Pacter Calls Amazon 'King of Original Content'

On Wednesday, Wedbush's Michael Pachter issued a note following Amazon's AMZN exclusive content deal with HBO. In the note, Pachter called Amazon the “king of original content.” The agreement “marks the first time that HBO content has been licensed to an online-only subscription streaming service,” said the analyst. Pachter sees the deal as positioning for Prime Instant Video “as a viable competitor and potentially more appealing alternative to Netflix NFLX.” Amazon will be able to offer close to 70 different series which HBO owns, while Netflix's original series figure is “closer to 10, with up to only two seasons available,” said Pachter. The analyst estimates “the Amazon-HBO deal will result in approximately 800 episodes of original content upon debut, compared to roughly 100 episodes of original content currently available on Netflix.” Should Amazon “cross-sell Prime to streaming customers, offering an upgrade to Prime and free shipping for a year for an additional $51.12,” Netflix shares “will be under continuing pressure for the foreseeable future.” Shares of Amazon are down 1.6 percent, while Netflix is down 4.7 percent.