Take that, Netflix. Beginning on May 21 the multi-year agreement will enable Amazon Prime subscribers to stream series including The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, and later — about three years after episodes initially air — Girls, The Newsroom and Veep. In addition, by year end Amazon will offer HBO GO on its new Fire TV platform. (It’s already available to HBO subscribers on other devices including Google’s Chromecast.) The shows will still be available on HBO’s platforms, but the companies say that this is the first time the premium pay TV channel’s shows have been licensed to an online-only streaming service. “As owners of our original programming, we have always sought to capitalize on that investment,” HBO EVP Business and Legal Affairs Glenn Whitehead says.
Related: Will HBO’s Deal With Amazon Change The Online Video Game?
Amazon shares are up 1.4% pre market, and Netflix is down 2.7%, following the announcement. That suggests investors didn’t fully accept Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ claim on Monday that the streaming video providers can peacefully coexist. “It’s a very much not a zero-sum game and we are building this ecosystem together that’s about Internet video and the more players there are in Internet video, the bigger that ecosystem gets,” he said. “The big theme is Internet video is taking share away from linear video. So we are all participating in that transformation.” He has more mixed feelings about HBO: In January he joked that HBO chief Richard Plepler’s Netflix password was probably: “Netflix bitch.”
Stifel analyst Benjamin Mogil says HBO probably made its deal with Amazon, instead of Netflix, because there’s less overlap among their subscribers. Still, it’s “clearly a negative for Netflix, given the high profile nature of the HBO content” and could “somewhat limit” the streaming company’s just-announced plan to raise its prices for new customers. He notes, though, that HBO and Amazon released few details about the deal terms and that it doesn’t include all HBO shows.
Here’s today’s announcement from HBO and Amazon:
SEATTLE—April 23, 2014—(NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced a content licensing agreement with HBO, making Prime Instant Video the exclusive online-only subscription home for select HBO programming. The collection includes award-winning shows such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Big Love, Deadwood, Eastbound & Down, Family Tree, Enlightened, Treme, early seasons of Boardwalk Empire and True Blood, as well as mini-series like Band of Brothers, John Adams and more. Previous seasons of other HBO shows, such as Girls, The Newsroom and Veep will become available over the course of the multi-year agreement, approximately three years after airing on HBO. The first wave of content will arrive on Prime Instant Video May 21. 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.
In addition, HBO GO will become available on Fire TV, targeting a launch by year-end. HBO GO is HBO’s authenticated streaming service offering subscribers instant access to over 1,700 titles online including every episode of new and classic HBO series, as well as HBO original films, miniseries, sports, documentaries, specials and a wide selection of blockbuster movies.
“HBO has produced some of the most groundbreaking, beloved and award-winning shows in television history, with more than 115 Emmys amongst the assortment of shows coming to Prime members next month,” said Brad Beale, Director of Content Acquisition for Amazon. “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.”
“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.
“As owners of our original programming, we have always sought to capitalize on that investment. Given our longstanding relationship with Amazon, we couldn’t think of a better partner to entrust with this valuable collection,” said Glenn Whitehead, Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, who along with Schreger headed up HBO’s negotiating team. “We’re also excited to bring HBO GO to Amazon’s Fire TV. The features like unified voice search will provide a compelling experience for HBO customers.”
Beginning May 21, Amazon Prime members will have unlimited streaming access to:
– 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
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.
so thats why prime went up in price. and we all thought it was the price on shipping had gone up. i bet they paid through the nose on this.
Exactly, HBO must me making bank on this deal. It was my first thought after “Wow!!!”
Holy shit.
Exactly. This kind of feels like the beginning of the end for bundling. If subscribers can get HBO on SVOD now, it will absolutely change how we view the necessity of cable.
I’m assuming this doesn’t include The High Life. I’d kill to get my hands on all 8 episodes.
This is massive.
Wow, Amazon might attract sixty or seventy people for those Girls episodes, maybe eleven for The Family Tree. Seriously, if they didn’t have GAME OF THRONES HBO would be running Veg-O-Matic commercials.
Where does it say that those are the ONLY HBO series they’re licensing to Amazon?
Cmon, if Game of Thrones were part of the package, it would have been in the press release!
Maybe they won’t put everything out there all at once. There’s a three year gap in between content and Game of Thrones just began its fourth season. Sheesh.
Three years after the original program aired?? Good luck with that. No one waits three years to watch a show. Piracy is not the enemy, it’s the competition. No one, short of your grandparents, will wait that long to see a series. Netflix offers the entire previous season just as the new season is about to begin. That’s how you do it. This is a joke.
Bingo. I dont see how AMC releasing Walking Dead, Breaking Bad previous seasons just prior to a new season starting hurting ratings.
Not so sir, I have not watch a single episode of Game of Thrones, I’m not about to spend $45 on a season on blu-ray, and I don’t see the necessity of paying for cable/satellite, for programming that get repeated day after day.
If I waited this long to watch that show or any cable show for that matter what’s 3 more years.
Does this mean Lackawana Blues, Something the Lord Made, Warm Springs and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers will be available too? HBO has made them unavailable forever.
But not, I note, GAME OF THRONES.
Not sure, Hunter. Good question. Anyone?
But does Amazon reciprocate, and allow HBO to air some of their original series??
ahahhahahahhaha
Hahahaha! Good one.
