
Amazon Snags Older HBO Shows For Web Streaming - timjahn
http://recode.net/2014/04/23/amazon-makes-a-big-move-snags-older-hbo-shows/
======
jobu
"In addition, HBO GO will become available on Fire TV, targeting a launch by
year-end."

Looks like this deal also adds the last missing checkmark to the Fire TV
comparison chart: [http://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-streaming-media-
player/dp/B00C...](http://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-streaming-media-
player/dp/B00CX5P8FC#compare)

~~~
Touche
There are definitely others, MLB.tv for example. Of course they pick the list
to look good for their device.

~~~
jordan0day
Live sports (baseball and basketball, specifically) may be one of the last
remaining things keeping many Americans from "cutting the cable". I think the
first streaming service to be able to offer a significant amount of these will
have a clear competitive advantage.

~~~
timjahn
You're spot on. Sports are the single thing that there really is no easy way
to watch without traditional cable/satellite.

Once they finally come around, it will be much easier to convince people to
cut the cord.

~~~
Touche
MLB, NBA, and NHL all have streaming service for live games. They are still
subject to blackouts though, which is crazy.

~~~
EpicEng
But the NFL, the big kahuna, does not. It really stinks; I'm going to have to
figure something out come fall as I cut the cord a few months back.

~~~
zavulon
All your local team's games are going to be on free channels. Get a $8 rabbit
ears antenna, or if you have a cable modem that provides internet only, get a
splitter and plug the other end into TV (that you would normally plug into the
cable box). The local free channels (NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, etc) are going to be
available, and that's enough for NFL. You're not going to be ESPN or NFL
Network, but if it's your local team, the game will be on a local channel
anyway.

~~~
jpindar
This may have been the case at one time, but now the local channels are not
available like that from Comcast. You need a cable box to get anything at all.

And many people live in areas that don't get over the air reception, at least
not with any commonly available antenna.

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tantalor
> It’s the first time HBO has offered access to its catalog via a streaming
> video service that’s not its own HBO Go.

Wrong, iTunes and Google already have the first three seasons of Game of
Thrones.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/game-of-thrones-
season...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/game-of-thrones-
season-1/id482730236)

[https://play.google.com/store/tv/show/Game_of_Thrones?id=71E...](https://play.google.com/store/tv/show/Game_of_Thrones?id=71Edzxe9gmo)

~~~
JamesBaxter
I can watch any episode of Game of Thrones and stream the new episodes as they
broadcast live on TV with Sky Now in the UK. £5.99 a month.

~~~
7952
I watched Game of Thrones live on Now TV and the adverts where a nasty
surprise. You forget how much broadcast TV damages the content with ads. It
would not surprise me if in five years time TV was exactly the same as it
always was, just transported differently.

~~~
zevyoura
Game of Thrones (and all HBO shows) are not broadcast in the US with
commercials; do they edit in commercial breaks in semi-random spots (or just
pre/post-roll)? How much time do they add per hour?

~~~
7952
Every ten minutes or so I think. It adds twenty minutes to the length.

------
pvnick
This is great for Amazon. Looks like they're attempting to be the primary
outlet for premium big-name content producers, while Netflix is trying to be
the primary outlet for their own content, which has the HBOs and Showtimes
shying away from doing business with them. Both Netflix's and Amazon's are
viable strategies, and it'll be interesting to see which pan's out.

On the other hand, piracy has gotten _way_ easier. The technology is already
here for the more tech savvy to instantly stream (or at least quickly
download) The Wire and Game of Thrones, bypassing Amazon, as well as Arrested
Development and Orange is the New Black, bypassing Netflix. Netflix and Amazon
aren't just competing with each other, they're competing with illegal p2p
technology. And in the case of Netflix, throw in traditional premium content
producers as well.

Reed Hastings currently has great hair, I expect that'll start turning grey
real fast.

~~~
gdilla
Netflix's evolution is more a reaction to HBO and Showtimes reluctance to work
with them.

~~~
georgemcbay
Would upvote 100 times if I could.

I briefly worked for a movie/tv streaming service whose CEO was a movie
industry exec. (I worked there almost accidentally as fallout from a
previously company failing and that streaming company basically taking on all
of the previous company's employees as a team).

One of the big take-aways from that brief stint was realizing how much the
management at traditional "content" companies hate Netflix... like seething,
psychopathic hate. In their minds they are on a mission to destroy Netflix at
all costs because of how Netflix's all-in-one pricing model "devalues" their
content.

