Amazon And HBO Ink New Content Deal For Prime Instant Video
April 23, 2014
Remember when Amazon raised the price it charges for Prime membership? Today, it showed why the price hike may be justified.
Amazon has announced a content licensing agreement with HBO, making Prime Instant Video the exclusive online-only subscription home for select HBO programming. Additionally, it was announced that the HBO Go channel is coming to Amazon’s new Fire TV before the end of the year.
Beginning May 21, Amazon Prime members will have unlimited streaming access to:
The multi-year deal will bring additional seasons of the current series named above, along with early seasons of other series like "Girls," "The Newsroom," and "Veep" to Prime members over the life of the deal. This is the first time that HBO programming has been licensed to an online-only subscription streaming service. This programming will remain on all HBO platforms. According to Brad Beale, director of content acquisition for Amazon:
- 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
HBO original content is some of the most-popular across Amazon Instant Video—our customers love watching these shows. Now Prime members can enjoy a collection of great HBO shows on an unlimited basis, at no additional cost to their Prime membership.In March, Amazon raised the price for its popular Prime service in the United States for the first time in nine years. Originally $79 per year, the service now costs $99. Like all Prime programming, the shows mentioned above will be available through the universal Amazon Instant Video app.
