Photo: Courtesy of HBO.If you know someone who works at Netflix, give them a hug today. They're going to need it. The streaming giant's main competitor, Amazon, announced an agreement that will make their streaming service, Prime Instant Video, the only place to get HBO content online without a subscription to the network.
As of May 21, Prime subscribers will have access to some of HBO's most iconic titles, including The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Six Feet Under, Rome, Eastbown & Down, Enlightened, and Flight of the Conchords. Early seasons of Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, and Treme will also be available. Amazon also promises that Girls, The Newsroom, and Veep will become available once their seasons pass the three-year mark from airing.
One of Netflix's biggest downsides (besides that price increase) was the inability to watch HBO's original series, which include some of the most popular and critically acclaimed shows in the history of television. Two of those shows, however — Game of Thrones and True Detective — weren't part of the agreement, which should have the folks at Netflix breathing a tiny sigh of relief. While they still have a tiny edge over Amazon — thanks to highly popular original content like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black — this new partnership with HBO proves that in the war for online streaming subscribers, Jeff Bezos ain't playing around.