(NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced a U.S. content licensing
agreement with Aardman Animations that will make Prime Instant Video the
exclusive subscription streaming home for the beloved, award-winning
television and short film series Wallace & Gromit, Shaun
the Sheep, Timmy Time and classic animation Rex the Runt.
Fans of the charming characters and their adventures now have access to
this collection of Aardman content on hundreds of connected devices
using their Prime membership. Those who are not already members of
Amazon Prime can sign up at www.amazon.com/primeinstantvideo.
In addition, new shows from the Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time
series will be added to Prime Instant Video, including seasons 3 and 4
of Shaun the Sheep, the Shaun the Sheep: Championsheeps special
and two new Timmy Time specials.
Created in Aardman’s distinctive stop-motion animation style, the lead
characters in Wallace & Gromit won global recognition as
icons of modern British culture. The series earned both widespread fan
appreciation and critical acclaim, earning two Academy Awards for its
short films. Wallace & Gromit inspired several spinoff
series, including Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time, aimed at
younger viewers. A full-length feature film based on Shaun the Sheep
is scheduled to be theatrically released in the spring of 2015.
“Our customers love great kids shows and we are proud to be the
exclusive subscription streaming home for these popular Aardman shows,”
said Brad Beale, Director of Digital Video Content Acquisition for
Amazon. “Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and the
other Aardman shows have a wide-reaching fan base, and we know Prime
members will enjoy watching these shows at no extra charge as part of
their Prime membership.”
“Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time and
Rex the Runt continue to gain new fans, and we’re thrilled to
offer them to viewers exclusively on Prime Instant Video,” said Robin
Gladman, Digital Content & Partner Manager at Aardman Animations. “As we
get ready to release our Shaun the Sheep feature film next year,
we know that Prime members will be eager to catch up on all the past
adventures of their favorite animated characters.”
Prime Instant Video Exclusives
Prime Instant Video is the exclusive online-only subscription home for a
large and constantly-expanding selection of hit series, making it the
go-to destination for Prime members who want to stay up to date on their
favorite shows. Popular choices include HBO classics The Sopranos,
The Wire, Deadwood, Rome and Six Feet Under,
recent HBO favorites Eastbound & Down, Enlightened and Flight
of the Conchords, and select seasons of current HBO series True
Blood, Boardwalk Empire and Treme. Other hit TV show
exclusives include PBS series Downton Abbey and Mr. Selfridge,
FX dramas The Americans and Justified, as well as 24,
Orphan Black, Falling Skies, Hannibal, Grimm,
Workaholics, Suits, Covert Affairs, Teen Wolf,
Veronica Mars, CBS summer blockbuster series Under the Dome
and later this summer, Extant. Prime Instant Video also offers an
exclusive collection of kids shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. that
customers won’t find on any other online-only subscription service,
including favorites like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the
Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Blue’s Clues, and The
Bubble Guppies. Airing now, Amazon’s first original series Alpha
House and Betas and first original kids series Tumble Leaf
can be found exclusively on Prime Instant Video as well.
Customers can enjoy Prime Instant Videos on hundreds of compatible
Amazon Instant Video devices, including Fire TV, Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle
Fire HD, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox, PlayStation and the Wii.
Prime Instant Video is the only U.S. online subscription streaming
service that enables offline viewing—on a plane, on vacation, and
anywhere else where you may not have Wi-Fi. Customers can download tens
of thousands of Prime Instant Video titles to their new Kindle Fire HD
or Kindle Fire HDX.
About Amazon Instant Video
Amazon Instant Video is a digital video streaming and download service
that offers Amazon customers the ability to rent, purchase or subscribe
to a huge catalog of videos. Customers can choose from more than 200,000
titles to purchase or rent—movies range from new releases to classic
favorites, and Amazon Instant Video offers major television shows,
entire seasons, or even day after air TV. Prime Instant Video is
Amazon’s video subscription offer—it includes tens of thousands of
movies and TV episodes selected from the full assortment available at
Amazon Instant Video.
About Amazon.com
Amazon opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided
by three principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus,
passion for invention, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click
shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon,
AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire, and Fire TV are some of the
products and services pioneered by Amazon.
Copyright Business Wire 2014