Home Box Office
Launched	November 8, 1972
Owned by	Home Box Office Inc. Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. /Time Warner
Slogan	It's Not TV. Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. It's HBO.
Country	United States
Headquarters	New York, NY
Sister channel(s)	Cinemax
Website	HBO.com
Availability
Satellite
Most HBO channels available on DirecTV and Dish Network
Cable
Available on most cable systems	Check local listings for channels

Home Box Office, commonly referred to as HBO is a premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The City of New York Max (or Cinemax) is a collection of cable Television networks that provide movies special features Erotica, and other services to Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. It offers two 24-hour pay television services — HBO and Cinemax — to over 40 million U. Max (or Cinemax) is a collection of cable Television networks that provide movies special features Erotica, and other services to S. subscribers. The services include the subscription video on demand products, HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand, as well as multiplex channels and HD feeds. Internationally the subscription video on demand products HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile, along with HBO branded joint ventures, bring its services to over 50 countries. HBO programming is broadcast into over 150 countries worldwide. ^[1]

History

In 1965, cable pioneer Charles Dolan won the franchise to build a cable system in lower Manhattan. Charles Francis "Chuck" Dolan (born on October 16, 1926 in Cleveland Ohio) is an American business executive Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York The new system, called Sterling Manhattan Cable by Mr. Dolan, was the nation's first urban underground cable system. Rather than stringing cable on telephone poles and using microwave antennas to receive the signals, Sterling laid underground cable beneath the streets of Manhattan because television signals were blocked by many tall buildings. Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with Wavelengths ranging from 1 mm to 1 m or frequencies between 0 Time Life, Inc. The Time-Life company was founded by Time Incorporated in 1961 as a book marketing division , in the same year, purchased 20 percent of Dolan's company.

Dolan presented his "Green Channel" idea to Time Life management, and though satellite distribution was only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time Life to back him, and soon "The Green Channel" became Home Box Office on November 8, 1972. HBO began using microwave to feed its programming. The first program aired over the pay-channel was a New York Rangers / Vancouver Canucks game, to a CATV system in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (a plaque commemorating this event is found in Wilkes-Barre's downtown Public Square). The New York Rangers are a professional Ice hockey team based in New York, New York, United States. The Vancouver Canucks are a Professional Ice hockey team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Wilkes-Barre (ˈwɪlksbɛrə or /-bɛri/ is the central city of the Wyoming Valley and County seat of Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern Also on that night was the first film to be seen on HBO—Sometimes a Great Notion, starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. Sometimes A Great Notion is a 1971 film starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda, and featuring Richard Jaeckel in his Oscar Paul Leonard Newman (January 26 1925 &ndash September 26 2008 was an Academy Award Henry Jaynes Fonda ( May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American Academy Award -winning Film and

Sterling Manhattan Cable was rapidly losing money because the company had a small subscriber base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Dolan's media partner, Time Life, Inc. , gained 80 percent control of Sterling and decided to pull the plug on the Sterling Manhattan operation. Time Life dropped the Sterling name to become Manhattan Cable Television and gained control of HBO in March of 1973. Gerald Levin replaced Dolan as HBO's President and Chief Executive Officer. In September of 1973 Time Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO was soon the fastest growing show in America, but the churn rate was exceptionally high. Subscribers would sample the service for a few weeks, get weary of seeing the same films, and then cancel. HBO was struggling and something had to be done. When HBO first came to Lawrence, Massachusetts, the idea was to allow subscribers to preview the service for free on channel 3. After a month, the service moved to channel 6 and was scrambled. The preview proved popular, obtaining many subscriptions and the concept was used elsewhere.

