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CBS All Access is now available on Amazon video
CBS' streaming service All Access is now available on Amazon Channels, giving Prime members easier access to the network's online-only hits and backlog. Which is just in time to catch second half of the service's flagship show, Star Trek: Discovery, which will start airing on January 7th.
Your Amazon login can sign you into HBO Now and Showtime apps
Amazon has begun changing the way its Channels pay-TV service works, giving users more freedom to choose where to stream their next show. The tech titan began allowing Prime subscribers to tack streaming services to their accounts through Channels back in 2015. While it's certainly one way to cut the cord, users only have access the add-ons they pay for, including HBO's and Cinemax's offerings, through Channels itself -- they can't exactly log into the services' applications. According to TechCrunch, though, Amazon has recently launched a new feature that gives HBO's and Showtime's Channels subscribers the power to log into those networks' standalone apps.
Amazon UK's new video options will require a TV licence
Live TV viewers in the UK are supposed to pay a fee that supports services and content from the BBC. Lately, despite changes that closed the "iPlayer loophole," that still doesn't apply to people who only watch streaming video on-demand, so some cord-cutters can avoid the charge. However, the TV Licensing agency is reminding people that as Amazon UK rolls out its new Channel add-ons with live TV, it means that viewers are again responsible for paying the fee. Amazon's packages include channels like Eurosport, ITV Hub+ and Discovery, so as TV Licensing spokesperson Jason Hill explains "If you watch or record live TV, either through your TV or live online through a website, then you need to be covered by a TV Licence...Around 94 per cent of people are correctly licensed so are already covered to watch live TV online." Currently, an annual colour TV Licence costs £147.
HBO will pull its shows from Amazon Prime in 2018
If you've been using Amazon to catch up on classic HBO shows, you'd better hurry. HBO chief Richard Plepler now expects to pull his channel's library from Amazon Prime Video once the existing agreement ends in mid-2018. Simply put, the pay broadcaster is going all-in on HBO Now -- why undermine your own paid service by licensing to someone else? Instead, it'll take advantage of the "enormous momentum" of Now signups through Amazon Channels, not to mention sales through future owner AT&T's DirecTV Now.
Amazon lets Prime members add HBO and Cinemax to their plans
Amazon already offered Prime subscribers the ability to add streaming services to their account and today it tacked on two more big names. If you're willing to pay a few extra dollars a month, you can now add HBO and Cinemax to that annual membership. Through Amazon Channels, HBO will set you back $15 a month while Cinemax requires an extra $10 monthly fee. Of course, the advantage here is that you're getting on-demand access to content from the two networks without the need for a cable plan.
