Advanced Television

Amazon VoD service for Japan

November 28, 2013

Internet giant Amazon has launched a movie VoD service in Japan.

The service offers a selection of local and foreign films which can be rented or purchased outright via personal computers or to Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets. The new Kindle HDX also goes on sale in Japan this week, bundled with a coupon for the new ‘Instant Movies’ service.

The VoD library launches with over 26,000 available titles. Companies committed to supply titles for the Japan market include local majors Toho and Shochiku and broadcasters NHK, Fuji Television Network, Tokyo Broadcasting Systems and Asahi Television.

Rentals will start as low as JPY100 ($1) for 24 hour usage of older titles, with downloads to own reaching JPY1,000 ($10).

Amazon joins the Japanese online video market later than many of its competitors, though most of them have so far found progress to be slow. ITunes Japan launched in November 2010 and Hulu Japan in September 2011. Other players in the sector include Google, local video rental firms GyaO and Tsutaya and JCOM, the country’s largest cable TV provider.

Categories: Articles, Premium, VOD