Amazon & HBO Sign Multi-Year Deal To Bring True Blood And Other HBO Programming To Prime Members

Amazon and HBO have signed a multi-year deal to make Amazon Prime the exclusive online-only streaming service for select HBO shows. The agreement includes 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, and mini-series like Band of Brothers, John Adams and more. Moving forward, early seasons of other HBO shows, such as Girls, are also be added, timed to become available about three years after airing on HBO. All content will also remain available through HBO platforms. Additionally, HBO GO will also be made available for Amazon's recently launched Fire TV. HBO GO is planned to launch on the new device by the end of the year and will provide HBO subscribers with instant streaming access to newly every episode of new and classic HBO series, as well as HBO original films, miniseries, sports, documentaries, specials and a of 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." On May 21, Amazon Prime subscribers will be able to stream:

• All seasons of classics such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome and Six Feet Under, and of recent shows such as Eastbound & Down, Enlightenedand Flight of the Conchords
• 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
• Original movies like Game Change, Too Big To Fail and You Don't Know Jack
• Documentaries including the Autopsy and Iceman series, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and When the Levees Broke
• Original comedy specials from Lewis Black, Ellen DeGeneres, Louis CK and Bill Maher

Over the course of the multi-year deal new seasons of the currently available series will be made available, as well as additional series like Girls, The Newsroom and Veep.