Amazon.com To Offer Prime Subscriptions For $72 This Saturday

Amazon.com., Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is offering a year subscription to its Prime service for only $72 this Saturday, January 24. That price represents a 27 percent discount from the normal Prime annual rate of $99, and is even lower than the previous annual rate of $79 before the hike to $99 last March.

Why $72?

The special promotion, which runs this Saturday only, is in celebration of a big win by Amazon’s new original series "Transparent" at the 72nd annual Golden Globes. As part of the promotion, the entire season of "Transparent" will be available to watch on Amazon this Saturday, even for non-Prime members.

Related Link: Golden Globes Suggests TV Landscape Is Changing

The Benefits Of Prime

Amazon Prime members get free two-day shipping, access to Prime Instant Video, the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, free cloud photo storage and Amazon’s streaming music service. In addition, Prime members get special pre-order opportunities and discounts, such as the 50 percent off offers extended to Prime members on Fire TV Stick and Amazon Echo pre-orders.

In addition to promotions, Amazon offers a special $49 annual Prime rate to all college students.

Original Content

Amazon currently has seven original series. In addition to "Transparent," Amazon offers three prime-time comedies for adults: "Betas," "Alpha House" and "Mozart in the Jungle." Amazon’s other three original programs are children’s programs: "Tumble Leaf," "Annedroids" and "Creative Galaxy."

Amazon is hoping to replicate the success that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) has had with some of its early original content. Last year, Netflix won three Golden Globes for original content, taking home acting awards for "House of Cards," "Orange is the New Black" and "Arrested Development."

Disclosure: The author holds a short position in Amazon.