Anyone can watch Transparent at no cost on Saturday using the Amazon Instant Video app for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/Transparent. Also on Saturday and in celebration of the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, Amazon Prime will be available for just $72—a more than 25 percent savings. New members can sign up for this limited-time Prime offer at Amazon.com/TransparentPrime.

FULL ARTICLE - http://www.marketwatch.com/story/in-...red-2015-01-22

‘Doctor Who’, other BBC shows leaving Prime Instant Video as exclusivity wars heat up

In an attempt to strike at shows and networks who don’t place their content only on Amazon, Prime Instant Video is about to remove Doctor Who and other BBC programming.

The Verge reports that Amazon is removing hit BBC shows from Prime Instant Video, the online retailer’s streaming service, because they don’t have exclusive streaming rights. The shows, including Doctor Who, will be removed on February 15.

Amazon’s strategy is to offer their customers content that can only be found on Prime Instant Video. Since BBC programming like Doctor Who is also available on Netflix, it’s getting axed from Prime. “One of the easiest ways to help the video service stand out is to fill it with shows and movies that simply aren’t available elsewhere, and accordingly sources say the company’s content focus in 2015 will be on original programming and exclusive content deals,” says The Verge.

Amazon head Jeff Bezos announced last week that Prime Instant Video grew over 53% in 2014, and thanks to hit shows like Transparent that type of growth will only continue.

The Verge notes that Amazon has exclusivity deals for shows like 24, Justified, The Americans, and the BBC drama Orphan Black. They’ve also had an exclusive deal for the wildly popular Downton Abbey since February 2013.

READ MORE - http://www.hypable.com/doctor-who-bb...-amazon-prime/

Amazon Studios ordered five new original series — including alternate-history thriller “The Man in the High Castle” and dark comedy “Mad Dogs” — and renewed drama “Mozart in the Jungle” for a second season.

The shows will premiere exclusively to Prime members in the U.S., U.K. and Germany later this year and in 2016, on Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service.

The five new series are “The Man in the High Castle,” based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 alternative history novel about a world in which the Allies lost World War II; hourlong dark comedy “Mad Dogs” (pictured above); docu-series “The New Yorker Presents”; and kids’ shows “Just Add Magic” and “The Stinky & Dirty Show.”

In addition, Amazon ordered a second season of “Mozart in the Jungle,” a dramatic comedy about sex, drugs and clashing personalities in the New York classical music scene based on the memoir by Blair Tindall. Season two will premiere in early 2016 from executive producers Roman Coppola (“Moonrise Kingdom”), Jason Schwartzman (“The Darjeeling Limited”) and Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”).

Amazon picks shows to greenlight as full series in part based on feedback on the pilots. During the “pilot season,” any Amazon customer in the U.S., U.K. and Germany can watch, rate and comment on them. To date, Amazon Studios has ordered 13 series, including Golden Globe-winning “Transparent,” which will return for a second season later this year.