"Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher" will stream from the site's homepage every Thursday.Amazon.com announced Thursday a weekly original series that will stream live every Thursday night on the Amazon.com homepage beginning June 1.
The show, "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher," is a 30-minute program featuring live music performances and interviews.
With the new show, Amazon joins the throng of Internet companies who are blending commerce with entertainment.
Amazon will place links to buy works or products discussed during the show beside the program's display window.
"We think this is one more way for Amazon to help its customers find new artists and products," said spokesperson Drew Herdener.
Amazon should have little trouble exposing the show to viewers, that's for sure. The site garners approximately 50 million consumers per month, according to Nielsen/Netratings, and is the 14th most popular site on the Internet, according to Alexa.
But the recipe for success on the Internet is unknown. The market for video is proven, but companies are still exploring the vicissitudes of offering and reselling content.
"It all comes back to 'it's the content, stupid,'" said Dr. Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. "If Bill Maher puts on a good show, then the audience will come."
How much leeway Maher will have in choosing and interviewing guests, and therefore how original and entertaining the show might be, is unknown. Amazon said that choosing the guests and products featured will be a "collaborative project."
The show won't include commercial interruptions, but will feature branding from the show's sponsor, UPS, and Amazon itself.
The first show, which will air as a sneak preview during the Sundance Film Festival, will feature author Stephen King, musician Rob Thomas, actress Toni Collette and writer Armistead Maupin. King's appearance will be his only appearance on a talk show to promote his new book, "Cell."
This is not Amazon's first foray into entertainment. The company was involved with five short films in 2004 and a live concert in July to celebrate the company's 10th birthday. Bill Maher was involved with that birthday celebration as well.
"This is a purely retail play, leveraging an offbeat network personality in the post-holiday season," said Jupiter analyst Todd Chanko.
"This might pave the way for Amazon to explore other types of content though. Would it surprise me if they got into the video downloading business? Not really, no."
Amazon said that, for now, the company only plans to stream the new show. Herdener couldn't speculate on future distribution plans, but the company is planning to develop more original programming. Viewers can also watch archived clips or the entire show after it runs.
Amazon may be taking a risk by partnering with a controversial and politically liberal talk show host.
Maher hosted the talk show "Politically Incorrect" on Disney's ABC for eight years until it was pulled off the air in 2002 after Maher made comments criticizing the U.S. government's response to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Maher currently hosts a similar talk show on HBO called "Real Time with Bill Maher."
Thompson said that Amazon doesn't want to tie its corporate identity up in politics, much like broadcast channel Fox News. He said he believes Amazon may balance the scales with a show hosted by a less political persona.
"Fox News can [cater to politics because] they're content to get 50 percent of the population watching. That's their niche. But Amazon isn't interested in niches. They want to sell to everybody," he said.
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