Under The Dome coming to Amazon Prime Instant Video

It's being billed as the television event of the summer by CBS.  Fortunately, those of us who like to watch TV on our schedule can see it without a DVR or pay-TV subscription.  Under The Dome, a 13-episode miniseries based on the novel by Stephen King, is making its debut this Friday on Amazon Prime Instant Video.  The new show airs Monday evenings on CBS, and each Friday, the latest episode will be available on Amazon Instant Video - free to Amazon Prime members.

I'm really looking forward to this.  It is nice to have entire seasons available at once, the way Netflix offers all of its TV series, but I love the idea of having new episodes available weekly.  I hope this is successful for Amazon and would like to see more of this in the future.  If you're not an Amazon Prime member, why not try a free 30-day trial?  Test drive all of the features of Amazon Prime membership for a full month, and you can cancel at any time.

Amazon Prime Instant Video free trial

Downtown Abbey available exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video

Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Downtown Abbey is now available for streaming exclusively from Amazon Prime Instant Video.  All three seasons are now available at no additional charge to Amazon Prime members.  Downtown Abbey is a British period drama which aired on ITV in the United Kingdom and then on PBS in the United States. 

The series gives a look at the life of the high-class Crawley family and their servants, with a focus on some of the great events in history.  After two seasons, the series had earned twenty-seven Primetime Emmy Awards, and its third season became one of the most widely watched television shows in the world.

Redbox Instant Coming To Roku This Summer

Redbox Instant is a new movie service looking to follow in Netflix's footsteps. Still officially in beta, Redbox Instant combines DVD rentals at Redbox kiosks with streaming movies. The service recently launched on Google TV and announced that they will be coming to Roku later this summer.

 
After a 1-month free trial, Redbox Instant's subscription price of $8 per month gives you 4 DVD credits per month (for 4 nights total) plus unlimited streaming similar to Netflix.  For $1 extra ($9 per month), the subscription includes access to Blu-ray disc rentals.

Amazon Instant's streaming video library continues to grow steadily as they seek to become a serious competitor to Netflix, but in my opinion, Redbox Instant has a lot to overcome.  I like the idea of monthly DVD/Blu-ray credits, which gives access to discs at a Redbox kiosk versus waiting for Netflix to deliver a disc in the mail.  However, the number of titles available in Redbox kiosks is a fraction of what Netflix has available to mail.  I can only imagine that the streaming selection is also much smaller than Netflix's library, similar to how Amazon Prime Instant Video began.

I have not tried Redbox Instant yet, but will do so once the Roku channel is available.  I believe competition is a great thing, and while Redbox Instant has a long uphill climb, best of luck to them and I look forward to testing out the service once they make it available to the 5-million+ Roku owners.

Amazon's new deal with Viacom

Amazon has announced their largest streaming rights deal to date.  Netflix is allowing their deal with Viacom to expire, and Amazon has swooped in to lock up a multiyear deal that will provide exclusive rights to Nickelodeon's preschool shows.  Amazon Prime members now have unlimited instant streaming access to the largest subscription library for Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. content online.

Amazon states that over 250 TV seasons (just under 4,000 episodes) from Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, MTV and Comedy Central will soon be free for Amazon Prime members.  Some of the included shows are classics like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, and iCarly, plus new shows such as Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies, VICTORiOUS, Big Time Rush, and Drake & Josh.

Amazon Instant Video

One of our main sources for TV shows and movies is Amazon Instant Video.  Full-length episodes are available for rental or purchase, and many are included as Amazon Prime instant videos at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members.  Streaming is available on PCs and Macs, many smart phones and tablets, Roku, Apple TV, and also some smart TVs.

With twin 3-year-old boys, we do a lot of shopping on Amazon.  The prices are great and it has saved us from making last-minute or late night trips for diapers, wipes, and other items that we use regularly (their subscribe-and-save program makes it so easy).  For us, Amazon Prime has been a great deal at just $79/year. You can start a 30-day free trial by clicking below to see what millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy: unlimited streaming of more than 41,000 movies and TV episodes with hundreds of exclusives, unlimited free two-day shipping on millions of items, and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – choose from more than 300,000 books to borrow as frequently as once a month, with no due dates.