HBO is No Longer Available on Amazon Prime

Kyle Tribble
·3 min read

Advertiser Disclosure: At Slickdeals, we work hard to find the best deals. Some products in our articles are from partners who may provide us with compensation, but this doesn’t change our opinions.

Effective September 15th, HBO content is no longer accessible on Amazon Prime. Consequently, any HBO subscriptions purchased through Prime are now canceled; customers will have to head to HBO Max if they want to continue their subscription. This change will see HBO hits like Succession, Game of Thrones, True Detective and Big Little Lies removed from Prime’s platform.

Customers were previously able to sign up for HBO through Prime’s Channels feature at an extra $15 per month. Billing was built right into a subscriber’s Prime subscription, without the need to create any additional accounts or profiles. This partnership between Prime and HBO created a simple, easy way to checkout HBO content that will be sorely missed by subscribers.

As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, HBO’s departure leaves about 5 million customers without an HBO subscription, resulting in a massive hole in the streaming service’s subscriber portfolio. However, this new development is a key point in an ongoing deal between Amazon and WarnerMedia that will allow Amazon customers to keep a degree of access to HBO content by way of a standalone HBO Max app via Fire TV, but with the benefit of WarnerMedia essentially “owning” their customers.

A Casualty of the Streaming Wars

HBO’s move fits into a larger, long-term strategy that seeks to consolidate subscribers under one roof amidst a push for a more fleshed-out streaming platform. In June of this year, HBO debuted a less costly, ad-supported version of its streaming service in a bid to attract more customers. And though HBO’s placement in Prime’s channels created a steady stream of customers, the ever-valuable user data that came with these customers was not accessible by HBO. By steering their subscribers from Prime’s Channels to HBO Max, WarnerMedia will have an easier time creating targeted ads and content suggestions for their customer base.

This isn’t the first time HBO has deemed it necessary to shake up the status of its content on third-party streaming platforms. WarnerMedia has also removed HBO from Roku and Apple TV channels in a similar bid to push HBO Max as a standalone app on these platforms.

With HBO subscriptions coming in at $15 per month via the Channels app on Prime, both Amazon and WarnerMedia will certainly feel the full weight of the 5 million subscriber deficit in the short term. Still, it’s likely that Amazon hopes HBO Max’s inclusion on the Fire TV will help to drive sales of Amazon’s hardware streaming marvel, while HBO’s acquisition of additional, highly valuable user data will pay for itself soon enough.

Luckily for us, HBO Max will provide some sweeteners for both new customers and returning subscribers affected by this recent change. Customers with canceled subscriptions will receive a prorated refund consistent with their most recent billing cycle. Meanwhile, HBO is offering users 50% off on their subscriptions for the next six months, resulting in a premium HBO Max subscription priced at just $7.49 per month. It’s also important to note that customers who already have an Amazon Fire TV device will see their HBO subscriptions rolled over without any additional costs.

Amazon has also provided customers with promotional deals on subscriptions to Paramount+, Showtime and Starz through September 17th, offering up each of these additional channels at a meager $0.99 per month for up to two months. Deals on these channels on Prime are pretty frequent, however, so we’d suggest you keep a look out for any offerings in the future if you missed out this time around.

More to consider:

Our editors strive to ensure that the information in this article is accurate as of the date published, but please keep in mind that offers can change. We encourage you to verify all terms and conditions of any product before you apply.