Amazon Debuts Beta of Streaming Video-on-Demand Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 17, 2008 - 10:36am.

San Francisco - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) launched a test of a new streaming video-on-demand service on Thursday, to complement the movie and TV episode downloads it rents and sells via its Amazon Unbox service, The New York Times reported.

A blog posting on the company's website noted that a beta test of the service -- referred to as "the new Amazon Unbox" on the site and Amazon Video on Demand by The Times -- is now full.

The service initially offers 40,000 movies and TV episodes from most of the studios and networks, with the notable exception of Disney-ABC, which has close ties with rival iTunes Store operator Apple.

"For the first time, this is drop dead simple," Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president for digital media, told The Times.

"Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can't help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button."

The company has also partnered with Sony Electronics (NYSE: SNE) to make the new service available directly through the company's Bravia line of Internet-connected HD televisions.