
Amazon.com Inc. to Start Streaming BBC Shows in India

Amazon.com Inc. is planning to start streaming BBC shows in India, opening up a new front in an intensifying entertainment war with the likes of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, in one of the world’s largest media markets.
According to reports, Amazon’s India-based Prime Video members will be able to watch popular British mainstays including The Great British Bakeoff and Strictly Come Dancing on BBC Player, as well BBC Kids, through annual bolt-on subscriptions at 599 rupees ($7.3).
The agreement allows Indians to access BBC’s wide range of entertainment, documentaries and reality shows for the first time without having to resort to virtual private networks to disguise IP addresses. It also represents a concerted challenge by Amazon against Ambani’s JioCinema platform, which recently bagged multi-year contracts to show HBO and Max Original content, as well as the hugely popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
“The BBC addition will help Amazon which has a large portfolio of original Indian-made entertainment compete with Netflix Inc., which offers Indian subscribers a wider amount of worldwide films and shows,” Karan Taurani, a Mumbai-based media analyst at Elara Securities.
This will provide some scale and growth for Amazon. These kinds of partnerships are the way ahead rather than them launching their own platform in a market like India, which is already fragmented
“This will provide some scale and growth for Amazon. These kinds of partnerships are the way ahead rather than them launching their own platform in a market like India, which is already fragmented,” Taurani adds.
India is a key growth market for Amazon. But its expansion has been rocky and the firm has faced antitrust challenges and legal battles, including allegations that its shows have hurt religious sentiment and that its retail arm undercuts India’s mom-and-pop stores.