Amazon VOD, Apple iTunes start movie, TV promotions

Apple and Amazon Video On Demand have started rival promotions this week on digital movie and TV downloads, offering movies for under $5 USD and offering rentals for .99.

New digital films will also cost $14.99 at Amazon now, a discount from their previous $16.99 price tag, and occasionally cheaper than their physical media counterparts.

As an example, both sites have slashed the price of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a May release, to $9.99 USD, while the DVD sells for $15 and the Blu-ray for $25.

Most competitors, such as CinemaNow and VUDU, offer new releases for over $17 USD.

FutureSource analyst David Sidebottom adds that Amazon has been trying to steal iTunes market share in the music market, with aggressive pricing. �I wouldn�t be surprised if they did the same on the video side."

The best deals, however, are on TV shows, with over 9 full seasons of popular shows available for under $5 USD.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 24 Aug 2009 2:44

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4 comments

pereirab

This is excellent! Just what the world needs. These prices are enough to make even me exit out of uTorrent and sign up to Amazon VOD.

Now there is no excuse for us downloaders to ditch our torrent clients and join in on the below cheap prices. . . Fair market wins again! :P

24.8.2009 04:42 #1

pspweazl

Wahoo! NOT!!!! WTF? Here you go.... movies for the same price as you can get them when they are released at Wal-Mart but you have to use your own discs and make your own covers and stuff. WOW! Really? Do they really think that this is a deal?

24.8.2009 13:56 #2

TheFella

Um. You can watch many TV shows online already. Hulu has Fox and ABC shows. CBS has many of their shows online. I think I'd prefer Netflix anyway. I believe Hulu says it has movies as well, but idk. At any rate, it's almost always cheaper to just download them via torrent clients than it is to purchase them.

UPDATED:
I had to update this to fix the link I tried to include.

24.8.2009 15:22 #3

KillerBug

Those neo-nazi fascists at Amazon can keep their censored movies.

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25.8.2009 06:19 #4

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