PBS now has its own channel on Amazon’s Prime video dedicated to PBS Documentaries. The channel officially launched on August 4th and offers PBS enthusiasts a way to watch documentary content from the station outside of the PBS Video app. 900 hours of documentary programming to be exact, possible enough to give you something new to watch until this whole pandemic thing ends.
We originally told you about the upcoming channel a few weeks ago. As for what you can watch, it has a focus on documentaries, so that’s primarily what’s going to be available. PBS has loaded the entire Ken Burns collection into the app as well as films from Nova, Frontline, American Masters, Nature, American Experience, Independent Lens, and POV, along with some selections from independent producers.
“PBS is the leader of high-quality, compelling nonfiction entertainment, and the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel is a natural addition to our current streaming offering on Prime Video Channels—PBS Masterpiece, PBS Living and PBS Kids. This channel will not only help bring engaging stories about life in all corners of our country to a new audience, it will provide needed revenues to sustain public broadcasting’s public-private partnership model for the benefit of all stations and the communities they serve,” Co-President of PBS Distribution, Andrea Downing said in a prepared statement.
Speaking of those “needed revenues,” streaming documentaries through the channel won’t be free. The channel has an additional subscription fee of $3.99/month with an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription.
And if you want to watch that Ken Burns collection but don’t want to subscribe to the documentary-specific app, you can also catch the entire collection through PBS Passport, a special members-only area of the traditional PBS Video App that offers users access to additional content. That app also includes PBS drama, arts, science, history and lifestyle programs.
