几个月来，科技界一直猜测亚马逊何时——而非能否——通过招兵买马和加强团队进军原创电视领域。现在，官方已经证实：亚马逊不久就会进军原创电视内容生产领域。
周三，亚马逊宣布开始制作原创喜剧和儿童节目，并由公司在线流媒体服务“亚马逊即时视频”（Amazon Instant Video）负责节目发布。“亚马逊工作室希望广纳贤士，为观众朋友制作出喜爱的节目”，亚马逊工作室总监Roy Price在一次发布会上说，“在影片的制作过程中，我们从内容主创那里听到了很多有趣的想法，他们希望在喜剧和儿童领域制作出原创系列。正是开发原创系列这个契机，把编剧、动画设计者和总监们聚在了一起，我们为此也非常激动。”
亚马逊工作室将征集各种原创剧本，每个月会选择一个新项目，并选择一名观众对该项目进行测试。如果项目通过了，那么这个项目的主创激昂获得1万美元的奖励。一旦这个项目成为完整的原创系列，那么该主创将获得55,000美元的奖金和最多5%的版税。正如工作室总监Roy Price告诉AllThingsD的那样，公司的目标是以不差上下的预算制作出与“真正的”电视节目有相同质量的原创系列。
亚马逊电视主要由Joe Lewis领衔，他在好莱坞的经验非常丰富，曾担任20世纪福克斯公司的制作总监，美国喜剧中心频道的发展经理以及云电视网络Bark Industries的首席执行官。在美国喜剧中心频道任职期间，他曾负责Tosh.0的制作，这是由喜剧家Daniel Tosh主持的喜剧系列，融合了过滤后的网络视频，具有很高的文化评价。
高德纳公司（Gartner）的分析师Ray Valdes近期透露，亚马逊此举“有其内在逻辑”。他援引谷歌公司为例，谷歌便正在开发新的原创内容。而与此同时，流媒体视频供应商Hulu计划今年在影视节目上投资5亿美元，使其产品既有传统电视节目，又有有线网络节目。而网飞公司（Netflix）则于去年2月推出了自己首部原创系列剧Lilyhammer。
事实证明，此类原创内容能成为亚马逊付费服务发展的重要推手。2005年推出的这项服务旨在鼓励用户在该网站花钱消费。每年只需花上79美元，会员就能享受不限量货品两天送达的免费快递服务。此外，亚马逊为了让用户尝到更多甜头，还设法增加了多项特色服务，比如和网飞公司相仿的影视流媒体无限量供应服务。这项服务也旨在销售出更多Kindle平板电脑。原创电视节目正式推出后，还能丰富整个产品线。
2010年11月正式成立的亚马逊工作室迄今已收到700多部测试电影和7000多个剧本，该公司目前正在制作的电影已有15部。
For months, the technology world has wondered when -- not if -- Amazon would get into original TV programing by soliciting scripts and beefing up its nascent in-house staff. Now, it's official: Amazon (AMZN) will produce original television content.
On Wednesday, the company announced its intentions to develop original comedy and children shows that will be distributed by way of its online streaming service, Amazon Instant Video. "Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming that audiences will love," Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios, said in a release. "In the course of developing movies, we've heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children's genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series."
Amazon Studios will solicit original scripts, option one new project a month, and test that project with an audience. If the project is optioned, the creator will receive $10,000. If the project is turned into a full original series, the creator will $55,000 and up to 5% in royalties. As studio head Roy Price told AllThingsD, the company aims to make these original series have the same quality as "real" TV shows, with production budgets to match.
Amazon's TV push will be led by Joe Lewis, a Hollywood veteran whose previous experience includes stints as Director of Production at 20th Century Fox (NWS), Manager of Development at Comedy Central, and CEO of the cloud-based TV network Bark Industries. At Comedy Central, he was an executive in charge of the production of Tosh.0, a series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh that melds viral web videos with popular culture commentary.
"I think there's a logic to it," Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said recently of the effort. Valdes pointed to Google (GOOG) as one example of a company which is also focusing its efforts on new original content. Streaming service Hulu, meanwhile, plans to spend $500 million on TV and movie programming this year to round out its offerings of traditional broadcast and cable programming. And Netflix launched its first original series, Lilyhammer, last February.
Original content of this type could prove to become an important driver of Amazon's Prime service. Launched in 2005, Prime aimed to get customers to spend more. For $79 a year, members got free two-day delivery on an unlimited number of items. Amazon has sweetened its offerings from there adding, among many other features, an unlimited movie and TV streaming service similar to Netflix. The service is also intended to help sell more Kindle tablets. Original TV could bolster the entire offer -- if shows take off.
Amazon Studios which launched in November of 2010, has received more than 700 test movies and 7,000 scripts to date. The company also has 15 movies in development.
