Home Box Office

:For alternate meanings of "HBO", see HBO (disambiguation).

History

HBO was the first cable network to originate as a non-terrestrial broadcast TV network. HBO went on the air in 1972 after Gerald Levin (who rose to become Chairman & CEO of future media collosus, Time Warner) through Time Inc. formed the network in 1971. Originally, the network transmitted via terrestrial microwave towers. In 1975, HBO became the first TV network to broadcast its signals via satellite when it showed the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. In January 1986, HBO also became the first satellite network to encrypt its signal from unauthorized viewing by way of the Videocipher II System. Later, HBO was one of the first cable TV networks to broadcast a high-definition version of its channel.

Related Topics:
1972 - Gerald Levin - Time Warner - Time Inc. - 1971 - Microwave - 1975 - Satellite - Thrilla in Manila - Boxing - Muhammad Ali - Joe Frazier - 1986 - Encrypt - Videocipher - High-definition

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On December 28, 1981, HBO expanded its programming schedule to 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

Related Topics:
December 28 - 1981

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Originally, HBO was part of Time Inc.. When Time merged with Warner Communications in 1989, it became part of Time Warner, who serves as its parent company today.

Related Topics:
Time Inc. - Time Warner

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HBO also manages sister network Cinemax, which focuses more on movies and less on original series. Cinemax (or "skinamax" and "sinamax" in some circles) has been accused of being an outlet for pornography during late night hours.

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HBO has also developed a reputation for offering very high quality original programming. HBO is a subscription-only service and does not carry normal commercials; both of these factors relieve HBO from pressures to tone down controversial aspects in their programs, thus allowing for explicit themes, such as graphic violence, explicit sex, and profanity.

Related Topics:
Tone down controversial aspects - Violence - Sex - Profanity

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The network is currently received in roughly one-third of households in the United States. It can be quite expensive to acquire HBO because subscribers are often required to pay for an extra "tier" of service even before paying for the channel itself (though all of the HBO channels are often priced together in a single package). Someone upgrading from a standard cable package might see their bill increase more than 40%.

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Since TV critics are generally obliged to keep track of HBO, but the general public is not, the network's influence can be overstated. However, several HBO programs have been re-aired on other networks (usually after some editing), and a number of them are available on DVD. Interestingly, since HBO's more successful series, most notably the trio of Sex and The City, The Sopranos, and Six Feet Under, are broadcast on non-cable networks in other countries, such as in the United Kingdom and Australia, HBO programming has the potential to be seen by a higher percentage of the population of those countries as compared to the U.S. Because of the high cost of HBO, many Americans only view HBO programs in DVD format, months or even years after the network has first broadcast the programs.

Related Topics:
Critic - United Kingdom - Australia

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HBO has several companion channels such as HBO 2, HBO Comedy, HBO Family, HBO Latino, HBO Signature, and HBO Zone. HBO also operates several Cinemax spinoffs, including MoreMAX, ThrillerMAX, ActionMAX and OuterMAX.

Related Topics:
HBO 2 - HBO Comedy - HBO Family - HBO Latino - HBO Signature - HBO Zone - Cinemax

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HBO has international operations in Latin America, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Pakistan and India. It had also an early investment in New Zealand's SKY Network Television through the channel HBO (now Sky Movies).

Related Topics:
New Zealand - SKY Network Television

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HBO also had a couple of joint ventures, first, with the formation of TriStar Pictures with Columbia Pictures and CBS. Columbia later bought the 2/3rds interest of the studio. Then, HBO merged its Comedy Channel with Viacom's HA! cable network to form Comedy Central. In 2003, Viacom bought HBO's half of the channel and merged it to its MTV Networks unit.

Related Topics:
TriStar Pictures - Columbia Pictures - CBS - Comedy Channel - Viacom - Comedy Central - MTV Networks

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