On September 30, 1975, HBO became the first TV network to continuously deliver signals via satellite when it showed the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to comsat) is an artificial Satellite stationed in space for the purposes of Telecommunications. The Thrilla in Manila is a famous Boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City Boxing (sometimes also known as English boxing or pugilism) is a Combat sport in which two participants generally of similar weight, Biography Early life Cassius Clay Jr was born on January 17 1942 For the Major League Baseball player and manager see Joe Frazier (baseball. ^[2][3] On December 28, 1981, HBO expanded its programming schedule to 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 (Cinemax was 24/7 from the day it signed on, and Showtime and The Movie Channel went 24 hours earlier. Max (or Cinemax) is a collection of cable Television networks that provide movies special features Erotica, and other services to Showtime is a subscription television Brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United The Movie Channel (TMC is an American premium cable television network owned by Showtime Networks Inc ) In January 1986, HBO also became the first satellite network to encrypt its signal from unauthorized viewing by way of the Videocipher II System and in 1993 became the world's first digitally transmitted television service. Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek grc κρυπτός kryptos, "hidden secret" and grc γράφω gráphō, "I write" VideoCipher is a brand name of analog scrambling equipment for satellite television invented in 1983 by Linkabit Corporation which was bought out by MA/COM in 1985 In 1999 HBO became the first national cable TV network to broadcast a high-definition version of its channel. High-definition television (HDTV is a Digital television Broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (standard-definition

1983 saw the premiere of HBO's first original movie and the first made-for-pay-TV movie, The Terry Fox Story. The Terry Fox Story is a 1983 film Biopic of Canadian Amputee and athlete Terry Fox. That year was also the premiere of the first kids' show to be broadcast on the channel—Fraggle Rock. Fraggle Rock is a Children's television series with a total of 5 seasons and 96 episodes running from January 10, 1983 to March 30

In the late 1980s, HBO launched a short-lived channel, Festival. In the late 1980s HBO launched a short lived channel Festival. It featured classic movies and current hit movies as well as HBO's specials & documentaries. The difference with Festival was that it was programmed to be family-friendly. In the late 1980s HBO launched a short lived channel Festival. R rated movies were edited for showing and no low quality themed programs/movies were shown. Also, the subscription for the channel was priced lower than HBO & Cinemax. Unfortunately, only a few cable systems carried Festival and the channel went dark after a year or so. In the late 1980s HBO launched a short lived channel Festival.

HBO was involved in several legal suits during the 1980s involving cable systems and legal statutes imposed by state and city laws that would have censored HBO and other pay-TV networks for programming that was considered "indecent".

In April 1986, HBO became a victim of broadcast signal intrusion when a man calling himself "Captain Midnight" intercepted the network's signal during a movie presentation of The Falcon and the Snowman. Broadcast signal intrusion is a term given to the act of hijacking broadcast signals of radio and television stations John R MacDougall (born c 1961 also known as Captain Midnight, is a Florida electronic engineer and business owner who jammed HBO 's The Falcon and the Snowman is a 1985 Film about two young American men Christopher Boyce (played by Timothy Hutton) and The man was later caught and prosecuted.

In 1988 HBO's userbase expanded greatly on account of the writer's guild going on strike; HBO had new programming while standard TV was only able to show reruns.

In 1991, HBO and Cinemax became the first premium services to offer multiplexing to cable customers. Providing multiple options of HBO and Cinemax instead of just single channel services, these include (HBO2, renamed HBO Plus from 1998 to 2002) and Cinemax (Cinemax 2, now MoreMax) to three cable systems in Wisconsin, Kansas and Texas. The move proved successful resulting in HBO and Cinemax launching additional multiplex channels of its service, HBO 3 (launched in 1995, renamed HBO Signature in 1998), HBO Family (launched in 1996), HBO Comedy & HBO Zone (launched in 1999) and HBO Latino, a Latin-themed channel of HBO (launched in 2000. HBO Family is an American premium cable television network from sister station HBO. Cinemax also launched the multiplex services Cinemax 3 (launched in 1996, ActionMax in 1998), ThrillerMax (launched in 1998) and WMax, @Max, OuterMax and 5StarMax (all launched in 2001). The HBO channels became collectively known as "HBO The Works" in 1998, and the Cinemax channels became known as "MultiMax". The two packages then merged into "HBO/MAX Pak", but are no longer packaged under one name.

