Mythbusters, Cake Boss come to Amazon's instant video service

Amazon's Prime Instant Videos has added 3,000 new titles from Discovery Communications, bringing the total number of videos available to subscribers to 17,000.

The new programs, announced today, include series and specials from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, among other Discovery networks, as well as shows from its 25-year programming library. Among the new titles available to Prime members: "Deadliest Catch," "Mythbusters," "Man vs. Wild," "Dirty Jobs," "Shark Week," "Cake Boss," and "Whale Wars."

In a note on Amazon's home page today, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos notes that the deal is the largest addition ever to the Prime collection. Amazon has recently cut similar deals with Viacom and Fox, among others.

The new shows bolster Amazon's effort to compete with Netflix using its Prime service. Customers pay $79 a year to join Prime to receive free two-day shipping on many products Amazon sells. Amazon added free video streaming to the service to keep those loyal shoppers happy.

Prime members can stream the content on the new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, as well as on their televisions using Net-connected devices such as Roku, with which Amazon has a partnership.

Amazon also offers 120,000 titles to all customers for rental or purchase.