HBO to lose 5M subscribers after exiting Amazon Prime: report

HBO and Amazon reached an agreement last year allowing the partnership to expire

HBO lost approximately five million subscribers this week after the streaming service was removed from Amazon Prime Video’s channels platform, according to a report Wednesday.

Amazon Prime Video allowed users to subscribe to HBO through its platform for $15 per month as part of an agreement that expired Wednesday, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Earlier this month, Amazon sent out a notice revealing HBO subscriptions would be canceled as of Sept. 15 and users would receive a portion of their subscription fee based on their most recent billing cycle.

HBO will extend a special offer to subscribers affected by the change, the outlet reported. Further details were not immediately available.

Company representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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HBO and Amazon reached an agreement last year allowing the partnership to expire. In exchange, the HBO Max streaming service was made available on Amazon’s Fire TV platform as a standalone app.

Top executives at WarnerMedia-owned HBO sought the change so that more customers would directly engage with HBO Max, rather than through a third party.

"It’s important for us to own the customer," HBO Max general manager Andy Forssell told Bloomberg last month. "If the viewer is in the app, we can tailor the home page to them. We can tailor what they show them next. We can respond to that in real time."

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WarnerMedia is one of several entertainment giants vying for control of the competitive streaming market. HBO Max had roughly 68 million global paid subscribers as of July.

By comparison, Netflix had approximately 209 million global paid subscribers as of the end of its second quarter. Disney+ has roughly 116 million subscribers, the company said in August.