MUMBAI: Escalating its competition with Netflix, Amazon.com has added a free movie-streaming service to its $79-a-year Amazon Prime shipping membership.

Launching the new service, Amazon is offering about 5,000 titles made up of both movies and TV shows. Netflix, by contrast, has about 20,000 titles.
 
Both Netflix and Amazon video can be viewed on PCs and other devices, including internet-connected TV sets or sets connected to some Blu-ray players and set-top boxes like the Roku. One advantage that Amazon has is that the same interface can be used to stream movies for free and to rent or buy them.
 
The Seattle, Washington-based company already sells and rents movies online on an a la carte basis through digital downloads and streaming. Its new subscription service allows access to older movies and shows from a variety of studios.
The move comes as Amazon continues to invest heavily in infrastructure and technology to expand its business, investments that are squeezing the retailer‘s bottom line and have disappointed investors.