Amazon.com Inc. announced the launch of its on-demand video service, Prime Video. The company covered almost all the countries around the globe, except China. With this announcement, Amazon has presented its biggest ever challenge to Netflix.

China is the second biggest entertainment market in the world. However, both Netflix and Amazon are conspicuously absent in the country. The main reason behind the move is the regulatory requirements in China.

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Among other requirements, China also requires a number of foreign companies to store their local data on servers located within the country. However, Amazon is likely to face regulatory challenges in other foreign markets as well.

Recently, the European Commission came up with a new proposal for regulating streaming services in its territory. The new pitch expects such services to contribute towards aiding European production. The bill provides companies such as Amazon to pay a part of their revenue to national film funds.

Prime Video has been released as a part of the Prime subscription package in 19 countries, including Canada, France, and India. The tech giant is offering an introductory price of $2.99 or 2.99 euros per month in the new markets, while the regular monthly subscription fee is $5.99 or 5.99 euros. The Amazon pricing is far more competitive than Netflix's $8.50 to $12.70 a month range.

The content library for the service includes Amazon original shows such as "The Man in the High Castle," "Mozart in the Jungle," and "Transparent." Amazon Prime Video has over 18,000 titles in the US. However, all of these titles may not be available in the international market due to regulatory issues.

TagsAmazon, china, netflix