PBS Launching Streaming Service on Amazon Prime

The $2.99-a-month offering, launching Thursday, will feature classic PBS series like 'The French Chef,' 'This Old House' and 'Antiques Roadshow,' along with more recent series like 'No Passport Required' and Christopher Kimball’s 'Milk Street.'

As streaming wars escalate, PBS is launching a new U.S. subscription video-on-demand platform, PBS Living, this Thursday on Amazon's Prime Video Channels.

The new streamer, costing $2.99 per month after a seven-day free trial, will offer classic PBS series like The French Chef, This Old House and Antiques Roadshow, along with more recent series like No Passport Required and Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. The new channel will offer subscribers hundreds of episodes of PBS series across the food and cooking, home, culture and travel genres, with new content to be added each month.

"Public television has a long history as a home for unique and compelling lifestyle programs. We are excited to offer viewers another way to explore their passions and find inspiration through these series, with the convenience of being able to watch anywhere, at any time," Andrea Downing, co-president of PBS Distribution, said in a statement.

PBS already offers PBS Kids content on Amazon Prime and a PBS Kids Prime Video channel that is also an add-on to the monthly Amazon Prime subscription. The PBS Distribution unit last year inked another deal with British streaming service Walter Presents to add more than 300 hours of international drama series to its PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon's Prime Video Channels.

The goal is to get PBS deeper into direct-to-consumer streamers by marrying its content with Amazon's retail reach to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and new streaming services to come from Disney and WarnerMedia.