The pioneer of e-commerce is going to greatly expand their range of video content. Amazon on Wednesday announced plans to launch its own comedies and children’s television programs to digital transmission, and requested contributions from developers.

The Internet giant also said that their division Amazon Studios now aims to develop comedies and children’s series. Amazon has started to create television programs for their own online distribution system, but its latest announcement realizes its plans to include sitcoms comedies and children’s programs.

“Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming that audiences will love,” said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. “In the course of developing movies, we’ve heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children’s genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series.”

Due to increasing competition from Netflix in the U.S., Amazon is forced to expand its library of multimedia materials. Amazon Studios was launched less than two years ago and has already received more than 700 movies from various film distributors, 7,000 pilot scripts, and currently 15 ongoing film projects.

The series will be distributed through Amazon Instant Video, the digital video streaming service from Amazon. Amazon Studios is asking content developers and writers to submit a five page details of the show along with 11-minute pilot scripts for a children’s show or 22-minute script for a comedy show.

“We’re now developing original programming for Amazon Instant Video. Submit your children’s series or comedy series idea — it could be the next hit show,” says a message on the company’s Web site. “Within 45 days of submission, Amazon Studios will either extend an option on the project for $10,000 or invite the creator to add the project to the Amazon Studios site. If a project is not optioned, creators may remove their idea from the Amazon Studios site or leave it to get community feedback.”

Each new project will be tested for a month and if the idea is selected for production, the creator will receive a payment of $55,000, and up to 5 percent of Amazon’s net income by licensing toys and t-shirts, and other royalties and bonuses.

The accessibility of streaming devices like smartphones, tablets and game consoles and the rise of cable and satellite have pushed streaming demands to the hilt. Amazon competitor, Hulu, the free-for-all model Internet TV provider, is moving towards a new model where paid TV customers can only watch their favorite shows. Viewers would have to log in with their satellite TV account number or cable to stream shows and other content. The move is aimed at keeping cable companies and networks to profit and protect their contents and creating a revenue sharing model among cable and free TV providers.

The sudden entry into the world of sitcoms can open new possibilities in this market, suggesting to a rivalry with the major studios. Amazon does have a distribution network and already a publisher of media and all the capabilities to make Amazon Studios a big success.

Amazon’s rivals Netflix announced plans to launch its first original episodic show, Lilyhammer, earlier this year. Last month, Hulu presented four original shows, including The Awesomes, an animated series from Saturday Night Live; Endgame or The Booth at the End. YouTube is investing in original content providers to create a digital content ecosystem.