CNBC’s Julia Boorstin with Amazon’s head of Prime video Mike Hopkins, join 'The Exchange' to discuss Amazon and Comcast's streaming deal, industry outlook and more.

Amazon and Comcast have entered into a new partnership that will allow Prime Video users to subscribe to Peacock's ad-free tier directly through the platform. This move is part of Amazon's ongoing strategy to simplify the streaming experience for customers by aggregating multiple services into a single app, addressing the challenges of managing numerous subscriptions across different devices.

Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, emphasized the flexibility and personalization that Amazon offers, allowing users to build their own bundles and easily manage subscriptions. He noted that this approach has led to incremental subscriber growth for partners and reduced churn rates. Hopkins also highlighted Amazon's broader efforts to expand its media business, including the acquisition of MGM, investments in live sports, and the growth of its advertising business.

Amazon's Mike Hopkins on Amazon-Comcast deal and streaming wars

Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Amazon announcing today that Peacock's ad-free tier will be available as a channel subscription on Prime Video. Let's head to Culver City, California, where CNBC's Julia Borsten is joined in a CNBC exclusive by Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. Julia. John, thanks so much, and Mike, thanks so much for having us here at your headquarters in Culver City. So you have this new partnership, but you already offer over 100 channels on Amazon Prime Video. Why is this particular partnership meaningful, and what does it say about your strategy? Yeah, well, thanks for being here again. Yeah, what we've seen over the last six or seven years is an explosion of streaming services, right? You've got hundreds of them available globally. We have over 100 now on Prime Video, and it's been great for customers. You know, you get easy access to your favorite shows. You can pick and choose which ones you want to subscribe to. You have control of your entertainment budget. But what's come along with that is some pain points. So it's hard to manage multiple apps on all these different devices. We recognized this a while ago, and so we started investing heavily in making that experience in one app seamless for customers. And so as we've added each new subscription offering, we've seen incremental subscribers joining those services. We don't publish those numbers, but independent research firm Antenna recently did a study of HBO Max. Apple TV Plus and Paramount Plus and found that 89% of those subscriptions that they get from Prime Video subscriptions are incremental. And so I think having that flexibility of a customer being able to personalize their experience, adding more selection is working for customers. And I think ultimately that's what's driving new partners into the service. This is an incredibly competitive and fragmented landscape. To be the base of the bundle, which is what Amazon Prime Video wants to be, you're competing with the likes of Roku and Apple TV. And you're also competing with the likes of ESPN, which just launched a new app and a new bundle with Hulu and Disney Plus. How do you think about competition when this ESPN, Hulu, Disney Plus bundle is one of the few things that's not sold as a channel? Yeah, well, you know, we're open for business. So we're always talking to all potential partners. But we're really focused on our customer experience. And Julie, when you think about the vast array of programming that all of our partners have, plus what we deliver for Prime members, we're offering a really great experience for customers. And I think over time, you know, that we think will attract other partners as well. One thing I've heard from partners, and one reason they want to work with you, is that it's very easy to add a new channel if you're a Prime Video subscriber. You make it very easy to sign up, and that helps your partners in terms of marketing expenses. But I've also heard it's very easy for customers to cancel their subscriptions. How are you addressing these concerns around churn, especially if consumers are trying to cut back? Yeah, we work hard on that. You know, ultimately, we think it's important that a customer can subscribe easily and cancel if they want to. And I think it's up to all of us to build great experiences so that they don't. And so part of what we work on every day is, how do we integrate our partners' experiences into our personalization algorithms so that we can constantly be showing customers programming they might be interested in, depending on what their viewer behavior is. And as we get better and better at that, we've seen churn come down, not only for Prime, but for our partners as well. John? Mike, a cynic might say, this is the cable bundle all over again, just for the streaming era. How are you going to put some guardrails around that and make this better than what we moved on from? Yeah, well, that's a great question, John. I think when you think about the cable bundle, it's very inflexible, generally speaking. And I think that's one of the reasons why some customers have opted out. What we're offering is a different experience, where customers can pick and choose which services they would like to subscribe to put their own bundle together. We think that flexibility is very powerful as we go forward in the next several years. Mike, as you think about the overall business, you just closed your upfront, you said the results were strong. How do you think of Prime Video and its role within Amazon? When you started in 2020, it was kind of an extra perk for subscribers. How are you trying to generate revenue incrementally now in a way that was different than just offering an extra value? Sure. Well, when I joined, one of the things that excited me was this opportunity to build a new kind of media company. And then when you look at what we've done in the last five years, that's exactly what we've done. We acquired MGM. We've integrated that in. Now we have Amazon MGM Studios here in Culver City. We've invested heavily in live sports. We've built out this idea of all of these subscriptions all in one service. And so while we are focused on driving Prime membership and retaining them all over the world, we are building a media company in our own right. And when you think about the advertising business, we're only 18 months into that, and it's already a multi-billion dollar business growing really quickly.

It's been 13 days since President Trump said he could strike a peace deal in Ukraine, following his meeting with Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin. But Russia shows no signs of backing down, launching an aerial assault on Kyiv.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russian attack on Kyiv kills more than a dozen people

The shooter in Minneapolis fired more than 100 rounds from a rifle at the church where students at Annunciation Catholic School attended Mass. City and state officials highlighted this fact as they called for stricter gun control.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis officials call for stronger gun laws after school shooting

The shooter who killed 2 kids and injured 17 at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis had ties to the church where he targeted children celebrating a new school year during mass.

Annunciation school shooter had knowledge of church he targeted

The White House is responding to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Susan Monarez's refusal to step down from her role. CBS News' Olivia Rinaldi reports.

Washington

White House reacts to CDC director refusing to step down from role

In Tehran on Thursday, Iran’s currency traded at over 1 million to $1. At the time of the 2015 accord, it traded at 32,000 to $1, showing the currency’s precipitous collapse in the time since.

Tehran

Europe prepares sanctions as Iran's currency falls

Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in a school shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics. Warning, this video is difficult to watch.

FBI investigating Minneapolis Catholic school shooting as hate crime

UN officials and aid agencies have warned that famine in Gaza is no longer a looming threat but a present reality, with children increasingly dying of hunger. In a blunt address to the UN Security Council, officials described the famine and widespread hunger in the enclave as “engineered” and “man-made” disasters.

New York

Middle East Conflict

UN Security Council affirms Gaza famine is manmade

Denmark summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country to protest what Danish officials say is an unprecedented effort by people close to U.S. President Donald Trump to conduct secret influence operations in Greenland.

Copenhagen

Denmark accuses U.S. of covert operations in Greenland

Two young children were killed, and 17 others were injured in a shooting during a Catholic Mass packed with young students in Minneapolis. The gunman is also dead.

Minneapolis Catholic school shooting leaves two children dead

The group is accused of attempting to infiltrate Greenlandic society, including allegedly recruiting locals for a new independence movement from Denmark, according to the Danish public broadcaster, DR, who was first to break the story.

Nuuk

Denmark summons U.S envoy over claimed interference in Greenland

SpaceX on Tuesday launched its Super Heavy-Starship, the most powerful rocket in the world, for a test flight after three other flights failed earlier this year. NASA hired SpaceX to build a lunar lander version of Starship to carry astronauts to the moon.

Starbase

SpaceX launches Super Heavy-Starship in test flight

The United States has doubled tariffs on many imports from India to 50 percent, as U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to punish New Delhi for buying discounted Russian oil.

New Delhi

Global Tariffs

U.S. raises India tariffs to 50 percent over Russian oil purchases

President Donald Trump said he would seek the death penalty for murders in Washington, as part of a crackdown on what he calls out-of-control crime in the US capital.

Trump endorses death penalty return in Washington D.C.

As the Israeli military gives an initial assessment of deadly strikes on a Gaza hospital, hundreds of thousands of protesters urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire with Hamas in exchange for a hostage deal.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Protesters urge Netanyahu to reach hostage deal

Cracker Barrel says it will go back to its old logo after facing intense backlash and seeing its company value to sink by nearly $100 million after switching to a new design last week. In a statement, Cracker Barrel thanked their guests for sharing their voices.

Cracker Barrel scrapping new logo, returning to old one after backlash

The small West Tennessee town of Mason, just 2 square miles in size, is home to about 1,000 people. But its residents are now divided by what a new immigration detention facility will mean for the area.

Mason

Small Tennessee town divided over new ICE detention facility

A standoff is brewing between President Trump and economist Lisa Cook. Mr. Trump tried to fire her, claiming "there is sufficient cause" to believe that Cook made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.

Trump clashes with Fed board member Lisa Cook, pushing to oust her

Protesters demanding an end to the Gaza war and the return of hostages to their homes took to the streets in Israel on Tuesday ahead of a security cabinet meeting scheduled for the evening.

Israeli protesters demand hostage deal as cabinet set to meet

Australia accused Iran on Tuesday (August 26) of executing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran's ambassador seven days to leave the country, its first such expulsion since World War Two.

Council of the City of Sydney

Australia expels Iranian envoy over antisemitic attacks

President Donald Trump announced the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, the only Black woman to serve on the board. Critics call it an attack on the Fed's independence, while Cook says no legal cause exists for her firing.

Trump says he fired Lisa Cook from Federal Reserve board

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating new National Guard units, including a rapid-response force to handle what the administration calls civil disturbances.

White House authorizes creation of rapid-response National Guard units

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI sued Apple and ChatGPT maker OpenAI in U.S. federal court in Texas, accusing them of illegally conspiring to thwart competition for artificial intelligence.

Texas

Rise of AI

Elon Musk's xAI sues Apple, OpenAI over competition claims

Strikes on the Nasser hospital in Gaza that left at least 20 people dead, including rescuers, journalists and health-care workers are being met with global outrage. The Israeli military is investigating what Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu called a ‘tragic mishap.’

Israeli PM calls deadly strikes on Gaza hospital a ‘tragic mishap’

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in ICE custody and is facing deportation to Uganda, the Department of Homeland Security says, after he was released from criminal custody last week.

Baltimore

Abrego Garcia in ICE custody, court blocks immediate deportation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will meet with the U.S. and other countries this week to discuss a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at reaching a ceasefire.

Zelenskiy say he will meet with U.S., others on potential Putin talks

U.S. President Donald Trump says Chicago could be the next city to see National Guard deployment, sparking strong opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, who argue crime is already falling and federal intervention is unnecessary.

Chicago

Trump threatens to send National Guard troops to Chicago

Four journalists working with Reuters, Al Jazeera and others were killed in explosions at a Gaza hospital. Gaza officials blame Israeli drone strikes, though CBS News has not independently verified the claims.

Jerusalem

Four journalists reported dead after Gaza hospital blasts

U.S. National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington D.C. as part of what President Donald Trump said was his crackdown on crime began carrying weapons on Sunday night, two officials said.

National Guard patrolling Washington DC begin carrying weapons

In a visit to Kyiv, Prime Minister Mark Carney affirmed Canada’s support for Ukraine and committed to sending soldiers if a ceasefire with Russia is reached.

Breakdown