Two birds, one stone: Amazon is reveling in the five-Emmy haul for its original series “Transparent,” and is using the occasion to chop the annual fee for its Prime program 32% off the regular price… but for only one day.
The ecommerce giant is offering Prime for $67 per year to U.S. subscribers, compared with $99 normally. The numerology at work: “Transparent” was a big winner at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday. Star Jeffrey Tambor garnered the prize for best actor in a comedy as the patriarch of a dysfunctional L.A. family who comes to terms with a lifelong transgender identity, and creator Jill Soloway took home a directing trophy for “Transparent.”
Amazon’s Prime discount kicks off Friday, Sept. 25, at 12 a.m. ET and will end at 11:59 p.m. PT. New members can sign up for the limited-time offer at Amazon.com/TransparentPrime.
Season 2 of “Transparent,” which will guest star Angelica Huston, is scheduled to bow Dec. 4 on Amazon Prime Instant Video. Amazon also has already ordered a third season.
Amazon Prime began as a program offering free two-day shipping on millions of items on the site. The company has expanded Prime to include unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, plus more than 1 million songs and other perks. Amazon raised the U.S. price of Prime 50% last year, citing higher fuel and transportation costs.
Part of Amazon’s strategy to drive customers to sign up Prime is to stock the video lineup with originals, as well as exclusively licensed content. In addition to “Transparent,” Amazon Studios original series include “Hand of God,” “Bosch,” “Catastrophe” and “Mozart in the Jungle.”
Upcoming original series premiering this year include coming-of-age suburban dramedy “Red Oaks” (Oct. 9) and the adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” (Nov. 20).