Amazon headlines from the week ending Oct. 2.

Not quite everything A to Z: On the heels of Amazon adding half a million SKUs to its catalog last week, this week Amazon said it would cut its SKU count—by two. The e-retailer plans to ban the sale of Google Inc.’s Chromecast and Apple Inc.’s Apple TV streaming media devices by the end of the month. In an email to marketplace sellers, Amazon said it would no longer allow new listings for the products and pull unsold ones by Oct. 29. The letter says the products do not “interact well” with Amazon’s own Prime Video service. Chromecast and Apple TV do not include apps that would allow consumers to stream video from Amazon’s own video service, which Amazon is aggressively growing—inking deals for exclusive rights to content and producing original programming.

Amazon also sells its own streaming media hardware, in the form of the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Fire TV, currently the No. 1 and No. 3 best-selling streaming media players sold on Amazon. Chromecast and Apple TV, meanwhile, are No. 2 and No. 4, respectively. Amazon’s decision affects the roughly 200 marketplace sellers currently selling new Chromecast devices through the Amazon marketplace, and four sellers of the Apple TV.

Speaking of content: Amazon announced a deal with CBS Corp. that gives it multiyear rights to allow streaming of some current season CBS programs. The deal is for three series that will air during the summer, and Prime customers will be able to see those shows through Prime Video four days after they air on CBS.

Separately, Amazon announced a deal with Universal Music Group to make music from Universal artists available free to Prime members through Prime Music. Universal artists include Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Drake, Lorde and Eminem.

Flexible fulfillment: Amazon is hiring part-time delivery drivers to deliver goods ordered by Prime customers through the Prime Now delivery service, which delivers goods within an hour of the customer ordering them for a $7.99 fee or within two hours for free. The program, called Amazon Flex, will pay delivery drivers $18-$25 an hour to deliver packages and is currently running in Seattle. Amazon says it will expand the Flex program to other Prime Now markets soon. Get the full story here.

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Game play: Amazon announced the launch of a T-shirt print-on-demand manufacturing service aimed at developers who design games. Merch by Amazon lets developers design their own T-shirts, which they can then promote the sale of within the games. Developers get a royalty for each shirt sold. “With Merch by Amazon, you can give your players a fun new way to interact with your brand and take your fans to the next level,” writes Mike Hines, Amazon developer evangelist, in a blog post on Amazon’s developer site. Read the blog post here.

Automated ordering extensions: More manufacturers are building Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service (DRS) technology into their products. DRS, launched earlier this year, adds Internet connectivity to everyday devices to allow those devices to automatically order goods from Amazon. (It uses the same technology as Amazon Dash Buttons.) General Electric is among 11 manufacturers that Amazon announced this week. GE is adding DRS technology to a clothes washer that will automatically reorder detergent, for example.

More fulfillment centers: Amazon this week opened a fulfillment center in Srirampore, India, which is near Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta). Amazon says the 83,000 square-foot facility is its first in the eastern part of India. Meanwhile, Amazon is poised to open its ninth and 10th fulfillment centers in the United Kingdom. A 310,000 square-foot fulfillment center will open in Dunstable, 30 miles outside London, this month. A 250,000 square-foot facility in Doncaster (in Northern England) will open later this fall. It will be the second Amazon fulfillment center in Doncaster.

Fresh hint? E-grocery is a hot business in the United Kingdom, and this week Amazon began adding perishable products to the array of grocery goods it sells online to Prime members for same-day delivery in London and Birmingham. Amazon isn’t saying, but it is widely rumored that a larger grocery rollout is in the works. Amazon offers its AmazonFresh e-grocery service in six U.S. markets.

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Next week: Amazon Web Services hosts its Re:Invent 2015 conference in Las Vegas. Werner Vogels, Amazon’s chief technology officer, delivers a keynote address. 

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