Amazon Makes Streaming Deal with NBC Universal

The online content streaming landscape just got a bit more interesting as Amazon announced late Thursday it has made a deal with NBCUniversal to provide 1,000 Universal Pictures movies to its streaming customers. The new content includes films such as Being John Malkovich, The Jetsons, Flipper, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Billy Elliott. Well, that’s quite a cross-section of content.

This new deal is in addition to the one Amazon recently made for it to offer CBS shows such as Star Trek and Cheers to its customers. All these deals for content make perfect sense if you think Amazon is about to release a tablet in the next few months.

It’s widely been speculated that said tablet would be coming out and give users access to the company’s Amazon Unbox, Amazon Mp3, Kindle, Cloud Music and Cloud Drive services. All of that and a well done tablet powered by Android could, potentially, take a bite out of Apple’s iPad dominance. We’ll see.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

Amazon Announces Digital Video License Agreement with NBCUniversal Domestic TV Distribution

Deal Will Allow Amazon Prime Members to Stream Select Universal Pictures Films

SEATTLE, Jul 28, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced a licensing agreement with NBCUniversal Domestic TV Distribution that will allow Amazon Prime members to stream select Universal Pictures movies through Prime Instant Video. This deal with Amazon will bring the total number of Prime instant videos to more than 9,000 movies and TV shows this summer.

Amazon Prime customers will be able to instantly watch popular Universal movies at no additional cost to their membership. Universal titles available to Prime customers will include Oscar winners such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Elizabeth,” and “Gosford Park.” For the kids, there’s “Babe,” “Flipper,” and “Jetsons – The Movie,” as well as other favorites like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Notting Hill,” “Being John Malkovich”, “Fletch,” and “Billy Elliott.”

“We are very excited to offer Prime members popular Universal films at no additional cost,” said Cameron Janes, director of Amazon Instant Video. “Our customers love movies and now we offer them more than 2,000 movies to choose from with Prime Instant Video.”

Amazon Instant Video is a streaming video service that offers customers more than 90,000 movies and TV shows available to purchase or rent, and with this Universal content included, will offer more than 9,000 movies and TV shows included at no additional cost with an Amazon Prime membership. Customers can instantly watch movies and TV shows from Amazon on a Mac, PC or directly on TV with any of the 300 compatible devices.