When we originally signed up for Amazon Prime, it was because we needed something shipped quickly, and free shipping was pretty tempting. There was a free trial, and we thought that perhaps after the trial was over we would cancel the service.

Wrong. We were hooked just like Amazon knew we would be. If you like online shopping, once you’ve had a taste of free 2-day shipping and in some cases free same-day shipping, there’s no going back.

Even if online shopping isn’t your thing, Amazon knows they can get other subscribers hooked on their service by offering way more than just free shipping. If you’re a subscriber you probably know that the membership also comes with perks like music and video streaming services, digital photo storage and ebooks, so many ebooks.

Amazon Video has a wide variety of content including original TV shows and movies that can only be seen on Prime. This content includes “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” and  “The Underground Railroad.” They have even received Oscar nominations for some of their original movies like “One Night In Miami,” “Sound of Metal” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”

Even though Amazon seems to be doing well in creating their own movie and TV content, they have quite a bit of competition including Netflix and Disney+. In an effort to up their game, Amazon has made a major deal that Prime members have good reason to get excited about.

Amazon is buying MGM Holdings for a reported $8.45 billion. The deal is currently undergoing regulatory approval.

MGM comes with quite a bit of classic content as well as current popular TV series. Most likely, all of it will be coming to Amazon Prime Video. We’re talking about the James Bond films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and all of the Rocky movies. Popular TV series include “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Fargo” and “Shark Tank.”

Mike Hopkins, the Senior VP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, announced the acquisition saying, “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling.”

That’s right. Not only will MGM’s current catalog end up streaming on Prime Video but Amazon will be creating new content based off of the current catalog. For example, expect to see a series based on “The Lord of the Rings.”

Do you subscribe to Amazon Prime? Do you watch Prime Video? Do you think Amazon’s acquisition of MGM will motivate more people to subscribe to Prime?