As you probably already know, Amazon also has their own online video service in order to cash in the success of Netflix.  Now, in order to further cement their stake in the realm of movies, Amazon has acquired licensing to a litany of Paramount Pictures titles to add to their library.  Whether or not this will mean bad news for Netflix is anyone's guess at this point; Neflix has been offering these movies for a while now, but nevertheless, for those of you who are Prime customers, you'll be happy to know that you can get Clear and Present Danger straight to your computer.

"Thanks to a new agreement with Paramount Pictures, subscribers of Amazon's Prime service will now get access to "hundreds" of films, including as "Mission: Impossible 3," "Braveheart" and "Mean Girls."

Sure, these are catalog titles that are long in the tooth and many of them have been in Netflix's library for some time. But the point is that Amazon continues to close the gap in regards to the amount and quality of films offered by Netflix, the top video-rental service on the Web.

Amazon Prime is a membership program that costs $79 annually and offers customers free two-day shipping. In addition, members get access to the expanding pool of movies in Prime Instant Video.

"We are continuing to invest in building a vast selection for Prime Instant Video," Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon, said in a written statement.

Amazon still has a ways to go but the deal is just another indication that Netflix rivals continue to pressure the service at a time when the company struggles to land content.

Netflix shares were trading up 3 percent to $69.83 Wednesday morning. That's well off the stock's 52-week high of $304, which it hit last summer."

Source: C|NET

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