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. Time Inc is a major subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City.

In 1989-90, HBO compared programming against Showtime, another pay television network, with the slogan "Nobody Brings it Home Like HBO" using the Tina Turner single Simply the Best. Showtime is a subscription television Brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an eight time Grammy Award -winning American

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, sex and profanity. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor Violence is the exertion of force so as to injure or abuse The word is used broadly to describe the destructive action of natural phenomena like Storms and Earthquakes Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display The original meaning of the adjective profane (from the Latin for "in front of or outside the Temple " was to refer to items not belonging to the church

The network is currently received in roughly one-third of households in the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the It can be quite expensive to acquire HBO because subscribers are generally 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%. However, federal law requires that a cable system allow a person to get just basic cable (local broadcast channels and public, educational, and governmental (PEG) channels) and HBO, without subscribing to expanded service. ^[4] Cable systems can require the use of a converter box (usually digital) to receive HBO.

Even in the days of the V-chip, the primary HBO channel still does not run unedited R rated films or TV-MA rated programming during the daytime, continuing a long-held policy. V-chip is a generic term used for Television receivers allowing the blocking of programs based on their ratings category ^[5] HBO's multiplex channels will do so (excluding HBO Family, which doesn't run R rated films at all and will generally run PG-13 rated films only between 6 p. m. and 6 a. m. ). ^[6]

Several HBO programs have been re-aired on other networks and local syndication (usually after some editing), and a number of them are also available on DVD. Since HBO's more successful series, most notably 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, Canada and Sweden, HBO programming has the potential to be seen by a higher percentage of the population of those countries as compared to the U. Sex and the City was an American Cable television program The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004 for a The Sopranos is an American Television drama series created by David Chase. Six Feet Under is an American Television Drama created by Alan Ball that was originally broadcast from 2001 to 2005 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. S. Because of the high cost of HBO, many Americans only view HBO programs on DVDs or in basic cable or broadcast syndication, months or even years after the network has first broadcast the programs, and with editing for advertising time and content, although several series have filmed alternate 'clean' scenes meant for syndication runs. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is In Broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast Radio shows and Television shows to multiple individual stations without going through

On January 9, 2008, HBO Home Video officially announced that it will support Blu-ray disc exclusively for all high definition disc sales^[7]

HBO has international operations in Latin America, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania (and Moldova), Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Asia/South Asia(Bangladesh, India and Pakistan). Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ( Republica Moldova) is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian ( Bengali: বাংলাদেশ inc-Latn Bangladesh) officially India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and It also had an early investment in New Zealand's SKY Network Television through the channel HBO (now Sky Movies). New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island SKY Network Television Limited () often trading as SKY is a New Zealand pay Television service HBO plans to launch international operations in "key markets" of Europe (France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Turkey) and Japan.

HBO has already begun to deliver content to cable customers via its subscription video on demand service, HBO On Demand, in the UK BT Vision and Virgin Media and Israel (Jasmine TV). Additionally, it has launched its HBO Mobile service in Western Europe, South Africa and Korea.

HBO. com launched in 1995. It is well-known for its online web shows.

Other media ventures

HBO has become somewhat of a media empire, with its HBO and Cinemax family of networks as well as influence in television and film production.

In 1990, HBO launched HBO Independent Productions, a production company that produced mainly sitcoms for broadcast and basic cable television, including Martin and Everybody Loves Raymond. Martin is an American sitcom produced by HBO Independent Productions (a subsidiary of HBO) that aired for five seasons from August 27 Everybody Loves Raymond is an Emmy Award -winning American Television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13 HBO Downtown Productions was launched a year later producing comedy specials for the network as well as content for Comedy Central (which HBO formerly co-owned).

