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Report: Amazon Prime Instant Video Passes Apple, Hulu

Seattle – Amazon said Tuesday that video streams on its Prime Instant Video service nearly tripled year over year, passing rivals Apple and Hulu.

The e-commerce giant cited a report on Qwilt, showing the recent milestone.

In a related move, Amazon introduced last week its $99 Fire TV streaming set-top box that plugs into an HDTV for instant access to Amazon Prime Instant Video and a variety of competitive streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, Showtime and low-cost video rentals, among others.

Noticeably absent from the box so far are streaming services operated by other retail giants, such as Vudu (Walmart), Target Ticket (Target) and Best Buy CinemaNow.

Fire TV also offers photos, music, and video gaming.

“We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in great TV shows and movies for Prime members and it’s working,” said Bill Carr, Amazon digital video and music VP. “As part of their membership, Amazon Prime members can watch their favorite movies and television shows on an unlimited basis, and as we add original content like Alpha House, Bosch, The After, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent, we have no doubt that customers will be even more delighted with the selection available. And now, with Fire TV, customers have the easiest way to access this content.”

In its favor, Amazon boasted that Prime Instant Video continues to expand its list of exclusive and original content for Prime members at no additional cost to the Prime membership.

Key series now include: “Downton Abbey,” “24,” “Orphan Black,” “The Americans,” “Justified,” “Hannibal,” “Workaholics,” “Grimm,” “Under the Dome,” “Veronica Mars” and others.

Prime Instant Video also offers an exclusive collection of kids’ shows from Nick Jr., including “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Dora the Explorer.”

Amazon’s first original series, “Alpha House and Betas,” are also offered exclusively on Prime Instant Video.

The company announced last week that it will produce four new primetime series, “Bosch,” “The After,” “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle,” along with two new children’s series, “Gortimer Gibbon’s Life of Normal Street” and “Wishenpoof!”, which will be available on Prime Instant Video later this year and next.

Amazon Prime members can also choose from more than 200,000 movie and TV titles to purchase or rent from Amazon Instant Video, including “American Hustle,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Gravity,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Frozen”; and day-after broadcast TV shows like “The Walking Dead,” “Scandal,” “Pretty Little Liars” and “The Blacklist.”

Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video content can be accessed by Fire TV, Kindle Fire tablets, iPad, PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, Wii U, connected Blu-ray Disc players, and Roku TVs and set-top boxes.

For viewing offline, customers can download movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, and Prime members can download Prime Instant Videos to their Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Fire HDX, the company said.

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