Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Amazon Plans Set-Top TV Box, Says Report
Amazon.com has been muscling its way into the business of Hollywood a lot recently--particularly with its local Amazon Studios effort here to produce its own content and series--all to bolster its online video streaming service, Amazon Instant Video. However, it looks like those original series--and Amazon's other streaming video offerings--might end up on your television set, after all--later this year. A report today from Bloomberg says that Amazon.com is planning to release its own, set-top TV box later this year, which will bring the company's streaming video services directly to living rooms.
Amazon.com did not confirm any details of the report, which says that the plan is to allow consumers with direct access to the company's video services and Amazon Video on Demand. The new set-top box is apparently being developed by Amazon division Lab126. The new set-top box looks to fulfill a role for video that the company's Kindle e-readers do for books. Amazon has been aggressively moving into the business of content and entertainment, particularly in the last year, as it has ramped up its efforts with Amazon Studios in Los Angeles, producing its own set of pilot Internet shows, which were just released over the weekend.