Amazon Sharing Its Movie and TV Offerings With Third Parties

Amazon originals like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” are no longer just part of Amazon Prime.

The company on Monday (May 8) announced the launch of a new business that will distribute its movies and TV shows to media outlets beyond Prime.

According to a news release provided to PYMNTS, Amazon MGM Studios Distribution will make the streaming platform’s content available for rental or purchase on other services, while also licensing some of its shows for syndication.

“The launch of Amazon MGM Studios Distribution reinforces our commitment to bringing the very best content to audiences everywhere worldwide,” said Jen Salke, head of Amazon and MGM Studios.

“With the integration of MGM, we wanted to take advantage of the existing team to expand our business in ways that will greatly benefit our customers around the world.”

The news comes a little less than a month after reports that Amazon Studios — which acquired MGM in 2022 — was looking to develop new works based on MGM’s intellectual property, with film and TV projects based on “Legally Blonde,” “Stargate” and “Robocop” in consideration.

Amazon closed on its $6.5 billion acquisition of MGM in March of last year, a deal that gave it access to a library of 4,000 movies and 17,000 episodes of television series.

As PYMNTS wrote, the purchase was Amazon’s second largest, after buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017, and positioned it to better compete against rivals like Netflix and Disney+.

We also noted last month efforts by rival Walmart to compete with Amazon by debuting a new edition of its Google TV stick with updated specs and a revamped remote.

“While the competition for TV sticks probably won’t determine the fate of these two retail giants, the new design of the remote hints at where Walmart’s ambitions may lie, not just for goods but also for content and streaming services,” PYMNTS wrote.

The design of the device is more or less unchanged, save for one crucial detail:  the streaming box replaces that had been a shortcut to Prime Video with a Paramount+ button.

Walmart had launched into the streaming world last summer by giving Walmart+ members access to an Essential Paramount+ subscription at no additional cost, similar to how Amazon Prime offers shopping and streaming components in the same subscription.

“The newly released streaming box is almost certainly a nod to the potential membership-boosting power of the Walmart-Paramount+ relationship,” PYMNTS wrote.