Amazon set to give competition to Netflix in India with launch of Prime Video Service

Movies and series steaming site Netlflix could face tough competition soon as Amazon set to launch the Amazon Prime Video service in India on Wednesday.

Amazon had earlier in July launched its Prime subscription services and many were keenly looking for the launch of its video services in India.

The company is also said to be launching Emmy award winning show 'The Man in the High Castle'. Amazon Prime Video also produces other shows such as 'The Grand Tour' which features former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

Some of the celebrities that will be present will be likes of Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Khamba, Tanmay and Rohan (AIB), Vikram Malhotra, Amit Sadh, Madhu Mantena, Vikas Bahl, Sujoy Ghosh, Pradeep Sarkar, Pritish, Rangita and Ishita Nandy (Pritish Nandy Productions) and others.

The Jeff Bezos-led company is said to invest $300 million (about Rs 2,000 crore) into their content in India, according to an Economic Times report. This is several times larger than the budgets of Hindi GEC channels in India.

The company has already been busy in striking deals with content creators in India including large production houses and smaller original web series creators. This can be seen by the people from Bollywood production houses as well as AIB being invited for the launch. However, it is still unknown whether they will also create their original series in India.

The Amazon Prime subscription in India currently is priced at Rs 499 for a year. However, this could go up with the Prime Video services added to it.

In UK, Prime subscription costs 96 pounds and in the US it is priced at $99.

Companies such as Netflix price starts at Rs 500 per month. This could see Amazon trying to match it up initially to attract more customers.