> Could be a solid strategy compared to the competition.

I thought the same, but from a different angle. Traditional channels with commercials can be monetized by Amazon in a way the rest of the big 5 can't. Watching a commercial on an Amazon channel for a new brand of chips? "Alexa, get me some of those chips". Amazon knows what you're watching, what the commercial is, where you live, has your payment information, and has the fulfillment infrastructure. Boom. Buy the commercial, get your new chips in 2 days.

By turning commercials into trackable purchase events, Amazon might be able to better monetize traditional, commercial-ridden television than any other player. That includes existing cable providers (!).