• The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, September 1, 2010 12:44 PM

Amazon is developing a subscription service to deliver TV shows and movies directly to consumers, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. Such a service would compete directly with rival offerings from Apple, Netflix, and (most likely) Google.

"The Internet retailer has in recent weeks pitched a Web-based subscription service to several major media companies," reports The Journal. They include NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp, and Viacom, say sources. "Amazon's subscription push is a challenge to rivals such as Netflix and Google as they race to dominate digital delivery of TV shows and films, encroaching on turf traditionally controlled by cable- and satellite-television providers." According to The Journal, Amazon's model will most closely mirror the service presently offered by Netflix -- "focusing on older, 'catalogue' content."

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »