When we are looking at all the TV channels you would see that HBO stands out from the others, they are what you would call a pay-TV or premium channel. Historically the biggest most popular one so they offer something a little different in terms of pricing and availability. They are among the most expensive channels you can get. Whenever you look at the packages from the cable or satellite providers they seem to offer HBO as an add-on for the cheaper ones, but if you want it included in the package it is always the most expensive one. The price that you pay is determined by how they decide to offer it but HBO themselves sets it at $14.99 a month. The idea behind it is that you'll pay more than the other channels and hopefully get more out of it. The lack of advertising is a big selling point in 2019 HBO's operating revenue totaled $6.75 billion, 86% of which was from subscriptions. It's not just a cable channel there are all these apps and streaming services that have confusingly similar names there's 'HBO GO' as of 2010 'HBO NOW' as of 2015 'HBO MAX' has of 2020. GO and NOW feature content from the channel, they're just different based on whether or not you subscribe to the channel and HBO MAX is more of a Netflix equivalent with additional content that ventures outside of HBO, they're owned by Warner Media who owns the rights to the Warner movies and content from the turner channel so they can easily put that onto the service. As of the end of 2019, it had 43 million subscribers in the USA which is actually a bit down you may expect that with how competitive the streaming services have made everything, but they've obviously responded to it.
HBO has always been successful by doing things a little differently and often changing the industry around them in the process. They were an early significant force in creating cable television and satellite television, they've made their impact on movie production and pop culture, they've had a greater impact on the world than any other cable channel. The cable itself goes all the way back to the 1940s but it was nothing like, we would picture it today really at that time television itself was relatively new and yet to be popular, technically it would be broadcast through a signal that was then received by an antenna at people's homes, the system worked well except for the people who lived in these remote areas that signal would be coming from so far away that their little antennas couldn't pick it up the answer to this was a big powerful antenna that the whole community would use they would then run cables from that antenna to their home so they can pick up the broadcast. For a couple of decades that was the primary use for cable. Charles Dolan was one of the first people to help change that in 1962, he operated the service in the hotels of New York City called 'TELEGUIDE'. It was one of those things that broadcast on the TV telling people all the wonderful things that they can do in New York City during their vacation well, in creating that he actually installed some of the first cable lines in the city then three years later he was granted a permit that gave him the exclusive rights to install these cable lines through the lower part of Manhattan basically the city said you can do whatever you need to do to get the cable to these residents but you have to give us a percentage of your sales. A couple of years into the project he had spent over $2 million and had only served about 400 subscribers with those numbers it's clear that he was losing a ton of money and he needed help, that is when TIME became involved you know TIME like the magazine when very few people had any interest in the cable. Surprisingly TIME wanted to be a part of it because they considered themselves more of a media company rather than a magazine. They saw their magazine as a medium to convey information to people in this cabled television endeavor would be yet another way to do that. So Charles Dolan had investments from TIME but he still needed a way to bring in the customers and make this whole business work, that's where HBO comes in and the idea for it was not unlike what it is today. He figured that he can pay the movie studios for the licensing rights to show their movies and then use those movies to attract subscribers to the channel, who would hopefully be willing to pay six dollars a month for it or as a different source of revenue the cable providers would pay him so they can carry his channel. The other piece to this was local sporting events that would secure the rights to air those as well and that's where the name comes from HBO stands for Home Box Office because they were providing entertainment straight to your home that you would otherwise have to go out and buy a ticket to see. In 1972 they made their first broadcast and they placed an ad in the newspaper to promote it that
HBO having started in 1972. In the early days of cable, it is the oldest cable channel that still exists today. By 1978 premium channels had grown to 1.5 million subscribers HBO made up most of that and here's how they did it. FCC regulations were relaxed. they started putting stuff on the channel for more hours each day there was much more physical cable throughout New York city and therefore more potential customers. In 1975 HBO became the first TV channel to continuously broadcast a signal over satellites, it was a good event to do it with too, it was one of the biggest boxing matches of all time Muhammad Ali against Joe Frazier for the heavyweight championship of the world it was their third match together held in the Philippines it was called the thriller in manila. HBO used this as an opportunity to use satellite technology to reach a national audience without installing an absurd amount of cable across the country the whole thing is considered to be a big event in sports technology and television moving forward. In 1978 they started making a more noticeable impact on the film industry their big expense had always been obtaining the rights to show the movies, so in that year they made the decision to start investing in the production of movies. They did it in return for the exclusive pay-TV rights saying that they'll help pay to make the movie as long as they're