HBO also operates HBO Films, created in 1999, as a reconfiguration and consolidation of its former movie divisions, HBO NYC Productions and HBO Pictures. HBO Films is a division of the Cable television network HBO that produces Feature films and Miniseries. HBO Films is a division of the Cable television network HBO that produces Feature films and Miniseries. HBO also operated another film division called HBO Showcase, which ceased in 1996 to form HBO NYC Productions.

HBO also has a number of joint ventures:

• Tri-Star Pictures. TriStar Pictures Inc (spelled Tri-Star until 1991 is a film subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion In 1982, HBO joint ventured with Columbia Pictures and CBS to form a motion picture studio: Tri-Star (the hyphen was dropped later). }} Columbia Pictures Industries Inc is an American Film production and distribution company CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. HBO, CBS and Columbia decided to pool resources to split the ever-growing costs of making movies. Their first release, in 1984, was The Natural. Their second movie was a flop remake of the 1960 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture Where the Boys Are. CBS dropped out of the venture in 1984. In April 1987, Tri-Star entered into the television business as Tri-Star Television. In December 1987, HBO dropped out of the Tri-Star venture and Columbia Pictures bought their venture shares and merged Columbia and Tri-Star into Columbia Pictures Entertainment. As of 2008, the name TriStar is still in use by Columbia owned Sony Pictures Entertainment.

• Since 1991, HBO has overseen a number of partnerships that operate HBO branded programming networks around the globe, such as HBO Asia, HBO Brasil, HBO Czech, HBO Hungary, HBO India, HBO OLE (now HBO Latin America) and HBO Romania.

• In 2005, HBO and New Line Cinema launched Picturehouse, a new theatrical distribution company that delivers high quality independent films to audiences worldwide. New Line Cinema, founded in 1967 is one of the major American Film studios Though it initially began as an independent film studio it became a

• Also in 2005, the HBO Mobile wireless service launched via Vodafone in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and South Africa, and via SK Telecom in Korea in 2006.

• In 2006, HBO's SVOD service, HBO On Demand, launched in Israel on Jasmine TV, marking the first HBO stand alone offered outside the U. S. The service was launched in the U. K. in 2007 via BT Vision, Tiscali TV and Virgin Media.

Slogans

• 1972-1978: "Different and First"
• 1978-1982: "The Home Box"
• 1982-1983: "Start with Us on HBO"
• 1983-1985: "There's No Place Like HBO"
• 1986-1988: "Let's All Get Together"
• 1988-1989: "Watch Us Here on HBO"
• 1990-1992: "Simply The Best", used song by Tina Turner as image theme. " The Best " aka " Simply The Best " is a song written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight. Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an eight time Grammy Award -winning American (Still used in HBO Asia)
• 1992-1993: "We're HBO"
• 1993-1997: "We're Out of Town Today"
• 1997-Present: "It's Not TV. It's HBO"
• 2006-Present: "Get More" (Slogan for its website)

Channels

HBO operates seven multiplex channels, a high-definition television channel and a Movies on Demand service (HBO On Demand). For multiplexing in electronics and signal processing see Multiplexer. High-definition television (HDTV is a Digital television Broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (standard-definition

• HBO: Popular movies, first-run films, original movies, and original series.
• HBO2: Secondary channel, features more movies, series and original pictures as well as R-rated films during the day, unlike HBO. Known as "HBO Plus" from 1998 to 2001. In Brazil, it repeats all the movies that original HBO channel plays, and HBO Plus is another channel.
• HBO Comedy: Less serious films and shows as well as rebroadcasts of HBO comedy series and specials; airs R-rated films during the day, but only broadcasts adult comedy specials at night. This channel is not carried on DirecTV.
• HBO Family: Movies and series aimed at a younger audience as well as films for the whole family; only airs 'G' or 'PG' rated films starting at 11:30 A. HBO Family is an American premium cable television network from sister station HBO. M. EST/PST and airs 'PG-13' films starting late afternoons. ^[8] Has the distinction of being the only HBO spin-off with its own website; all the others are integrated within the main HBO site. This channel does not show R Movies or TV-MA.
• HBO Latino: Spanish language version of HBO, for Spanish-speaking audiences. Airs HBO productions including original series dubbed in Spanish as well as Hollywood blockbusters and Spanish films. Also airs boxing and the original series Boxeo De Oro.
• HBO Signature: Quality films, original HBO series and specials geared primarily at women, the channel's target audience. Known as "HBO 3" until 1998.
• HBO Zone: Airs programming aimed at a younger audience, usually 18-35 years of age, as well as adult-oriented programming at night. This channel is carried only on Digital cable.
• HBO HD: A high definition simulcast of the primary HBO channel.

