Amazon Prime scores HBO series including 'The Sopranos'

In a deal that has "significant" if not quite "groundbreaking" plastered all over it, Amazon Prime and HBO Tuesday morning announced a pact that will bring some HBO classics over to the new-and-growing Amazon subscription service.

"The Sopranos" is among them.

How this will impact already-existing HBO subscribers -- and HBO Go subscribers -- can be summarized in one word: Zilch. How it will impact Amazon Prime and Netflix is another matter altogether.

In its successful drive to gain parity with Netflix, Amazon Prime has furiously added content, and particularly content that appears to be driving the growth of these newly empowered services: TV. HBO is unquestionably the great white whale, however. Get these great series and get the most prized content on TV.

Here's what Amazon Prime customers will see starting May 21, and you will note that HBO is not giving away the entire store, so to speak. Many series do appear excluded, like "Entourage" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't be folded into this later:

The collection includes award-winning shows such as "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," "The Wire," "Big Love," "Deadwood," "Eastbound & Down," "Family Tree," "Enlightened," "Treme," early seasons of "Boardwalk Empire" and "True Blood," as well as miniseries like "Band of Brothers," "John Adams" and more. Previous seasons of other HBO shows, such as "Girls," "The Newsroom" and "Veep" will become available over the course of the multiyear agreement, approximately three years after airing on HBO. The first wave of content will arrive on Prime Instant Video May 21. This is the first time that HBO programming has been licensed to an online-only subscription streaming service. This programming will remain on all HBO platforms.