HBO
Charles Dolan sat aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 during a family vacation to France in the summer of 1971. He was desperate to save his struggling cable system, Sterling Manhattan Cable Television, from financial collapse. Time-Life Inc. threatened to pull its investment unless Dolan could prove profitability. Dolan developed a proposal codenamed The Green Channel that would offer unedited theatrical movies and live sporting events without advertising interruptions. The board approved the plan on the 2nd of November 1971, granting him a $150,000 development grant. Home Box Office launched at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the 8th of November 1972. It reached only 365 subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania through Teleservice Cable. The inaugural broadcast featured an NHL game between the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks from Madison Square Garden. A film called Sometimes a Great Notion starring Paul Newman aired immediately after the hockey match concluded.
HBO became the first television channel in the world to transmit via satellite in September 1975. This move expanded the regional service into a national network available across the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England regions. On the 1st of August 1991, HBO announced plans to launch two additional channels as companion services. Michael Fuchs coined the term multiplexed to describe these new offerings which provided extra programming choices at no charge. TeleCable customers in Overland Park, Kansas; Racine, Wisconsin; and Richardson, Texas began receiving HBO2 and Cinemax 2 that month. HBO2 later renamed itself HBO Plus before reverting to its original name in September 2002. HBO3 relaunched as HBO Signature in October 1998 with content targeting female audiences. HBO Family launched on the 1st of December 1996 to focus on family-oriented films for children aged two to eleven years old. The multiplex expansion continued through the 6th of May 1999 when HBO Comedy and HBO Zone joined the lineup. HBO Latino debuted on the 1st of November 2000 as a Spanish language network simulcasting primary channel content.
HBO Go launched nationwide on the 18th of February 2010 as an international TV Everywhere streaming service for broadband subscribers of linear HBO television. It initially carried 1,000 hours of program content available in standard or high definition formats. WarnerMedia announced on the 12th of June 2020 that HBO Go apps would be discontinued in the U.S. by July 31 due to the rise of HBO Max. HBO Now unveiled on the 9th of March 2015 served as a standalone platform targeting cord cutters without requiring existing cable subscriptions. Subscribership reached over 8 million customers by February 2019 before being rebranded solely as HBO on the 1st of August 2020. HBO Max launched as an over-the-top subscription service built around HBO programming and other Warner Bros. Discovery assets. Since the 4th of December 2024, livestreams of most HBO linear feeds became accessible on the Max streaming app for American subscribers of Ad-Free tiers. The service operates separately from but shares management with Home Box Office Inc. which also includes original programming produced exclusively for the platform.
Richard Plepler stated during an Executive Actions symposium held by The Washington Post in April 2015 that he did not want users to binge watch HBO shows like Netflix viewers. He believed holding out mystery for extended periods was exciting for the viewer culture. HBO pioneered original entertainment programming for cable networks starting in 1973 with series developed primarily or exclusively by the channel itself. Most programs catered to adult viewers assigned TV-MA ratings featuring high amounts of profanity violence sexual themes or nudity. Basic cable channels would reticent air such content due to objections from sponsors risking advertising revenue loss. Program creators maintained full creative autonomy over their projects allowing them to depict gritty subject matter previously unshown on television platforms. The Sopranos premiered as a second season encore presentation in remastered 1080i HD on the 14th of January 2001 marking the first time original programming appeared in high definition format. The third season premiere Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood aired March 4 as the first first-run episode transmitted in high definition from its initial telecast.
HBO signed a five-year distribution agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures Group in June 1986 covering films released between January 1987 and December 1992. The estimated cost of initial pay-cable rights ranged between $300 million and $600 million depending on overall performance metrics. Time-Life Inc. committed a $5-million production financing investment with Columbia Pictures over twelve to eighteen months starting in June 1976. HBO entered three exclusive licensing agreements tied to production financing arrangements involving Tri-Star Pictures Columbia Pictures and Orion Pictures in 1983. A U.S. Department of Justice review greenlighted the Tri-Star venture in June of that year. Silver Screen Partners concluded operations in 1998 after HBO received 5% of all profits derived from non-pay-cable distribution of studio films. Warner Bros. Discovery announced an output deal with A24 on the 18th of July 2022 granting library rights to independent studio releases from 2013 through 2021. Sony Pictures transferred exclusive pay-cable rights for their films to Starz which held rights until December 2021 before Netflix assumed them under a five-year agreement signed April 2021.
HBO began transmitting a high definition simulcast feed on the 6th of March 1999 becoming the first American cable television network to start broadcasting in 1080i resolution format. Bob Zitter disclosed to Multichannel News in January 2001 that the network delayed offering original series in HD until sustainable consumer penetration existed. Sports telecasts upgraded to HD on the 25th of September 2004 headlined by Roy Jones Jr. and Glen Johnson boxing fight card. The network started transmitting six multiplex channels in high definition on the 1st of September 2008 when DirecTV offered HD simulcast feeds of HBO2 and other thematic channels. HBO On Demand launched on the 1st of July 2001 as the first SVOD service offered by an American premium service over Time Warner Cable's Columbia South Carolina system. On the 3rd of January 2011 HBO became the first pay television network to offer VOD content in three dimensions available to linear subscribers signed with Comcast and Verizon FiOS. The state of Hawaii operates a separate feed for the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone providing a three-hour-delayed version of the primary channel's Pacific Time feed for Oceanic Spectrum subscribers.
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Common questions
When did HBO launch and how many subscribers did it have initially?
Home Box Office launched at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the 8th of November 1972 with only 365 subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Who founded HBO and what was the initial development grant amount?
Charles Dolan developed the proposal for Home Box Office after receiving a $150,000 development grant from the board on the 2nd of November 1971.
What date did HBO become the first television channel to transmit via satellite?
HBO became the first television channel in the world to transmit via satellite in September 1975 expanding its service nationally across the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England regions.
Which year did HBO start broadcasting original entertainment programming for cable networks?
HBO pioneered original entertainment programming for cable networks starting in 1973 with series developed primarily or exclusively by the channel itself.
On what date did HBO sign an agreement with Warner Bros Pictures Group covering films released between January 1987 and December 1992?
HBO signed a five-year distribution agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures Group in June 1986 covering films released between January 1987 and December 1992.