HBO also packages the Eastern and Pacific feeds of the main channel together, allowing viewers a second chance to watch the same movie/program three hours later/earlier depending on their geographic location. The Eastern Time Zone ( ET) of the Western Hemisphere falls mostly along the east coast of North America and the west coast of South America The Pacific Time Zone observes Standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC-8)

HBO original programming

See also: List of programs broadcast by HBO

Since 1977, HBO has produced original programming in addition to its slate of theatrical films. Current or future programming The following is a list of original HBO programs that are currently under production or are planned for the future Most of these shows are rated TV-MA, and often feature suggestive themes and high amounts of profanity, something that would be much more difficult to get on other network channels. The original meaning of the adjective profane (from the Latin for "in front of or outside the Temple " was to refer to items not belonging to the church

Some of HBO's best-known series include:

Dramas

• Band of Brothers (produced in collaboration with the BBC)
• Big Love
• Carnivàle
• Cathouse
• Deadwood
• From the Earth to the Moon
• The Hitchhiker
• In Treatment
• John from Cincinnati
• Oz
• Rome (produced in collaboration with the BBC and RAI)
• Six Feet Under
• The Sopranos
• Tales from the Crypt
• Tell Me You Love Me
• True Blood (2008)
• The Wire

Comedies

• 1st & Ten
• Arli$$
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Da Ali G Show
• Dream On
• Entourage
• Extras (produced in collaboration with the BBC)
• Flight of the Conchords
• The Larry Sanders Show
• Lucky Louie
• The Mind of the Married Man
• Mr. Show
• Not Necessarily the News
• Real Time with Bill Maher
• Sex and the City
• Tenacious D
• Tracey Takes On...

