Amazon said to be launching movie service

LOS ANGELES — Amazon.com is gearing up to be the first direct competitor to Netflix’s popular online movie service.

The Web’s biggest retailer has held talks with Hollywood studios and several independent companies about acquiring library content for a subscription movie streaming service similar to Netflix, according to people familiar with the matter.

The online retail giant has scooped up rights to some independently produced movies but has yet to strike a deal with any of Hollywood’s big six studios, those people said.

Amazon.com Inc. has told studio executives that the company wanted to launch the service in early to mid-February but has delayed those plans until at least later in the month to deal with technical glitches and to acquire more content. It is unclear when the service will go live.

Studio executives say they are weighing several issues as they considered signing up with Amazon, including whether the retailer would be willing to pay as much for content as Netflix Inc., and how it might affect the sale of DVDs and the value of current and future distribution deals with cable networks.

A spokeswoman for Amazon, which already rents and sells digital copies of movies and television shows on an individual-transaction basis, declined to comment.

Amazon is not the only Web-based company looking to take on Netflix, though it does appear to be the furthest along. Online television distributor Hulu has talked to several studios about adding films to its subscription service Hulu Plus, according to people close to the situation. Netflix has a growing amount of TV content, which has already put the two companies into competition. However, Hulu has never before featured movies in its subscription offering.

Many potential competitors have been eyeing the success of Netflix, which added 7.7 million subscribers in 2010, bringing its total to 20 million, and saw its stock price more than triple in the last year.