legally the only premium channel that can show that movie and then three years later they took it a step further when they worked with Columbia Pictures and CBS to create Tristar pictures. now in addition to HBO, they've also been responsible for establishing a couple of other channels like HBO2 and 'HBO Signature' and 'HBO Family' and a ton of those but you also have Cinemax, back in 1980 Showtime was their biggest competitor, even though HBO was still three times larger and seen as the main premium channel Showtime was becoming a concern, so that year they introduced Cinemax and because it was a little cheaper, it became a direct competitor with showtime and is thought to have been HBO's attempt to slow them down. HBO and Showtime have always been very competitive with each other another example would be in 1989 when stand-up comedy was reaching new heights in popularity HBO decided to launch a separate channel centered around it logically called the comedy channel then as a response to it a few months later Viacom the owner of the showtime launched a very similar channel called HA and neither channel did very well so the two agreed to put their differences aside and merge the channels together into a new collective channel called Comedy Central they split the ownership of it until 2003 when Viacom spent over a billion dollars to buy the other half of it. So that's significant in addition to the obvious channels fewer people may know that HBO was responsible for establishing both Cinemax and Comedy Central.
The great thing about HBO is that there are no advertisers so it's much more of a direct relationship with their subscribers without other people middling with it. Since they have never had to worry about pleasing advertisers they've been able to air some more explicit edgy content 'Tales from the Crypt' would be a good earlier example of this. Going back to the early 1980s they had produced TV shows and made for TV movies, but in the 1990s it's when they started dedicating more resources toward these productions and became known for them. Some of the bigger ones at that time would be 'Sex in the City' and 'The Sopranos', more recently it's 'True Blood' and 'Game of Thrones. They have been critically acclaimed too HBO won their first Emmy award in 1988 and have since received literally hundreds of them far more than any other cable channel in 1997 they received 90 nominations which was the first time that a cable channel had more than any other traditional network. We have to admit that HBO has formed their own path and things like this prove that they used it to not only catch up to the others but in many cases surpass them. Just think how a channel that couldn't get more than a few hundred people to watch its first broadcast has since become the producer behind all these massively successful shows.
HBO has always been successful by doing things a little differently and often changing the industry around them in the process. They were an early significant force in creating cable television and satellite television, they've made their impact on movie production and pop culture, they've had a greater impact on the world than any other cable channel. The cable itself goes all the way back to the 1940s but it was nothing like, we would picture it today really at that time television itself was relatively new and yet to be popular, technically it would be broadcast through a signal that was then received by an antenna at people's homes, the system worked well except for the people who lived in these remote areas that signal would be coming from so far away that their little antennas couldn't pick it up the answer to this was a big powerful antenna that the whole community would use they would then run cables from that antenna to their home so they can pick up the broadcast. For a couple of decades that was the primary use for cable. Charles Dolan was one of the first people to help change that in 1962, he operated the service in the hotels of New York City called 'TELEGUIDE'. It was one of those things that broadcast on the TV telling people all the wonderful things that they can do in New York City during their vacation well, in creating that he actually installed some of the first cable lines in the city then three years later he was granted a permit that gave him the exclusive rights to install these cable lines through the lower part of Manhattan basically the city said you can do whatever you need to do to get the cable to these residents but you have to give us a percentage of your sales. A couple of years into the project he had spent over $2 million and had only served about 400 subscribers with those numbers it's clear that he was losing a ton of money and he needed help, that is when TIME became involved you know TIME like the magazine when very few people had any interest in the cable. Surprisingly TIME wanted to be a part of it because they considered themselves more of a media company rather than a magazine. They saw their magazine as a medium to convey information to people in this cabled television endeavor would be yet another way to do that. So Charles Dolan had investments from TIME but he still needed a way to bring in the customers and make this whole business work, that's where HBO comes in and the idea for it was not unlike what it is today. He figured that he can pay the movie studios for the licensing rights to show their movies and then use those movies to attract subscribers to the channel, who would hopefully be willing to pay six dollars a month for it or as a different source of revenue the cable providers would pay him so they can carry his channel. The other piece to this was local sporting events that would secure the rights to air those as well and that's where the name comes from HBO stands for Home Box Office because they were providing entertainment straight to your home that you would otherwise have to go out and buy a ticket to see. In 1972 they made their first broadcast and they placed an ad in the newspaper to promote it that
"your monthly subscription to home box office is the one and only ticket you need to enjoy entertainment like this month after month after month and you get the best seats in the house your house."
