Now You Can Watch ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘True Blood’ And More HBO Shows on Amazon Prime
While HBO Go may still be suffering some technical glitches when it comes to timed mass viewings, Amazon is looking to take over streaming for the premium cable giant — at least for older shows. Amazon and HBO have signed a multi-year deal to bring the network’s programming to Amazon Prime members. Select shows will be made available on Prime Instant Video after approximately three years post-airing on HBO with the first wave of content hitting Prime Instant Video on May 21st.
Certain hits, however, are not part of the pact. According to a report in Variety, “Game of Thrones” will “never be coming to Amazon Prime Instant Video” under the agreement. Other new shows that won’t be made available outside of HBO’s platforms include “True Detective” and “Silicon Valley” because new and future HBO shows are excluded from the deal. The press release states, “Previous seasons of other HBO shows, such as “Girls,” “The Newsroom” and “Veep” will become available over the course of the multi-year agreement.” Key words: “such as.” In addition to new shows, “Sex and the City,” “Entourage,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are also exempt from the deal because of preexisting syndication deals in the U.S.
While this is the first time HBO shows have been licensed to an online-only subscription streaming service, all of their content will remain available on other HBO platforms. HBO Go is still very much alive. In fact, it’s headed to Amazon’s new Fire TV, a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV for easy access to streaming services, much like Google Chromecast. While HBO Go was only available via your computer for some time, it’s slowly crept onto other services like Apple TV, Roku, and, more recently, the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 video game consoles.
“Amazon has built a wonderful service — we are excited to have our programming made available to their vast customer base and believe the exposure will create new HBO subscribers,” said Charles Schreger, President of Programming Sales for HBO.
The multi-year agreement will provide unlimited streaming access to Amazon Prime Members of the following shows (from the press release):
– All seasons of revered classics such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome and Six Feet Under, and of recent favorites such as Eastbound & Down, Enlightened and Flight of the Conchords
– Epic miniseries, including Angels in America, Band of Brothers, John Adams, The Pacific and Parade’s End
– Select seasons of current series such as Boardwalk Empire, Treme and True Blood
– Hit original movies like Game Change, Too Big To Fail and You Don’t Know Jack
– Pedigreed documentaries including the Autopsy and Iceman series, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and When the Levees Broke
– Hilarious original comedy specials from Lewis Black, Ellen DeGeneres, Louis CK and Bill Maher
Over the life of the deal, additional seasons of active shows listed above will be added as well as seasons of “Girls,” “The Newsroom,” and “Veep.”
