HBO shows going to AMAZON PRIME. ‘Cept like no ‘THRONES’, man.

hbo go and shit

Great news, Amazon Prime customers! (Hi!). Well, except for those Amazon Prime customers who have HBO (Hi!). The Prime Service has signed a deal with the Home Box Office to bring a litany of shows to their streaming service. The only caveat? Some select fucking shows aren’t offered. Like you know. Thrones. And True Detective. #SMH as they say.

Or, I should say, HBO shows will finally be available online legally to non-HBO subscribers. Because, while it’s technically illegal for someone who doesn’t get HBO to log into someone else’s HBO GO account, it’s not like that ever stopped anyone. But HBO GO isn’t the subject of this news. Nope. HBO’s getting in bed with the Overlord of the Internet: Amazon.

Edit: This just in: According to Variety HBO’s Amazon deal does not include Game of Thrones. Ditto EntourageCurb Your Enthusiasm, and Sex and the City, which have other U.S. syndication deals. And “new and future shows,” including True Detective and Silicon Valley, are excluded under the current deal as well. Thanks, HBO.

HBO and Amazon have entered into a licensing deal that will allow Amazon Prime Instant Video to be the exclusive online-only (HBO GO is cable and online, so that doesn’t count) streaming service for classic HBO shows and miniseries like The Sopranos, The WireSix Feet UnderJohn Adams, and Angels in America.

Great news for Amazon Prime subscribers who finally want to get around to Band of Brothers. Not-so-great news for people who were chomping at the bit for a way to get legal streaming access to currently airing shows like Game of Thrones. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Previous seasons of newer shows including Veep, The Newsroom, and Girls will become available approximately three years after airing on HBO.” HBO GO, with all its shows, new and old, will also be available on Amazon’s streaming media player Fire TV by the end of the year.

It’s not exactly the $10/month a la carte subscription to HBO GO that many people wanted, but honestly, that was never going to happen. As a premium cable network, HBO makes the vast majority of their moolah, not from advertising like basic cable networks do, but from subscription fees. Keeping those fees rolling in depends on maintaining amicable relationships with cable companies like Time Warner, which, to put it lightly, don’t want current subscribers to have the option to downgrade to a less-expensive plan. There’s no financial reason for HBO to offer an HBO GO-only model. [The Mary Sue]