Movies

HBO currently has exclusive deals with DreamWorks (which recently was acquired by Paramount/Viacom), Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios (along with Rogue Pictures and Focus Features), New Line Cinema, and network sister company Warner Bros. (although recently they passed on a package of recent WB films such as The Polar Express and March of the Penguins due to cost, and therefore have bypassed pay-cable altogether and went straight from pay-per-view to broadcast television). Band of Brothers is a ten-part Television World War II Mini-series based on the book of the same title written by Historian Big Love is an HBO television drama about a fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices Polygamy. Carnivàle ( is an American Television series set in the United States during the Great Depression. Cathouse The Series is an HBO television series that documents the professional lives of the workers at the Moonlite BunnyRanch, a legal Brothel Deadwood is an American western &ndash Drama Television series created produced and almost entirely written by David Milch From the Earth to the Moon is a twelve-part HBO Television Miniseries (1998 co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, The Hitchhiker was a Television series mystery Anthology that aired from 1983 to 1987 on HBO, First Choice In Treatment is an Emmy Award -winning HBO Drama, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, about a psychotherapist, John from Cincinnati is an American Television drama set against the Surfing community of Imperial Beach California, that aired Oz is an American Television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes Rome is a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy -nominated historical drama Television series co-created by John Milius Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana, known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian public service broadcaster, and is considered Six Feet Under is an American Television Drama created by Alan Ball that was originally broadcast from 2001 to 2005 The Sopranos is an American Television drama series created by David Chase. Tales from the Crypt is a horror anthology American TV series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the Premium Cable channel Tell Me You Love Me is an American cable television drama series that premiered on HBO and on The Movie Network on September 9 True Blood is an American Television drama series created by Alan Ball, based on the Sookie Stackhouse Book series 1st & Ten is a Situation comedy Television program that aired between 1984 and 1991 on the American Cable television Arliss (rendered in its logo as Arli$$) is an American Situation comedy on HBO about a Sports agent and Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American Sitcom starring Seinfeld writer co-creator and executive producer Larry David as himself and Da Ali G Show is the name of two related satirical TV series starring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and featuring the character Dream On is a cult American adult Situation comedy about Martin Tupper a dreamer whose life is full of colorful characters Entourage is an Emmy Award -winning HBO original series created by Doug Ellin that chronicles the rise of Vincent Chase — a Extras is a British television sitcom about extras working on Film sets and in Theatre. Flight of the Conchords is an Emmy Award -nominated Television Comedy series that follows the adventures of the Flight of the Conchords The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television Sitcom that originally aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO Cable television network Lucky Louie is an American Television Sitcom about a family headed by Louie starring Louis C The Mind of the Married Man is a television series that ran on the HBO network for two seasons consisting of twenty episodes between September 2001 and Mr Show (also known as Mr Show with Bob and David) was a Sketch comedy series featuring former Saturday Night Live writer/comedy Not Necessarily the News was a satirical sketch comedy series that ran on HBO from 1983 to 1990 Real Time with Bill Maher is a Talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Sex and the City was an American Cable television program The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004 for a Tenacious D was a TV series that ran on HBO in 1997 1999 and 2000 Tracey Takes On is an HBO Sketch comedy series created by British-American Comedienne Tracey Ullman. DreamWorks LLC, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, or DreamWorks Studios, is a major American Film studio Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American Rogue Pictures is a division of Universal Pictures, which is a division of NBC Universal. Focus Features (formerly USA Films, Universal Focus and Good Machine) is the art house films division of NBC Universal 's Universal New Line Cinema, founded in 1967 is one of the major American Film studios Though it initially began as an independent film studio it became a Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and The Polar Express is a 2004 Academy Award -nominated feature film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van March of the Penguins ( French: La Marche de l'empereur; literally The Emperor's March) is a commercially and critically successful

As a result of these limited deals, HBO often fills its late-night schedule with recent B-movies (some of which were never released theatrically) produced by lesser-known, independent companies. On the other hand, HBO also shows sub-runs (runs of films that have already received broadcast network/syndicated television releases) of theatrical films from Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Lions Gate Films. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American Lionsgate redirects here For other meanings see Lions' Gate (disambiguation‎.

In 2003, HBO acquired the exclusive pay-cable rights to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones from Fox and Lucasfilm, Ltd., and during its initial 18-month term of license, aired the movie without first giving it a pay-per-view cable release. Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones is a 2002 Film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales Lucasfilm Limited' is an American Film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco California HBO also has pay-cable rights to its sequel, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 Space opera Film written and directed by George Lucas. During negotiations for the pay-cable rights to Clones, a deal to air the entire saga, including the revised DVD version of the original trilogy [IV, V, and VI], was made, and as a result sister network Cinemax became the first U. Max (or Cinemax) is a collection of cable Television networks that provide movies special features Erotica, and other services to S. network to air all six films (in turn, HBO had limited pay-cable access to all these movies until the first quarter of 2008).

HBO also has exclusive pay-cable rights to its own in-house theatrical films made under HBO Films. HBO Films is a division of the Cable television network HBO that produces Feature films and Miniseries.

Usually films which HBO has pay-cable rights will also run on Cinemax during its time of license.

