A popular television series from Amazon’s Prime Video is making its way to free streaming TV for the first time — but not in the place you might expect.
On Thursday, Samsung announced it will begin offering users of its smart TVs, tablets and phones free access to “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” through the on-demand catalog of its free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platform Samsung TV Plus.
Streamers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Brazil will have access to the first season of the program for a limited time, with the deal between Samsung and Amazon serving as a promotional tool to promote the forthcoming second season of the show, which lands on Prime Video later this month.
“We are pleased to have expanded our partnership with Prime Video to make Samsung TV Plus the only destination to watch Season One of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for free, ahead of the Season Two premiere,” said Salek Brodsky, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Samsung TV Plus. “Nearly 300 million Samsung TV and Galaxy owners will have the opportunity to discover or catch-up on this hit series, while continuing to enjoy free access to one of the world’s largest offerings of live tv channels and popular titles on-demand.”
The arrangement is interesting, given that Amazon operates its own FAST platform, Freevee, where its Prime Video Originals back catalog has been offered to frugal streamers over the past few years. Freevee could still wind up getting the first season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in the future, as the deal between Amazon and Samsung is for a limited run (the show disappears from Samsung TV Plus on August 28).
“We are excited to build upon our relationship with Samsung to support The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season One sampling for their Samsung TV Plus audiences ahead of the August 29 Season Two launch on Prime Video,” Sandhya Iyer, the General Manager of Global 3P Devices Marketing at Amazon Prime Video, said in a statement. “This sampling program marks a milestone for both organizations as we bring this iconic franchise to new audiences around the globe at no additional cost. We first collaborated with Samsung back in 2022 for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series launch and have continued raising the bar together on delivering for soon-to-be and existing Tolkien fans.”
Samsung users in the five countries where the program is available can watch it through Samsung TV Plus’ on-demand menu, except in Canada, where the show will stream on a pop-up channel called The Rings of Power (Channel 1003). In the United States, the show will also be available on The Rings of Power (Channel 1003), Movie Hub (Channel 1200), Movie Hub West (Channel 1201), Movie Hub Action (Channel 1204) and All Action Channel (1505).
