Amazon Adds PBS Shows to Prime Instant Video: NOVA, Masterpiece, and a Handful of Kids Shows

Amazon and PBS have just announced an expanded licensing agreement that will see a bunch of past episodes of popular PBS shows hit the Prime Instant Video catalog. On the adult side of things, the dea...
Amazon Adds PBS Shows to Prime Instant Video: NOVA, Masterpiece, and a Handful of Kids Shows
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Amazon and PBS have just announced an expanded licensing agreement that will see a bunch of past episodes of popular PBS shows hit the Prime Instant Video catalog.

    On the adult side of things, the deal brings over NOVA, Masterpiece, and some Ken Burns documentaries. For the kids, Amazon will now stream Caillou, Arthur, Daniels Tiger’s Neighborhood, Dinosaur Train and Wild Kratts.

    “This deal is exciting for Prime members and particularly for those with families – this new deal combined with the recently announced Viacom deal brings some of the most popular kids programming to Prime Instant Video, making it the perfect place for the whole family to catch up on all their favorites,” said Brad Beale, Director of Digital Video Content Acquisition for Amazon. “Not to mention, Downton Abbey is continually one of the most watched shows of all time on Prime Instant Video. Prime Instant Video will soon become the only video subscription service to exclusively offer all seasons, current and future, of Downton Abbey – something we know our customers will love.”

    Speaking of Masterpiece, Amazon reiterates that they are now the only streaming platform on which you can stream the third season of Downton Abbey. Amazon stole the show from Netflix and Hulu back in February – gaining exclusive streaming rights to past, present, and even future seasons. Seasons 1 & 2 of Downton Abbey will disappear from all other streaming services later this year, and season 4 (and 5, 6, and so on if applicable) will only appear on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

    The PBS kids shows add to Amazon Prime’s growing lineup of entertainment targeted at children. Earlier this month, Amazon inked a deal with Viacom that gave them streaming access to Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. shows like Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, and SpongeBob Squarepants.

    Interestingly enough, we recently learned that Netflix will be losing some PBS content soon. And this does include some NOVA and Ken Burns stuff. More on that here.

    Recently, Amazon also announced an expanded agreement with NBCUniversal to add a handful of NBC, USA, and SyFy shows to Prime Instant Video.

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