Finally! Amazon Video to join Apple TV “later this year”

The move was rumored last month and it came to fruition on Monday as it was the first announcement made by Apple at the Worldwide Developer Conference 2017. Apple CEO Tim Cook told attendees that the company’s version of the connected TV set top box will get Amazon Prime Video later this year. And Amazon itself announced it on Twitter as well:

You asked (a lot). We listened. Amazon Prime Video is coming to the TV App and all Apple TVs this year.

— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) June 5, 2017

That means that Apple TV users will be able to watch original Amazon series like Bosch, Catastrophe, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent. But more importantly to sports fans, it means that Apple TV will have access to ten Thursday Night Football games starting in September.

Back in April, Amazon outbid its competitors including last year’s rightsholder, Twitter, to get the streaming rights to TNF and will have access to the games that will be aired on CBS and NBC. NFL Network will air the six other games included in the package and they will streamed through the NFL app on Verizon-equipped mobiles, computers, tablets and connected TV devices.

There’s no word as to when Amazon Video will join Apple TV, but one would think that Amazon would want users to be able to watch its entire Thursday Night Football schedule, so it could mean that the Video app becomes available in late August or early September.

Since Apple and Amazon are declaring peace following a few years of ignoring each other (no Apple TV’s sold on Amazon, no Amazon app on Apple TV), you would have to believe that this would come sooner than later. But it all depends on what Amazon wants on the app, whether users have the ability to rent or buy videos directly rather than going to the website to do so.

We’ll see what happens, but the good thing is that the two companies are finally coming together and Amazon Video will definitely be on Apple TV after a very extended wait.

[CNET/The Verge]