Last week, Netflix elected not to renew its licensing deal with Viacom, thereby losing Nickelodeon kid classics such as “Dora the Explorer,” “Spongebob Squarepants” and “Blue’s Clues.” Netflix wants to be more selective going forward. But Amazon has eagerly stepped in to fill that streaming content vacuum, as those shows and more will now be available on their Prime Instant Video platform.
According to Amazon, this is just the beginning of a major rollout of Viacom titles, formerly on Netflix, and soon-to-be available to Amazon Prime subscribers. And the company has also acquired some more grownup fare such as Comedy Central’s “Workaholics” and the wonderfully written teen comedy “Awkward,” currently in its third season on MTV.
This streaming content whack-a-mole goes to show that Netflix, which has long reigned supreme, is facing stiff competition in the VOD market (we discussed this earlier on TOH here). Netflix also let its Criterion deal go to Hulu Plus.
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