HBO pulling its shows from Amazon Prime in 2018

HBO and Amazon are parting ways in mid-2018, according to Variety. HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler made the announcement to investors on Time Warner’s first quarter earnings call. “I don’t think you’ll see us extend or expand our library programming on Amazon beyond the end of next year,” he said.

At the moment, Amazon and HBO have a four-year licensing deal valued in the $250 millon-$300 million range. Under that deal, Amazon can stream select shows from HBO’s large library — including The Wire, Sopranos, True Blood, and of course, Game of Thrones — on Amazon Prime. Now, HBO seems to think the deal no longer makes sense in light of HBO’s attempt to build its own base of subscribers for HBO Now, a base that is rapidly growing. Basically, as HBO Now already has all of HBO’s shows on it with with no licensing agreements needed, HBO feels it’s competing with itself by licensing shows to Amazon.

When the HBO and Amazon deal was announced in 2014, the plan was for newer series like Girls and Game of Thrones to be available on Amazon for three years after their final seasons. Now it looks like that won’t happen. So if you use Amazon Prime to get your Thrones fix, stream while you can.