When Broadcasters become Amazon tiles
ITVX and RTL+ don’t run their product inside Prime Video. Amazon does. Channels turns broadcasters into tiles, not destinations.
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Direct to consumer streaming was supposed to free streamers from gatekeepers. Build the app, own the relationship and shape the product on your terms. In practice, it has been anything but straightforward.
Running a D2C service is expensive, slow and increasingly shaped by platforms you don’t control. Fragmentation has made distribution more complex, not less. The gatekeepers didn’t disappear, they changed. Cable and telco bundles gave way to device makers, TV OS home screens and retail marketplaces.
Among those marketplaces, Amazon Channels stands out for one simple reason. Amazon sits at the intersection of retail trust, Prime household scale and frictionless checkout. No other marketplace combines these exact three advantages at this scale.
For years, Channels was dominated by niche and specialty streamers. In 2025, the shift is unmistakable. Big names from Apple TV+, DAZN to European broadcasters are joining with their ad free tiers. ITVX Premium now sits inside Prime Video in the UK at £5.99 per month while RTL+ Premium is live as a Prime add on in Germany and Austria at €12.99.
This is not a simple distribution add on. This is broadcasters putting their premium product inside someone else’s product and when you do that, beware of the changes.
Today at a glance:
Amazon Channels is not just distribution, it is product substitution
What ITVX Premium and RTL+ turn into inside Prime Video
Why broadcasters say yes to Channels in 2025
The risks they cannot ignore
The bigger question in 2026 & beyond
Amazon Channels is not just distribution, it is product substitution
Most people still misunderstand what Channels is. They treat it just as any reseller but Channels is a content first environment, not an app first one. Users search, click or browse inside Prime Video. They rarely start by thinking “let me open ITVX” or “I feel like RTL+ today.” They see a programme tile, tap it, Amazon places a paywall, they subscribe in one click and stay in Prime Video.
Amazon handles identity, billing, cancellations, notifications, recommendations, device authentication, profiles, watchlists, downloads. Everything that defines the actual product experience.
This is how specialty streamers have lived inside Channels for years. They are branded corners, catalogues wrapped in Amazon’s UX. By joining Channels, ITVX Premium and RTL+ accept the same terms. Their product no longer lives as they designed it, it lives as Amazon needs it to.
When you integrate Channels, you stop being a destination, you become a tile.
What ITVX Premium and RTL+ turn into inside Prime Video
Let’s look at the actual user journey.