Amazon looks to be video producer?

on
CNN Money is reporting that one of Amazon's next big moves will be into the production of original video programming.  For the last month or so, Amazon has reportedly been looking for executives to oversee a variety of creative products through development.  In particular, there have been job listings for people to oversee comedy and children's programming, and has reportedly hired Joe Lewis to a position that he first described as being Vice-President of Original Television at Amazon, before he changed it to Vice-President, Production at Amazon Studios.  Lewis' resume includes stints at 20th Century Fox (Director of Production) and Manager of Development at Comedy Central.
Regardless of what flavor of original content Amazon ends up pursuing exactly, analysts expect to see more from the company in this domain in the future. "I think there's a logic to it," says Gartner analyst Ray Valdes. Valdes points to Google, which is spending $100 million on new original content for YouTube. Streaming service Hulu, meanwhile, plans to spend $500 million -- some of which will likely come from investors -- on TV and movie programming this year to round out its offerings of traditional broadcast and cable programming. It is banking on shows like the political comedy Battlefield. And then there's Netflix, which has been spending profusely on original series like Lilyhammer, a show starring Sopranos actor Steven van Zandt.
If Amazon moves into the realm of original programming, it will follow last year's move into book publishing.  A large part of Amazon's dominance in online commerce has been the breadth of its offerings.  But recent moves by Apple and Google to expand their online retail offerings, there is a question of how long Amazon's dominance as a distributor/retailer will remain.  Moving into production not only provides another revenue stream, but also enables Amazon to have unique content that can maintain its competitive advantage over other online outlets.

Source -   Is Amazon getting into original TV?  CNNMoney blog