Amazon will make the entire first season of “Orphan Black” available free to stream in the U.S. on Friday, ahead of the clone-conspiracy thriller’s season-three debut on TV.
The first 10 episodes of the show, starring Golden Globe-nominee Tatiana Maslany, will be available for free Friday, starting at 12:01 a.m. PT and ending at 11:59 p.m. PT, on Amazon Instant Video apps for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, and on the web.
The e-commerce giant’s goal: to get binge-watchers hooked on “Orphan Black” so they’ll subscribe to Amazon Prime to catch up on season 2. Amazon last year struck a pact with BBC Worldwide North America under which Prime Instant Video is the exclusive subscription VOD service for seasons one and two of the series. The unlimited video service is available through the $99-per-year Prime membership program geared around free two-day shipping.
Season three of “Orphan Black” premieres Saturday, April 18, at 9 p.m. ET on BBC America as well as on sister networks AMC, IFC, Sundance TV and We TV. Separately, IFC is running an “Orphan Black” marathon starting Friday with back-to-back airings of the first two seasons.