~~~
smacktoward
That's not necessarily an unfounded fear, though, is it? They're used to the
kind of profit margins you can get in a world where people value a copy of one
movie at $19. If that changes and suddenly copies of _every_ movie are
available all-you-can-eat for $7, those margins collapse. (Not to mention that
you're splitting those seven bucks with Netflix.)

I have to think they look at how Apple managed to maneuver itself into the
position of being an intermediary between most people and the music business,
then look at what that did to the profit margins of the music business, and
think "there but for the grace of god go I."

~~~
georgemcbay
Oh, yeah I agree their fears aren't unfounded, but they take a really over-
reactionary stance to the threat, I think.

IMO they would be better served working with companies like Netflix to figure
something out that is more mutually beneficial rather than pissing away
billions on half-assed alternate solutions of their own (that are designed to
maintain the status quo at the expense of the obvious preference on consumers
to keep things simple) like "Ultraviolet media lockers".

Of course, I'm assuming Netflix would also be a reasonable party to compromise
solutions and maybe they aren't; I don't know for sure, I just know that the
media guys have a very "must-destroy-at-all-costs" view of Netflix in
particular.

------
matznerd
There is an amazing quote I read over a year ago on the Netflix vs HBO battle
and it basically said that it's a race for Netflix to become like HBO before
HBO can become like Netflix.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
That feels like it's based on what feel to me at least to be several flawed
assumptions, primary among them that there can be only one.

~~~
matznerd
It's not about them being the only one, but it is about being the market
leader. And with exclusive content, there actually "can be only one."

I believe in a mature paid-streaming market, consumers will likely subscribe
to multiple services, all for way cheaper than satellite or cable currently
costs.

I am going to edit my top level post and add the quote now that I am in front
of a laptop.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
"I believe in a mature paid-streaming market, consumers will likely subscribe
to multiple services, all for way cheaper than satellite or cable currently
costs."

Agreed and that's kind of my point - HBO and Netflix can both win big here,
it's not really about who can do both content and provision first. If you
follow the exclusive content model there can be only one place to watch Game
of Thrones or House of Cards but people can (and I think will) subscribe to
many services.

There may also be models where exclusivity isn't a given (as it isn't with
music services) or that it will just be about content and that streaming will
become a commodity, though they're harder to predict (and go against what has
historically happened in TV).

------
gdulli
On the one hand this reinforces that cordcutting will continue to be a second-
class citizen in terms of first-run/same-season content, but on the other
hand, making it easier for people to discover Six Feet Under is a great thing.

~~~
Pxtl
> making it easier for people to discover Six Feet Under is a great thing.

Well, the first few episodes at least. The show starts out awesome and gets
progressively more depressing with no payoff episode after episode.

By the end I was watching out of sheer stubbornness.

~~~
gdulli
Really? I just finished re-watching it and found the later seasons to be
incredible. Better than the first two. Especially the climaxes of seasons 3,
4, 5. I definitely got more out of the second viewing, I had much more focus
on character arcs than plot.

~~~
Pxtl
Different strokes, I suppose. There was a lot more black comedy near the
beginning instead of just the grim realism of people making the same mistakes
over and over again.

------
SloopJon
As Amazon Prime's catalog has improved, I've bought fewer videos in the last
few years, even as prices have plummeted. (Whole series are selling now for
what a single season used to cost!) Good news for my closet space, but to the
collector in me it seems so ephemeral. When the copyright on The Sopranos
lapses a few hundred years from now, my DVDs and Blu-rays will be in the
public domain. Meanwhile, Amazon could lose its license before I get halfway
through season three.

~~~
JTon
Agreed. What's your moral stance on buying a show from iTunes/Amazon and then
torrenting a copy for safe keeping?

------
netcan
I don't know what to think about TV.

On one hand, there's a lot of progress happening. Streaming, on-demand and
pay-per-view/download are really getting bigger and more prominent every year.
HDboxes, are getting better too and achieving a lot of the same things (watch
anything anytime).

The artform itself is improving. Game of Thrones or Breaking bad are better
that any show could be in the stand alone episode paradigm of Star Trek. They
are using the 10+ hrs hours of sequential viewing to do some serious plot &
character development. Walter White wasn't possible before serials.

On the other hand, it's all such a kludge.The whole thing is built around
creating and maintaining an artificial scarcity modeled on the slightly less
artificial scarcity of a few years ago. We pretend that we're paying Amazon or
Netflix's for a cable or pretending that we're paying Apple for a video
cassette. Don't get me started on loaning.

