HBO plans to pull its titles from Amazon Prime Video in 2018
Amazon Prime Video’s lineup is about to get a bit smaller following HBO’s investor earnings call. HBO’s CEO, Richard Piepler, shared that HBO plans to pull its titles from Amazon’s streaming services in 2018 after the current licensing agreement expires.
This move isn’t all that surprising, considering the explosion of HBO Now and HBO Go as methods to view content for lovers of HBO content. Piepler also shared that since older titles such as ‘The Wire’ and ‘The Sopranos’ are available on both HBO Now and Amazon Prime, there has been a bit of a competition brewing between the streaming platforms.
The original terms of the deal signed in 2014 stated that shows would be made available 3 years after its initial run on HBO. However, with HBO announcing its intended plans for 2018, the network will not be sharing seasons of current shows with Amazon’s Prime services.
It’s not like Amazon is being left without content though, as we have seen the improvement of its original series offerings. These include ‘Man in the High Castle’ and others, as well as the ability to view content from the likes of Starz, Cinemax, and Showtime.
[Variety]