How to make good TV for the web, according to Amazon

Q&A with Amazon Studios director Roy Price about how to make good TV and why it makes sense for Amazon.

The COO spoke about Amazon’s business model for original programming.

“Our business model is fairly straightforward because we have a subscription service so the goal of our program is simply to attract people to Amazon Prime,” he said. He said Amazon has put out 24 pilots so far, which is more than a typical broadcast network will do per year for prime time. “We're busy because we don't have a slate, a lineup. Maybe in a few years we can pull it back a little bit,” he said.

Price said this makes sense for Amazon. “What you really want in the on-demand environment, which is different than the broadcast environment, is that you need to find people who really like the show enough to seek it out. You need to really want to watch the show in modern TV, Price explained. "It's not about changing the channel anywhere, or just seeing what's on. It's not good enough to be good-ish,” he said.