime Instant Video, which will cost £79 a year - 35% cheaper than subscribing to each service separately.

Anyone that signs up to the new service before 26th February can lock-in to the cheaper £49 price for unlimited free delivery and unlimited streaming, saving £30.   

Current Prime members will get the streaming service for free until their membership is up for renewal, at which time they will have to pay £30 extra for a service they might not necessarily want.

And those with Lovefilm Instant accounts will still be able to continue using the service until their membership is up for renewal, at which time they will have to pay £7.12 more for the beefier package.

Lovefilm will continue to offer its DVD by post rental service which costs £7.99 a month but all streaming content will be moved to Amazon’s new Prime Instant Video platform.

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Rivalling Netflix

Amazon’s move will challenge a range of streaming services in the UK from Sky and BT but most prominently Netflix.

Netflix costs £5.99 a month or £71.88 a year, which gives you access to a huge catalogue of older TV shows and movies as well as exclusive content made just for the service like House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey.

Amazon Prime Instant Video will cost £6.58 a month or £79 a year, and offer the same titles as Lovefilm Instant like TV series The Walking Dead and movies like The Place Beyond the Pines.

Amazon is also investing in exclusive content created in its own Amazon Studios. Shows include Alpha House, a comedy which stars John Goodman as one of four US senators who share a house, and Betas, which is about a startup in Silicon Valley.

New pilot shows from the likes of X-Files creator Chris Carter and Eric Overmyer who brought us The Wire will also air with the Amazon service.

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