Sports

HBO's first broadcast was of a New York Rangers / Vancouver Canucks game, transmitted to a CATV system in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on November 8, 1972. The New York Rangers are a professional Ice hockey team based in New York, New York, United States. The Vancouver Canucks are a Professional Ice hockey team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Wilkes-Barre (ˈwɪlksbɛrə or /-bɛri/ is the central city of the Wyoming Valley and County seat of Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. HBO is known for its boxing match-ups including those shown on HBO World Championship Boxing. HBO World Championship Boxing is a sports television series, premiering in January 1973 that has shown a number of significant boxing events in the last three decades In 1975, the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier aired on HBO and was the first program on the pay-cable network to air via satellite. The Thrilla in Manila is a famous Boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City Boxing (sometimes also known as English boxing or pugilism) is a Combat sport in which two participants generally of similar weight, Biography Early life Cassius Clay Jr was born on January 17 1942 For the Major League Baseball player and manager see Joe Frazier (baseball. Also in 1975, HBO began airing coverage of Wimbledon and did so until 1999. Coverage has since moved to sister network TNT and later to ESPN2. Turner Network Television, usually referred to as TNT, is an American cable TV network created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned ESPN2 debuted on October 1, 1993, as a sister station of ESPN. During the mid-1970s, HBO aired several NBA and ABA basketball games (notably, the last ABA Final in 1976, between the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets) as well as some NHL hockey games. In 1977, HBO launched Inside the NFL, the channel's longest-running program, but cancelled it in 2008. Inside the NFL is a weekly sports show that focuses on the National Football League. HBO launched Boxing After Dark in 1997, showcasing some of boxing's newest talents. Boxing After Dark is an HBO Boxing program premiering in April 1996, that usually shows fights between well-known contenders but HBO currently operates HBO PPV (formerly TVKO) to broadcast boxing matches to pay-per-view subscribers. Pay-per-view (often abbreviated PPV) is the system in which Television viewers can purchase events to be seen on TV and pay for the private telecast of that event

HBO and NFL Films have also jointly produced Hard Knocks, which follows a team in training camp and their preparations for the upcoming NFL season. The series, which first premiered in 2001, returns in 2008 where it will document the Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC in the National ^[9]

In 1973, HBO aired a World Wide Wrestling Federation event from Madison Square Garden, headlined by George Steele facing Pedro Morales. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ( WWE) is a publicly traded privately controlled integrated media (focusing in Television, Internet, William James Myers (born April 16, 1937 in Detroit Michigan) better known by his Ring name George "The Animal" Steele Pedro Morales (born October 22 1942 Morales was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995 The event, which most people did not know was ever aired, recently showed up as part of the WWE 24/7 on-demand service.

HBO Sports also aired PBA Bowling events during the 1970s. Bowling is a Game / Sport in which players attempt to score points by rolling a Bowling ball along a flat surface either into objects called pins Dick Stockton was the play by play announcer and Skee Foremsky was the color commentator. Dick Stockton (born in 1942 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania) is an American Sportscaster. ^[10]

Documentaries

Many of HBO's documentary series appear under the America Undercover brand. America Undercover is a series of Documentaries that airs on the Cable television network HBO. Among the regular AU features are Real Sex and Autopsy. Real Sex is a Television series broadcast on and a production of HBO. Autopsy is a Television subseries of HBO 's America Undercover documentary series

In 2004, guided by human rights activist Ansar Burney, an HBO team for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel used a hidden camera to document slavery and torture in secret desert camps where boys under the age of five were trained to race camels, a national sport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel is a monthly sports Newsmagazine on HBO that debuted on April 2, 1995. This half-hour investigative report exposed a carefully hidden child slavery ring that bought or kidnapped hundreds of young boys in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and ( Bengali: বাংলাদেশ inc-Latn Bangladesh) officially These boys were then forced to become camel jockeys in the UAE. Camel racing is a popular Sport in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Australia. The report also questioned the sincerity of U. S. diplomacy in pressuring an ally, the UAE, to comply with its own stated policy of banning the use of children under 15 from camel racing. Camels are Even-toed ungulates within the Genus Camelus. The Dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and the

