Amazon is entering into the lucrative movies and tv show rental market.  This announcement by Amazon is going to put pressure on other companies, since Amazon has an infrastructure in place to handle this addition to their business. Amazon has proven a success and by adding a movie and tv show rental unit, will provide us consumers with another source to download from.

According to this article from the NY Times, it states:

Amazon, which is based in Seattle, is also pursuing the technology and media world’s holy grail — an Internet pipeline to the TV. It has struck a deal with Sony Electronics to place its Internet video store on the Sony Bravia line of high-definition TVs.

The video store will be accessible through the Sony Bravia Internet Video link, a $300 tower-shaped device that funnels Web video directly to Sony’s high-definition televisions. That is an awkward extra expense, for now. But future Bravias are expected to have this capability embedded in the television, making it even easier to gain access to the full catalog of past and present TV shows and movies, over the Internet, using a television remote control.

Mr. Carr said Amazon would pursue similar deals with other makers of TVs and Internet devices. “We can support both streaming and downloading,” he said. “Our goal is to continue to establish partnerships with all companies who have a connected device.”

Amazon Video on Demand will be accessible to a limited number of invited Amazon.com customers on Thursday before it opens more broadly to other users later this summer.

I believe that the more companies that offer movies and tv shows, that the competition should bring us lower rates. I for one will not use Dish Networks PPV [Pay Per View] system because of the $4.99 rental fee. I use Netflix and either order or download movies from them, for as little as $1.50 per movie or less. You do the math. I pay Netflix $16.99 a month and normally view 12 movies a month.

What do you think? Will Amazon entering into the movie and tv show market help lower rental rates?

Comments welcome.

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