We’ve said it a million times over the past few years, but in the ongoing Streaming Wars, the best ammunition you can have when trying to fight your way to the top of the platform battle is exclusive content. The best way to do this is with strong original content, as Netflix has done over the past decade or so. But if you want a quick jolt of content that will set you apart from the rest, you can also just buy a massive film library, which is seemingly what Amazon is looking to do with MGM.
READ MORE: MGM Looks For A Buyer: Studio Behind James Bond, ‘Rocky’ & More Is Now On The Market
According to Variety, Amazon is looking to purchase MGM for approximately $9 billion. Not only would this give the tech giant access to one of the most storied studios in Hollywood history, but, more importantly for the streamer, the purchase gives Amazon access to one of the best film libraries that have ever existed, including the film rights to some major potential franchises.
Back in December, it was being reported that MGM was on the hunt for a buyer. At that time, it was clear that the studio put the chum in the water and was waiting for the streaming sharks to circle. And while it’s unclear how many nibbles MGM received during its hunt, the market value seemed to put the studio around $7 billion to $10 billion, meaning it was going to take a major player to get a deal done. Last we checked, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has plenty of money to do just that and likely just found the $9 billion in the couch cushions.
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What does this purchase really land Amazon? Well, obviously, the benefits will be mostly felt on the Prime Video side of things, where the service will now have access to roughly 4,000 film titles including entries from franchises like “Rocky,” “RoboCop,” “The Hobbit,” and the James Bond library. There are a ton of MGM-produced TV as well, totally more than 17,000 episodes of programming. Needless to say, there’s a lot of potential benefits that will be felt by streaming customers.
However, as alluded to above, getting access to the library also comes with access to the rights to some of these franchises. We already know the “Rocky” franchise is going strong with “Creed” and the potential new prequel series. Who doesn’t want James Bond films, also? This puts Amazon on a level with folks like NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Disney’s Disney+/Hulu, and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, as a streaming service that has a massive, beloved library to utilize.