The Telegraph has reported that Amazon, with headquarters based in Seattle, U.S., has decided to open a new digital media development centre in London as part of the launch of its new film and television service delivery.
According to the report, London was the “obvious choice” to launch the global service as a pioneer in providing on-demand film and television services to customers over the internet with both LoveFilm and Pushbutton, Amazon’s existing on-demand services, having also been founded in the capital city.
Paula Byrne, the centre’s managing director says “Innovation is part of the Amazon DNA and we are creating a centre of excellence to design and develop the next generation of TV and film services for a wide range of digital devices.”
The new centre aims to increase Amazon’s competitive edge against other popular on-demand services that include Netflix and BSkyB’s NowTV.
New staff will occupy an eight-storey, 47,000 square foot office building in the coming months near the Barbican tube station which is in close proximity to London’s tech hub known as Silicon Roundabout, the location of Google UK’s Campus.
