Report: Amazon Greenlights Free, Ad-Backed Stand-Alone Instant Video Service

From DailyTech: It's been three years since Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) first launched its Instant Video service for Prime subscribers. Now it's rumored to be preparing to decouple the service from Prime, allowing it to stand on its own, supported by ads.

While these reports remain the stuff of rumors, one must wonder if the increasing pace of independent reports could be merely speculative. After all, as Bob Costas once stated during an interview, "A reasonable person says where there's this much smoke, there must be plenty of fire."

Amazon Instant Video is just midway into its third year of operations. It first launched in Feb. 2011, a perk of the Amazon Prime family of services. Ever since it's been slowly growing, quietly tacking on new video content with new licensing deals. It's also expanded across all the major mobile platforms, including Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad.

Prime itself launched back in 2005. The chief draw of the $99 USD/year Amazon Prime subscription service remains free expedited shipping (now two-day shipping for most items).

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