HBO have inked an exclusive deal with Amazon Prime, bringing HBO programing to the streaming service. The first HBO content will come to Amazon Prime on May 21st and include every episode of several completed HBO series, including
The Sopranos,
The Wire,
Deadwood,
Rome, Six Feet Under, Eastbound & Down,
Enlightened and
Flight of the Conchords and HBO miniseries like Angels in America, Band of Brothers, John Adams, The Pacific and Parade’s End.
As for current series, HBO’s press release notes that seasons of shows like
Girls,
The Newsroom and
Veep will become available approximately three years after airing on HBO.
True Blood and
Boardwalk Empire, having been on the air longer, are among series that will have their earliest seasons available beginning May 21st.
While this is pretty restrictive compared to most deals for streaming services -- where the most recent seasons commonly become available shortly before the new seasons begin airing -- this entire deal is a very notable one for HBO, who have resisted putting their programing on any online-only subscription streaming service until now. HBO notes that all of their series will continue to be available on HBO GO for HBO subscribers, but for those who do no have HBO, but do use Amazon Prime, this has the opportunity to bring plenty of new viewers to classic shows like The Wire and Deadwood or to hook in new viewers on current shows like Boardwalk - where you'd then perhaps be inclined to order HBO to catch up on several more seasons.
Why We Love Deadwood
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Notably absent from a single mention in HBO and Amazon’s press release however is the title
Game of Thrones. It seems HBO may be leaving their current crown jewel to themselves. It’s also worth noting that among HBO series of the past, while shows like
Oz and Treme are mentioned as those that will make it to Amazon Prime, Sex and the City – one of the channel’s biggest hits – is also not mentioned at all, making it likely that’s another show that, for whatever reason, won’t be included. Also left off the press release are
Curb Your Enthusiasm,
Entourage and
True Detective, plus
Luck, Carnivàle, Bored to Death, Hung, John from Cincinnati and How to Make it in America, among other HBO series.
Regardless, Amazon Prime getting the HBO streaming rights at all is a big move, as Amazon works to secure more buzzed about series – current Amazon Prime exclusives include Hannibal, The Americans, Orphan Black and Justified – as they look to bring more eyes to their content, both acquired and original, in the hopes of positioning themselves as a viable alternative to Netflix.
Meanwhile, HBO also have announced that HBO GO will become available on Fire TV by the end of the year.
Thank You Based Amazon
