Amazon Prime Just Got Way Better With A Ton Of Old HBO Shows

Amazon Prime Just Got Way Better With A Ton Of Old HBO Shows

If you have Amazon Prime, you officially no longer need your roommate's mom's neighbor's HBO Go password to finish your "Sopranos" binge-fest.

"The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," "Deadwood" and many other HBO classics will be made available to subscribers of Amazon Prime on May 21, the two companies announced Wednesday. HBO signed a deal with Amazon to make its archive of television programs available for streaming for Prime customers. This is the first time HBO content has been available on an online-only streaming service.

The main catch is that only shows that have been out for three or more years will show up on Amazon Prime. Older shows like "The Wire" and "Big Love" will be available in their entirety, while the newest seasons of "Girls" and "Veep" won't be available for three more years. The only way to stream seasons broadcast in the past three years is through HBO Go, which is only available to HBO subscribers saddled with an expensive cable package.

One twist: Certain tentpole franchises in the HBO universe, including "Game Of Thrones," "Sex and the City," "Entourage," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" are not part of the Amazon deal, Re/code reports. These series are apparently just too popular for HBO to give up.

Right now, an Amazon Prime subscription costs $99 per year. In addition to streaming video, it also includes free two-day shipping on many goods sold by the online retail giant and access to Kindle's lending library. That price went up from $79 last March.

Don't have Prime or HBO Go and still want to watch classic HBO shows? A few, like "The Sopranos," are available through Netflix's DVD rental service and are generally available for purchase on DVD.

HBO Go is also coming to Amazon's new $99 streaming media player, Amazon Fire, by the end of the year.

This deal could be a blow to Netflix, which has been in competition with Amazon's streaming service since its inception. Last August, Netflix snatched up an exclusive streaming deal with The Weinstein Co. for its movies, including "The Artist" and "The King's Speech." Both Amazon and Netflix have also released their own original shows to entice new subscribers.

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