Amazon to take on Netflix?

Jeff Bezos and his team at Amazon are weighing a move to beef up the Web retailer's video-streaming service - possibly carving it out as a standalone, subscription-based operation, industry sources told The Post, the New York Post reports.

Such a move, if undertaken, would set the retail behemoth in the same competitive orbit as Netflix.

Currently, Amazon's Instant Video comes free with Amazon Prime, the $79 unlimited shipping service.

“They're looking into it being a standalone subscription service,” one content executive said. A second exec noted that they believe Amazon is chewing over a possible charge.

Netflix said last week it expects Amazon.com to soon offer a competitive standalone video-streaming service, and to undercut it with a cheaper price, the Los Angeles Times says.

Currently, Amazon.com offers access to about 12 000 movies and television episodes to people who pay $79 per year for its 'Prime' service, which includes free two-day shipping on many items.

The video content, which includes a variety of television repeats and older movies, can be watched on a number of digital devices, including Amazon's own Kindle Fire tablet.

Meanwhile, Netflix surged 22.1% to $115.84 as the video-streaming and DVD delivery business said it had added 600 000 subscribers in the fourth quarter to reach 24.4 million paying customers, the Financial Times notes.

Shares are now trading at their highest levels since late October, when investors deserted the company after price hikes led to one million subscriber defections.