• The New York Times , Thursday, July 17, 2008 10:15 AM

Amazon.com is introducing a new store of TV shows and movies called Amazon Video on Demand. Customers will be able to start watching any of 40,000 movies and television programs immediately after ordering them online because they stream. It will be accessible to a limited number of invited Amazon.com customers today before it opens more broadly to other users later this summer.

Most Internet video stores - such as Apple iTunes and the original incarnation of Amazon's video store -- require users to endure lengthy waits as video files are downloaded to their hard drives.

Amazon also has struck a deal with Sony to place its Internet video store on the Sony Bravia line of high-definition TVs. It says it will pursue similar deals with other makers of TVs and Internet devices.

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