Starz has announced it has teamed up with Amazon to bundle MGM+ on Prime Video in the U.S. market.
The subscription bundle price will be set at $11.99 per month, or a 20 percent discount to the combined price of both standalone subscriptions. The deal also comes a Starz parent Lionsgate looks to make the premium platform increasingly as an add-on to other streaming services on competing video services.
“Starz is a complementary service to general entertainment offerings, so we’re thrilled to see that bundling is now here and believe there will be many more bundling opportunities to come,” Alison Hoffman, president, domestic networks for Starz, stated as the first major U.S. bundling deal for the streamer was unveiled.
Related Stories
Last week, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer first talked about a focus on bundling options for Starz amid a global streaming space struggling with rising content costs and elusive profitability. “Turning to Starz, the streaming world is transitioning to an environment for which we’ve been preparing: more rational content spend, a focus on profitability instead of chasing subscribers, and greater receptivity to bundling and packaging,” he told analysts during a call after the unveiling of the studio’s third quarter financial results.
“The bundling of Paramount+ and Showtime, the evolution of the HBO Max and Discovery+ offerings, and the emergence of new retailers are indicative of a landscape that plays to our strengths as a complementary pure play premium service with a focused content strategy and two valuable and scalable core demos that can sit on top of every platform and be part of every bundling and packaging conversation,” Feltheimer added.
The Prime Video deal will also stir speculation Amazon could bid on Starz as an acquisition after Lionsgate completes a planned separation of its streaming and studio operations to better value them as stocks for possible takeovers.
In the meantime, subscribers of the joint Starz-MGM+ offering will gain access to series like Outlander, Power, P-Valley and upcoming new seasons of Party Down and Blindspotting on Starz.
MGM+ has original series like Godfather of Harlem, A Spy Among Friends, War of the Worlds, Rogue Heroes, and Belgravia.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qbvLpbCwp5%2BZv6a8zqurnqpemLyue8GuqqKmlajAcK7UrKCnnaOoeq%2Bx1qxmrKyRp8duucamZKmqmaKybsLInZyoZWFngHZ%2FkXFtcGhf