Amazon Prime Instant Video & Warner Bros. International Television Distribution Strike Multi-Year, Multi-Show UK Instant Video Subscription Deal

LONDON, February 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Hit Shows Including Arrow, The Following and Revolution coming to Prime Instant Video, the UK's Largest Subscription Streaming Service, which launches on Wednesday

Amazon and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution have today announced a UK instant video subscription deal to bring five hit U.S. prime time TV series to Amazon Prime Instant Video, Britain's largest subscription streaming service, which launches in the UK on Wednesday (26th February).

The multi-year agreement sees Amazon Prime Instant Video acquire the UK on demand subscription streaming rights to multiple seasons of Warner Bros. Television shows - Arrow, The Following, Hostages, Revolution and The 100 - following their linear UK broadcast runs. The first seasons of Arrow, The Following and Revolution will go live on Amazon Prime Instant Video this year with Hostages and The 100 in 2015, and subsequent seasons of each show following thereafter.

Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution, commented: "We are very pleased to extend and develop our relationship with Amazon in a deal that demonstrates the growing appetite for SVOD rights to our TV shows in the UK. UK viewers can now look forward to either re-watching or discovering these quality series on the Prime Instant Video streaming service in the coming months and years."  

"We are incredibly excited to bring these critically acclaimed shows to UK TV fans when they arrive on Prime Instant Video, Britain's largest subscription streaming service, later this year," added Jason Ropell, Head of Amazon Instant Video International Content Acquisition. "Launching in July with Arrow season 1 and Revolution season 1, these standout series will be available on demand and all at once, adding to our already vast catalogue of exceptional TV shows available to stream at the viewers' convenience."

Based on characters published by DC Comics, Arrow charts the tale of billionaire Oliver Queen who, after being marooned for five years on a remote island, returns home with a mysterious agenda and a lethal set of new skills that he uses in a war on crime. In 2012, it was the #1 US scripted drama in UK multi-channel homes.

Hostages, meanwhile, is a thrilling and suspenseful new one-hour series about a family caught in the middle of a grand political conspiracy that will change their lives forever. It stars Emmy® and Golden Globe winner Toni Collette (The United States of Tara, The Sixth Sense, Muriel's Wedding), Tate Donovan (Argo, Damages, The O.C.) and Golden Globe winner Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story, The Practice, Dark Blue, In the Line of Fire).

Revolution is an epic, swashbuckling drama from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and Supernatural's Eric Kripke and centres on the Matheson family's struggle to survive 15 years after a mysterious worldwide blackout. Their post-apocalyptic world is juxtaposed with bucolic, overgrown cities and a journey of hope, rebirth and retribution. The show enjoyed the most successful US drama series premiere ever in UK multi-channel homes, when it launched in 2013.

One of the most watched US series of 2013, The Following, stars Kevin Bacon (Mystic River, Apollo 13, A Few Good Men) as an FBI agent on the hunt for a brilliant and charismatic serial killer played by James Purefoy (Rome, Camelot), who communicates and connects with other active serial killers in the US, who in turn follow his every command.

The 100, set to premiere on linear broadcast later this year, follows 100 juvenile prisoners sent to Earth to test whether it is habitable, a century on from a devastating nuclear apocalypse which saw the only survivors being the inhabitants of 12 international space stations that were in orbit at the time.

Prime Instant Video

Amazon has announced that it is combining two of the most popular subscription services in the UK, Amazon Prime and LOVEFiLM, to become Prime Instant Video from Wednesday (26^th February).  Amazon Prime offers members unlimited One-Day Delivery on over 7 million items and access to 500,000 Kindle books to borrow.  LOVEFiLM Instant includes unlimited streaming of more than 15,000 popular movies and TV episodes.  When the two programmes combine, Prime will be offered at the low price of £79 a year - a 35% savings for all the benefits of the two previously separate services.  As a special offer customers can lock in a full year of Prime at £49 until 26 February.  Current Prime members can enjoy unlimited streaming at their current price until their renewal date. Customers who are not already members can start a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime by visiting http://www.amazon.co.uk/prime.  

Amazon is increasing investment in exclusive content and original programming only available through Prime Instant Video, which gives subscribers streaming of more than 15,000 popular movies and TV episodes. Members will have access to exclusive movies such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hangover Part II, One Direction: This Is Us, Friends with Benefits and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, as well as TV shows such as The Walking Dead, Dexter, Vikings, Downton Abbey, Desperate Housewives, and children's favourites Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, and SpongeBob SquarePants. They will also have exclusive access to Amazon original TV series Alpha House starring John Goodman at launch and Betas, which debuts soon.

For more information about Amazon Prime, visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/prime.  For more information about Prime Instant Video, visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/primevideo.

--Notes to Editors-

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Amazon.co.uk is a trading name for Amazon EU S.a.r.l, Amazon Services Europe S.a.r.l and Amazon Media EU S.a.r.l. All three are wholly owned subsidiaries of global online retailer Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), located in Seattle, Washington. Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including http://www.amazon.com, http://www.amazon.co.uk, http://www.amazon.de, http://www.amazon.co.jp, http://www.amazon.fr, http://www.amazon.ca, http://www.amazon.cn, http://www.amazon.it, and http://www.amazon.es. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

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SOURCE Amazon and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution