Amazon Introduces 'Kindle FreeTime Unlimited', Offers Slews Of Restriction-Free Children's Content For A Low Monthly Fee

It's no secret that Amazon is trying to turn the Kindle Fire/HD into the device that the entire family shares for content consumption, but now they've built a service that makes it even more relevant as such. Dubbed FreeTime Unlimited, the all-you-can-eat plan is serving up hot bowls of children's content, ready to be consumed day or night.

Among the unlimited content, you'll find books, games, educational software, movies, and TV shows - all just for kids. FreeTime Unlimited lets children dig through everything that's available to them, picking and choosing what to do next. The cool thing here, though, is that they've also disabled all in-app payments, ads, and all social media links/references within the FreeTime content - so parents can rest assured that their kiddos are safe inside of the virtualized world.

FreeTime Unlimited - which will be available via a software update coming "later this month" - is $3 per month per child, or $7 a month for the whole family for Prime customers. Non-Prime customers will have to shell out a bit more, with the service going for $5 per month per child, or $10 for the entire family.

For more information on FreeTime Unlimited, head here.

Introducing Kindle FreeTime UnlimitedThe All-You-Can-Eat Content Service Built From the Ground Up Just for KidsAvailable Exclusively on the All-New Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD

For the first time ever, bringing together all the types of content kids and parents lovebooks, games, educational apps, movies and TV showsinto one simple, easy-to-use service for kids ages 3-8

Unlimited access to thousands of titles including exclusive-to-Amazon Android apps and gamesall curated for age-appropriatenessa special price for Prime members of just $2.99 per month per child, or $6.99 per month per family

Featuring the best in childrens entertainment from Andrews McMeel Publishing, Chronicle Books, DC Comics,Disney, HIT Entertainment, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Marvel, Nickelodeon, PBS, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Workshop and more

Owners of the all-new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD get one month of FreeTime Unlimited for free

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2012-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)Amazon today introduced Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, bringing together for the first time all of the types of content kids and parents lovebooks, games, educational apps, movies and TV showsinto one simple, unlimited, easy-to-use service for kids ages 3-8. For a special monthly price of just $2.99 per child or $6.99 for the whole family, Prime members get unlimited access to thousands of popular kids titles. Customers who are not yet Prime members can sign up for FreeTime Unlimited for a monthly price of $4.99 per child or $9.99 per family. FreeTime Unlimited will be available on the all-new Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 as part of a free, over-the-air software update that will be automatically delivered in the coming weeks.

Kids will love FreeTime Unlimited because:

• They can explore all the content on their own and pick for themselves what to read, watch or play next
• All of their favorite characters are includedElmo, Dora, Thomas & Friends, Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen, Curious George and more
• With individual profiles, everything in their library is theirsno sharing a home screen with siblings or parents and no losing their place in a movie or TV show when someone else picks up the Kindle Fire
• They can easily explore their favorite topicspick a favorite subject like Princesses and navigate seamlessly between princess books, princess games and princess TV shows

Parents will love FreeTime Unlimited because:

• All apps have in-app payments, advertisements and social media removed
• They dont have to worry that kids will run up a bill
• All-you-can-eat pricing means they dont have to enter into negotiations with kids about what to buy or rentYou already rented that yesterday is a relic of the past
• All of the content is already pre-screened for age-appropriateness

As a parent its hard to predict what my daughter is going to enjoy, or which movie shes going to watch 50 times in a rowso I buy a range of content and hope for the bestbut I get it wrong frequently, said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. FreeTime Unlimited gives kids the freedom to explore age-appropriate content on their own and pick for themselves what they want to watch, play or read next. For as little as $2.99 a month, your child will have unlimited access to thousands of popular books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows fromDisney, Nickelodeon, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, PBS, Sesame Workshop and more.

Kindle FreeTime Unlimited is an optional extension to Kindle FreeTime, a free feature on the new Kindle Fire family, which re-invents parental controls and offers parents new tools like Time Limits, which helps parents manage their kids screen time. FreeTime Unlimited is designed to make FreeTime even better for parents and kids: when a parent signs up for FreeTime Unlimited, thousands of content titles automatically appear in FreeTime, sorted by their kids age and gender, alongside the titles parents have already approved from their own collection of content. Kids can follow their own imaginations across books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows without being dependent on help from mom and dad. Parents can feel comfortable handing off their Kindle Fire to their kids, knowing that all of the content is age-appropriate. Kids will recognize many of their favorite characters like Elmo, Dora, Thomas & Friends, Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen and Curious Georgeall available with Kindle FreeTime Unlimited.

With games like Where's My Water? and Where's My Perry? Disney is bringing hours of entertainment to Kindle users in any age group, said Tim O'Brien, VP of Business Development, Disney Games. Amazon's Kindle FreeTime Unlimited is a great way to introduce some of Disney's most popular apps to an even larger audience.

Nickelodeon has been serving kids for more than 33 years providing them with fun and enjoyable experiences on multiple platforms, said Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President and General Manager, DigitalNickelodeon. We are thrilled to offer our content as part of Amazon's innovative new service for kids.

We are thrilled that HIT Entertainments trusted content portfolio is part of the launch of Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, said Natasha Fishman, Senior Director, Digital Media & Marketing, HIT Entertainment. Our beloved brands, including Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, Barney, Angelina Ballerina, and Pingu encourage discovery and inspire imagination in kids and are a perfect complement to FreeTime Unlimiteds carefully curated mix. Whether its playing with apps, reading e-books, or watching movies, fans will have plenty of their favorite HIT characters from which to choose.

PBS KIDS is dedicated to providing educational and engaging content that opens up worlds of possibilities for kids, said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Childrens Media, PBS. We are excited to work with Amazon on Kindle FreeTime Unlimited to offer a new opportunity for todays on-the-go kids to play and explore with their favorite PBS KIDS characters in an age-appropriate way.

I am excited that Reading Rainbow has been chosen by Amazon to be a key representative of quality children's programming in their new FreeTime Unlimited offering, said LeVar Burton, Host and Producer of the iconic television show. In making these 25 episodes of Reading Rainbow available for children, I hope that they and their parents can enjoy watching the series together, and remind themselves that through the pages of a good book, they can go anywhere.

We are thrilled to work with Amazons newest service to deliver some of the most engaging educational content weve created for children and their families, said Scott Chambers, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Media Distribution, Sesame Workshop. From Sesame Street episodes, eBooks, and apps to episodes of our other award-winning series The Electric Company and Pinky Dinky Doo, our offering encourages children to learn while having fun with some of their favorite characters.

The Best Games and Learning Apps for Kids

FreeTime Unlimited offers many of the most popular childrens games, with all in-app ads and in-app purchasing removed. Games include Disneys bestselling Wheres My Water? and Wheres My Perry?, as well as Fruit Ninja Puss N Boots, Cut The Rope, Peekaboo Barn, Counting with the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Magic Piano and popular early development games like Kids Learn to Read, My First Puzzles Dinosaurs and SUPER WHY!

Favorite Childrens Books

Kindle FreeTime Unlimited features beautiful childrens picture books, including new and classic favorites like Big Nate, Ivy and Bean, Phineas & Ferb, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda as well as books by Caldecott-honored authors such as Chris Van Allsburgs Jumanji and Barbara Lehmans The Red Book.

FreeTime Unlimited also includes hundreds of eBook apps with Read-to-Me functionality and in-book games from characters such as Thomas & Friends, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Arthur, Duck and Goose, Caillou and Superman, and from award-winning childrens author Sandra Boynton (Moo, Baa, La La La!).

Popular Kids Movies and TV Shows

FreeTime Unlimited includes movies from Barney, Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam and Angelina Ballerina, as well as TV shows like Sesame Street, Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, Diego, Yo Gabba Gabba, The Backyardigans, Rugrats, Arthur, Reading Rainbow, Caillou, and Garfield.

Amazon is also working with Common Sense Media, the non-profit organization that provides independent ratings of books, movies, television, apps, games, websites, and music, and many of their top-rated media choices for children are included in Kindle FreeTime Unlimited.

Millions of parents trust Common Sense Media's ratings and reviews to find quality media for their kids, and we're excited to work with Amazon to inform a great deal of the selections available in Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, making this a great choice for parents, said Amy Guggenheim Shenkan, President and COO of Common Sense Media. We also endorse FreeTime Unlimiteds ad-free environment and blocking of in-app purchases for kids as we know from experience that these features will make parents more comfortable.

FreeTime Unlimited will be available on the all-new Kindle Fire family as part of a free, over-the-air software update that will be automatically delivered in the coming weeks. After receiving the software update, customers can sign up for FreeTime Unlimited from within the Kindle FreeTime app on their $159 Kindle Fire, $199 Kindle Fire HD, and $299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Customers can learn more at www.amazon.com/freetimeunlimited.