Wow. Netflix could’ve delivered a death blow by getting this deal done but Amazon just made a giant move that will be the beginning of the real “Stream Wars”. This is going to get “Beta Vs VHS” and Blu Ray Vs HD DVD. HBO going to amazon means Warner’s will follow. Netflix has those Marvel titles AND Disney but HBO is a goldmine. However, its older content. Netflix made its bones with AMC allowing new episodes of Mad Men, Breaking Bad & Walking Dead mere months after airing. Had this included Game of Thrones? Oh my..
i hope they also get Arliss. that show was so great. still stands up today.
This is not exactly a game changer. It’s for older “library” stuff that’s been off the air for 3+ years or more, does not include classic shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or “Sex In The City”, nor does it include the current/newer stuff like “True Detective” or “Game of Thrones”. It IS a step in the right direction for HBO and Amazon, and there’s always the possibility of expansion, but it’s clear that if HBO is doing this, they’re feeling the pinch of Netflix and the new generation of viewers who won’t even think of buying a cable subscription let alone paying extra for HBO.
Since Netflix is having a high rate of success with its own original programming, swept many awards, and Amazon is only getting its toes with that arena, and not quite as successfully. – I’m not sure why they would be threatened by this. it’s typical overstatement by news media. HBO has not had a hit series on the order of the Sopranos for a while. G of T is not made by HBO is it?
Yes, Game of Thrones is an HBO production. It’s their biggest hit since The Sopranos.
I don’t think it was just this. The price had never been raised before even after they added the video and eBook content.
Now that I’ve had a chance to think it through after my jaw dropped, it’s not quite as shocking as I first thought. It’s basically a bundled syndication deal. HBO sold Sopranos repeats to A&E and syndicated Entourage to TBS. If memory serves, neither deal was a ratings bonanza for those basic cable channels. That said, it’s impressive. Amazon Prime gets a big injection of new content while HBO finds a new after-market revenue stream as DVD sales continue to shrink. And they both get to poke Netflix in the eye. It will be interesting to see HBO/HBO GO evolve into a future where maybe (maybe!) they won’t be tethered to cable operators.
This definitely should make Netflix cautious about raising rates for existing subscribers, especially if Netflix continues to fail to upgrade their streaming library significantly. Giving us The Croods is not equal to HBO’s library. Amazon is far too attractive an alternative now. Good for consumers that there is healthy competition in the streaming space, unlike cable and internet.
Ironically, I’ve already seen most of the titles on that list. Through Netflix. On DVD. How about something made in this millennium?
Netflix shouldn’t have too much to worry over this. After all, they acheived their 35 million US subscribers without HBO content available on streaming. I’d guess that many of their long term customers were once using the dvd service, and rented the disc of the HBO shows they were interested in. Only their newer-and younger streaming users would want the older HBO shows available, so they could avoid buying the dvds.
So, doesn’t this actually put more pressure on Amazon to lure more of it’s subscribers into using Prime Instant? Don’t they have like, 50 million subcribers in the US, but they choose not to reveal how many of that number avail themselves of the Prime Instant service? If Netflix can add an average 2 mil per quarter, and if Amazon can’t sway an equilvalent number of it’s existing base to use the service, how harmful will this deal wind up being for them?
I wish Amazon would consider monthly, or even quarterly subscriptions, rather than yearly pay up front fees. Make it just for Prime Instant service, and they could I believe, increase their numbers easily.
I agree with Dr. Mac, Amazon should consider monthly subscriptions – I am not tempted to “try” Prime for a year.
What’s most interesting to me is the question of which cable channels will be smart enough to keep their brands alive during the transition to streaming and which ones will become the next, AOL, MySpace?
I can still get all the HBO shows through Netflix via the mailing the disks way, right? And much sooner than three years after they air. I know it’s old school (and not cool) to not stream everything, but not really that hard and still relatively cheap.
Yes, you can. And it’s still very easy – walking to my mailbox is not a significant amount of effort, even compared with clicking my Roku.
You guys aren’t paying attention to the churn Netflix suffers from. Amazon Prime has considerbly less churn because it’s an annual charge vs monthly AND Prime offers much more than just streaming services.
Netflix knew content renewal rates would be prohibitive over the next few years (EPIX went to Prime while the SVOD windows slowly close at Netflix) so they needed to get into original programming to have sustainability.
This is just the first step for HBO and Amazon. Expect more.
How much more is there? Sure, they could offer Game of Thrones…Curb Your Enthusiasm (not everyone goes for that)…Entourage (everyone’s forgotten by now)…HBO has blown its wad and Amazon has nothing to blow.
As a Netflix subscriber, I haven’t had streaming access to HBO shows. I like them. I watch them on DVD. I don’t want to wait 3 years before seeing them. What I want is to subscribe to HBO directly without the baggage, hassle and cost of cable. This Amazon deal sounds like a toe pointed in that direction, but it’s not enough. It’s not the true HBO experience. On the other hand, Netflix has some great original programming and obviously aspires to be HBO. Dusting off old Sopranos episodes, that’s big of them.
I’m sure many people will cancel NFLX after OITNB comes out then re-sign seven to eight months later before HOC S3 premieres. Even with the increased price, it’s a better deal (especially w/ one month free).
Just pay for cable you cheap SOBs. Amazon Prime is just icing on the cake anyway. You could have it all and more than you ever dreamed of…
does this include region 2 hope it does