HBO doesn’t ink agreements with every other online video streaming service out there which is why before it launched HBO Now, it was difficult to stream the cable giant’s content online legally. Amazon Prime was one service that had some HBO shows in its library but that’s going to change next year. It has been confirmed that HBO Shows on Amazon Prime will no longer be available in 2018.
HBO CEO Richard Plepler said that all HBO shows on Amazon Prime are going to be pulled by mid-2018 once the existing agreement with Amazon ends. There’s a good reason why it’s doing this. It wants to put the spotlight on HBO Now, it’s very own streaming service which provides access to HBO’s entire library of on-demand content as well as a linear stream of the channel itself.
Amazon and HBO signed this agreement back in 2014 and it was a big win for the former. It was able to put some of HBO’s best shows on its service, shows like The Sopranos and The Wire. This was at a time when Amazon Video was trying to make its mark and having HBO’s content on board really helped its cause.
Things have changed for both companies since then. Amazon is now more focused on creating original content for its video service while HBO is running its own streaming service and it obviously wants people to sign up for that.
Those who want to watch old HBO shows will now have to opt for its own service as that content will no longer be available on Amazon Video.
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