I'm not claiming that copyright could go away and still have Game Of Thrones.
This isn't that kind of statement. But… it's just _such a kludge_. Something
this brittle and ugly can't be the right way to do anything.

~~~
jonny_eh
I don't follow. How is paying Netflix a kludge? They're providing a fantastic
service in addition to some great new content. If Amazon, Hulu, et al step up
their game then we're all the better for it.

~~~
panzagl
Netflix on its own isn't a kludge, but paying netflix, plus maybe Hulu, and
oh, there's stuff from Amazon as a side effect of 2 day shipping, plus buying
individual episodes from Amazon, iTunes, or Google, and don't forget the old
Ultraviolets, right, right? Add in some ripped media and possibly a wire or
antenna hooked to a dvr and that's what's a kludge.

------
smackfu
Well, that was a pretty effective move, since now it seems worth it to get a
streaming device that does Amazon Prime, where yesterday I didn't care.

~~~
DonGateley
Do your due diligence well. Amazon does an amazing job of obscuring what
Instant Prime is available on leaving an easy impression that it is when it
isn't. No Tivo, for example, but they make it all too easy to misunderstand
that.

~~~
smackfu
Yeah, I have an Apple TV and a Tivo now, which are both fairly useless for
Instant Prime.

------
bluedevil2k
Wow, this is big surprising news I think. Not so much what it says about
Amazon, more what it says about HBO. Seems to indicate strongly that they may
never offer a straight stand-alone streaming app without a TV subscription.

~~~
gmjosack
You can already sign up for HBO Go with Comcast without having a TV plan.
They'll bundle it with your internet plan.

~~~
pdovy
Is that something you had to call and ask for? Doesn't seem to be an option
for me on their website through my existing account.

~~~
ForHackernews
They call it "Internet Plus", I believe they were only running it as a trial
in certain markets: [http://gizmodo.com/comcasts-hbo-internet-plan-is-the-one-
you...](http://gizmodo.com/comcasts-hbo-internet-plan-is-the-one-youve-been-
wa-1452189413)

You can try calling them and see if they'll give it to you.

------
lbsnake7
This is basically a marketing move: HBO gets to keep their new programs so
customers have to have HBO to see GOT and so forth (HBO gives up its back
catalog but I doubt their old shows bring in new subscribers so that isn't a
huge loss), Amazon justifies their Amazon Prime price increase and also gets
people to buy Fire TV (Amazon Prime is probably not coming to any other device
like Chromecast). I would say it's a huge win for Amazon and a so-so win for
HBO, so likely Amazon is paying a hefty price to HBO for this ad campaign.

~~~
whichdan
Amazon Prime works on most gaming systems and Roku, just not Chromecast and
AppleTV.

~~~
ssharp
I don't think gaming systems and Roku as entries to streaming entertainment
are great long-term, mass-market options. They are/were good for early
adopters or the more tech-oriented. But for the larger markets, Chromecast,
Apple TV, the new Amazon service, and smart TVs is where the market is
evolving.

~~~
untog
You don't think that the Xbox 360 (with 79.4 million in sales[1]) are a better
long term, mass market option than the Apple TV (with 13 million[2])?

Games consoles are not very tech-oriented. The Roku is every bit as tech-
oriented as the Apple TV (they're basically the same product by different
companies).

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_sales](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_sales)
[2] [http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/28/4374480/apple-tv-
sales-13-...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/28/4374480/apple-tv-
sales-13-million-to-date)

~~~
ssharp
What percentage of that 79.4 million bought the XBox 360 specifically for its
video options? 100% of Apple's 13 million did.

I personally use the 360 as my living room vehicle for Netflix and Amazon, but
that's only because I also use it to occasionally play games.

~~~
nivla
I would say the percentage is higher than you think. So much that the Xbox One
seems to be designed more like an entertainment system than a gaming console.

I don't game much but I use my Xbox 360 as a glorified streaming device. WMC,
Xfinity and Amazon Prime all of them are convenient on 360 especially when
compared to Comcast's clunky set top box interface. Ohh did you know Comcast
allows me to stream full HD for free on the Xfinity app whereas to do it on
their Set Top Box, not only do I have to get a new one, I would have to pay $5
extra per month.

------
brianstorms
In my experience, Amazon does not care for high quality streaming. As a Prime
member for a while, I gave their streaming a shot. Laughable. Might as well
have been watching the video on a 56k USRobotics modem with a very high
latency connection. Low resolution, fuzzy picture, stops and starts. I simply
do not trust Amazon to do it right.

~~~
hatred
May be we both live in a different world of sorts. Are there others like you
who seem to be facing issues with instant video recently because for me it
works quite well. Also , how long back did you try it ?

