In what Forbes is calling the "first noticeable blow" against rival Netflix, Amazon announced that the popular Fox series "24" will move from Netflix to be streamed exclusively on Amazon's Prime Instant Video along with the upcoming "24: Live Another Day."
Amazon said in a news release Tuesday that all 192 episodes of "24," which stars Kiefer Sutherland and Jack Bauer can now be streamed on the service, according to Amazon's statement.
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"Fans and non-fans hoping to catch-up on all eight previous seasons of the acclaimed series were awoken to a surprise yesterday morning in the form of news the series had been removed from Netflix where it's been available since 2010 in full, in favor of Fox signing a deal for digital rights to the series with Amazon,"
wrote Forbes' Merrill Barr on Wednesday.
"With this move, Amazon has just staked its first major claim in their battle for streaming supremacy with Netflix," said Barr.
Sutherland has won a Golden Globe and Emmy for his performance of Jack Bauer and the show has been honored with a Golden Globe for best drama series in 2004.
"'24' has been extremely popular with Amazon customers over the years," Brad Beale, Amazon's director of digital video content acquisition, said in the company's statement. "Whether they are hard-core Jack Bauer fans or just discovering the series for the first time, Prime members are going to love catching up on the previous seasons of '24' as well as '24: Live Another Day.'"
Variety reported that "24: Live Another Day," which will begin on Fox May 5, will return the series popular real-time format with split screens and multiple storylines. The series is produced by Howard Gordon of "Homeland" and will also star Benjamin Bratt, Yvonne Strahovski, Kim Raver, William Devane, Tate Donovan and Michelle Fairley, noted Variety.
"24: Live Another Day" will run for 12 episodes, according to Variety.
Netflix has found success with original program streaming with hits such as "House of Cards," "Arrested Development" and "Orange Is the New Black." "House of Cards" won a Golden Globe and three Emmy awards last years, becoming first series that was exclusive streamed online to win those honors.
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