Bill Maher to Host Amazon.com Series

Posted on January 19, 2006

It looks like Amazon.com is moving more into the content business. Amazon.com announced it will produce a series of half-hour Webcasts where authors and artists will promote their latest projects. The series will be called "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher." Stephen King and Rob Thomas are already signed up.

The first segment of the series will be released June 1. A new episode will be offered each Thursday night for 12 weeks, according to Kathy Savitt, vice president of strategic communications, content and initiatives for the e-commerce bellwether.

Amazon's goal, Savitt said, "is to help our customers discover new books, films, and music, and to help the creators of these works find new audiences." The programs will be available for on-demand viewing but they reportedly cannot be downloaded to personal computers or mobile devices.

The premiere of the show will be filmed at the Sundance Film Festival, which opens today in Utah. by January 24th, excerpts will be available for viewing on Amazon.com.

---