~~~
dublinben
No matter where you are, Amazon won't stream high quality (or even HD) streams
to a PC. Their streaming quality is quite poor compared to their competitors.

~~~
gamblor956
Don't spread FUD. I get 1080p streams on my PC when I rent or purchase videos
through Amazon VOD or watch the free ones through Prime. If your PC isn't
getting HD (but for some reason your other devices are), the problem is
probably your computer or its network connection.

~~~
dublinben
"HD playback is not available on all devices. For example, some Roku and TiVo
devices don't support HD content. The Kindle Fire HD is HD compatible, along
with Windows computers that meet the content protection (HDCP) requirements."

My computer is perfectly capable of playing 1080p content (I do it all the
time) they just choose not to provide it to me on my non-HDCP monitor. That's
clearly their problem, not mine.

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chiph
The money is in the back catalog, as Ted Turner showed when he kept the MGM
film library and sold the rest of the company.

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caractacus
But only in the US, it seems. So far, while the UK might have (a poorer
selection of) Prime Instant Video, it doesn't have the FireTV and won't be
getting the HBO shows. Maybe they'll launch at the same time?

------
arjn
This is a very big deal for me. I've had Netflix, Amazon and Hulu streaming
via my Roku for over 2 years now but no HBO. I use comcast for internet but no
TV so the Roku HBO app would not work.

------
Malarkey73
I'd really like to watch Oz.

Coming from the UK that was the first show I watched where I thought "There's
some good American TV, What is this HBO thing?"

------
pdubs
Too bad there's no first-party app for hardware-accelerated 1080p/DD5.1
streaming on Windows like there is for Netflix and Hulu...

------
markbnj
So what was it about the Amazon deal that made HBO say yes when they've been
telling Hastings to gfh for years now?

~~~
Raphael
Yes, I'm surprised Amazon could pay HBO enough. My assumption was that Netflix
couldn't afford HBO content, but that apparently wasn't true, as Amazon
doesn't charge more than Netflix and has hefty delivery costs.

------
atacrawl
I was actually hoping this meant shows like The Larry Sanders Show and Dream
On had found a home online. Darn.

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samelliot
Exclusive deals don't solve piracy, we're just jumping from one platform to
the next.

~~~
ds9
Agreed. It's very positive that the distribution channels are opening up such
that more companies are distributing shows like this -- yet as a casual
viewer, it's hardly worthwhile for me to subscribe to Amazon Prime and buy
some specialized proprietary device, just for one network's older shows.

And presumably there will be other vendors offering other narrow selections,
only on their own or "partner company" devices or DRM-ware. This sort of thing
makes sense if you already have the device or service, otherwise it just
prices the video files beyond any reasonable market value.

And piracy will continue as long as this "jump thru hoops" mentality goes on:
compared to the hassle-laden commercial experience, pirating is convenient,
and files are high quality, free from junk, and play on VLC.

The copyright holding companies will probably die off before they realize that
they could have done better just selling files. They're convinced that only a
few would buy and they would put them on torrents - but if I paid a dollar an
episode of a series, with no DRM, trailers, ads or other BS, I wouldn't bother
sharing, I'd just refer people to the same source to buy their own copies.

------
biafra
As a German customer is it possible to get any movie or show on amazon prime
in English?

~~~
linohh
Some are available. Just search for OV or OmU in the catalog. It's a pain in
the ass finding them, though.

~~~
TillE
The selection is terrible - a few BBC series and some weird films. It's really
annoying, because Amazon.de has quite a lot of great TV series and films, all
dubbed in German, usually quite poorly.

I honestly don't understand how German audiences tolerate it. 90% of the time,
it really just sounds like a bunch of actors sitting in a studio, reading
lines melodramatically. I seem to remember the LOTR dubs were well done,
though. In contrast, I saw the first episode of Game of Thrones at a friend's
house and it was godawful. Completely lost the nuance of every performance.

Anyway, other streaming services (Maxdome, Watchever) will give you the
original audio track, but their selection is also rather limited.

~~~
omnibrain
And neither Amazon nor Watchever offer subtitles.

------
ashbrahma
This explains why Amazon Prime now costs $20 more per year! ($99 vs $79)

------
leccine
Amazon Fire TV is just the perfect platform. Now with old and new HBO series
you can literary watch anything you want, including good foreign movies,
Hollywood crap. Not to mention the gaming capabilities of the device.