in reality, most people did. in fact turn that down that first broadcast went out to a small part of Pennsylvania to something like 350 people still for quite a while after that first broadcast none of this was profitable so he kept needing more and more money from TIME until they practically had taken things over. In 1969 they made a big jump to almost 50 percent ownership and then three years later that was raised to two-thirds ownership and then in 1973 they had bought all of those operations. Despite being mostly his idea Charles Dolan completely ended his involvement with HBO when they had only 8000 subscribers. After the sale, he became known for establishing CABLEVISION a cable provider throughout the northeast region of the USA, that his family sold for 17 billion dollars in 2015. in addition to owning the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, and at the arena in which they play at Madison Square Garden and AMC networks so there's a lot there.
HBO having started in 1972. In the early days of cable, it is the oldest cable channel that still exists today. By 1978 premium channels had grown to 1.5 million subscribers HBO made up most of that and here's how they did it. FCC regulations were relaxed. they started putting stuff on the channel for more hours each day there was much more physical cable throughout New York city and therefore more potential customers. In 1975 HBO became the first TV channel to continuously broadcast a signal over satellites, it was a good event to do it with too, it was one of the biggest boxing matches of all time Muhammad Ali against Joe Frazier for the heavyweight championship of the world it was their third match together held in the Philippines it was called the thriller in manila. HBO used this as an opportunity to use satellite technology to reach a national audience without installing an absurd amount of cable across the country the whole thing is considered to be a big event in sports technology and television moving forward. In 1978 they started making a more noticeable impact on the film industry their big expense had always been obtaining the rights to show the movies, so in that year they made the decision to start investing in the production of movies. They did it in return for the exclusive pay-TV rights saying that they'll help pay to make the movie as long as they're legally the only premium channel that can show that movie and then three years later they took it a step further when they worked with Columbia Pictures and CBS to create Tristar pictures. now in addition to HBO, they've also been responsible for establishing a couple of other channels like HBO2 and 'HBO Signature' and 'HBO Family' and a ton of those but you also have Cinemax, back in 1980 Showtime was their biggest competitor, even though HBO was still three times larger and seen as the main premium channel Showtime was becoming a concern, so that year they introduced Cinemax and because it was a little cheaper, it became a direct competitor with showtime and is thought to have been HBO's attempt to slow them down. HBO and Showtime have always been very competitive with each other another example would be in 1989 when stand-up comedy was reaching new heights in popularity HBO decided to launch a separate channel centered around it logically called the comedy channel then as a response to it a few months later Viacom the owner of the showtime launched a very similar channel called HA and neither channel did very well so the two agreed to put their differences aside and merge the channels together into a new collective channel called Comedy Central they split the ownership of it until 2003 when Viacom spent over a billion dollars to buy the other half of it. So that's significant in addition to the obvious channels fewer people may know that HBO was responsible for establishing both Cinemax and Comedy Central.
The great thing about HBO is that there are no advertisers so it's much more of a direct relationship with their subscribers without other people middling with it. Since they have never had to worry about pleasing advertisers they've been able to air some more explicit edgy content 'Tales from the Crypt' would be a good earlier example of this. Going back to the early 1980s they had produced TV shows and made for TV movies, but in the 1990s it's when they started dedicating more resources toward these productions and became known for them. Some of the bigger ones at that time would be 'Sex in the City' and 'The Sopranos', more recently it's 'True Blood' and 'Game of Thrones. They have been critically acclaimed too HBO won their first Emmy award in 1988 and have since received literally hundreds of them far more than any other cable channel in 1997 they received 90 nominations which was the first time that a cable channel had more than any other traditional network. We have to admit that HBO has formed their own path and things like this prove that they used it to not only catch up to the others but in many cases surpass them. Just think how a channel that couldn't get more than a few hundred people to watch its first broadcast has since become the producer behind all these massively successful shows.