Amazon Adds Online Talk Show Hosted By Bill Maher to Its Offerings

[mandy]

Celebrities promoting their newest movie, book or album have a new stop on the talk-show circuit: Amazon.com.

The Internet megastore plans to announce today a weekly online talk show with host Bill Maher.

With "Amazon Fishbowl With Bill Maher," Amazon.com Inc. is trying to blend commerce with entertainment, much as Starbucks Corp. sells CDs and DVDs alongside coffee to position its brand as a lifestyle. In an e-commerce twist on movie and TV product placement, Amazon will place links to buy the works discussed during the show beside the program's display window.

"Two uber-trends are crashing into each other: Retail is trying to turn itself into entertainment at the same time that entertainment is trying to turn itself into retail,"

full article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-am...y?ctrack=1&cset=true

related topic: Ecommerce Meets Entertainment http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...195.0.html

[jezebel]

The company is betting that some of the nearly 50 million people who visit it each month to shop will take a few minutes to watch the show.

How many is some? I'd like retail to stay out of my entertainment.  OK?.