Amazon and PBS have moved forward on their partnership to offer free access to local member stations and some national programming feeds via Prime Video.
Starting this week, streamers have access to their local PBS member station, PBS Kids and two free, ad-supported streaming channels — PBS Documentaries and PBS Drama — through the Prime Video app on phones, tablets, smart TVs and streaming devices. The streams are accessible even if a user does not pay for Prime or Prime Video, the organizations affirmed.
PBS and Amazon first announced their distribution pact last November, one that will also involve the launch of new curated streams that offer hit PBS series like “Reading Rainbow” in the coming months. Those curated content streams will be exclusive to Prime Video and its companion app Freevee, Amazon and PBS said at the time. Amazon is in the process of winding down its Freevee service and incorporating that content into Prime Video.
Amazon is not the first to offer free access to PBS — the public broadcaster itself has long made PBS member stations and PBS Kids available to stream for free through its own phone, tablet and smart TV apps, and started distributing some PBS member stations through Allen Media-owned Local Now in 2022.
The PBS content streams on Prime Video offer access to hit PBS series like “Finding Your Roots,” “Independent Lens,” “PBS Nature,” “American Experience” and “PBS NewsHour” along with locally-produced programming and shows acquired from other public television distributors.
