Amazon.com forged a licensing agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, letting the online retailer add ‘‘The Silence of the Lambs,’’ and hundreds of other movies and TV shows to its Internet video service.
Amazon’s Prime Instant Video catalog now includes more than 18,000 films and TV episodes, the Seattle-based e-commerce company said Wednesday. Users can watch the programs on their computers, Kindle Fire tablets, or other devices.
The MGM catalog, which includes ‘‘Terminator,’’ ‘‘Dances With Wolves,’’ and ‘‘Rain Man,’’ will help Amazon’s video service compete with rival offerings from Apple and Google’s YouTube. The companies are racing to add more content and features as more consumers start to watch more on their computers.
‘‘MGM offers one of the most distinguished catalogs in all of Hollywood,’’ said Brad Beale, an Amazon digital video content official.