At launch customers will need to have a separate Prime subscription to watch the service but BT says it hopes to offer the option to add the cost to the customer’s BT bill at a later date, mirroring the arrangements it has with Netflix.
News that Prime Video is coming to BT means the ISP now has deals in place with each of the three largest streaming services – Sky’s NOW TV is already confirmed to be joining BT TV next year.
The content is in addition to BT’s own bundle of pay-TV channels, including its sports channels and US drama outlet, AMC.
Paolo Pescatore from CCS Insight said: “BT will be the first UK telco to offer Amazon Prime video to its customers. The move to support Amazon Prime video positions BT TV as an aggregator of content services including Netflix and Now TV from next year.
“We believe that this will turn around its fortunes given that BT TV has recorded losses for the last two quarters and subscriber growth over the last couple of years has been lacklustre.”
BT has also confirmed that TV customers will soon be able to watch their pay channels, including BT Sport and AMC, through a new app coming to Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TV and Google Chromecast.