The documentary won a Sports Emmy Award in 2004 for "Outstanding Sports Journalism" and the 2006 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for outstanding broadcast journalism. It also brought world attention to the plight of child camel jockeys in the Middle East and helped Ansar Burney Trust to convince the governments of Qatar and the UAE to end the use of children in this sport. Qatar ( قطر; ˈqɑtˁɑr local pronunciation giṭar officially the State of Qatar (Arabic دولة قطر transliterated

HBO is also noted for its "Sports of the 20th century" documentary brand. One of its most recent documentaries was "Dare to Dream" about the U. S. Women's Soccer Team and their effort to make a difference. This documentary featured Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett, and Julie Foudy. Mia Hamm (born Mariel Margaret Hamm on March 17, 1972 in Selma Alabama) is a former American Soccer Kristine Marie Lilly (born July 22, 1971) is an American soccer player who has been a fixture on the U Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is a former Soccer player who was on the U Joy Lynn Fawcett (born Joy Biefield on February 8, 1968) is an American professional soccer player Julie Maurine Foudy (born 23 January 1971 in San Diego California) was a midfielder for the United States women's national soccer team from

In 2006, film director Spike Lee made a four-hour documentary on Hurricane Katrina called When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which was broken up into two parts. Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20 1957 is an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award -nominated American Film director, Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States When the Levees Broke A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 Documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans

Branding

When the network launched in 1972, the HBO identity was (and still is) an uppercase 'HBO' with a circle inside the 'O'. However, for the first few years, the logo featured the 'B' and the 'O' interlocked with each other with the 'O' cutting into the 'B'. The logo was modified in 1980 (not completely replacing the original until 1981) when HBO started using the current logo with the 'B' and the 'O' still attached to each other but with a whole 'B'. The simplicity of the logo makes it somewhat easy to duplicate, something HBO has taken advantage of many times over the years. It does not correspond to one particular font; however, a few common geometric typefaces (including Arial Black) are close.

The fanfare to the HBO in Space movie open, originally composed by Ferdinand J. Smith, has become a sort of musical logo for the network with numerous reorchestrations of this fanfare being used, varying from the traditional horns to piano.

Unless otherwise noted, HBO is one of the few pay-TV networks remaining that does not currently brand programming with semi-transparent logos of the main network and each respective theme channel.

HBO on Broadband

In January 2008, HBO launched HBO On Broadband in limited markets. It features 400 hours of movies and original series that can be downloaded to computers. You must be a digital cable customer who subscribes to HBO, and you must use your cable company as your Internet provider. There is no extra charge for these HBO subscribers for this service. Programming will include 130 movie titles that rotate monthly and top hits ranging from movies, series and specials. Initially, it is only available to Time Warner Cable customers in Green Bay and Milwaukee. Time Warner Cable ( (formerly Warner Cable Communications) is an American national cable television company that operates in 27 states and has 31 operating divisions ^[11][12]

Merchandising

The HBO Trademark has been used in various products. In 2005, HBO launched a deal with Cingular Wireless (now AT&T) to create HBO Mobile. Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and HBO Mobile, a pay service feature much like the cable network itself, features information on HBO original series such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City and others, including episode guides, wallpapers and ringtones voiced by cast members of HBO series. The Sopranos is an American Television drama series created by David Chase. Sex and the City was an American Cable television program The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004 for a

In 2005, a version of the DVD interactive game Scene It was released tailored to the HBO network itself. Scene It? is a DVD game Brand, created by Screenlife, in which players answer Trivia questions about Films or pop culture It features trivia on various HBO series.

"HBO Studies"

Recently, there have also been a number of scholarly books that pay critical attention to HBO and its content, such as This Thing of Ours: Investigating the Sopranos, Reading the Sopranos: Hit TV from HBO, and Reading Deadwood: A Western to Swear By, all edited by David Lavery, and Reading Six Feet Under: TV to Die For and Reading Sex and the City, both edited by Kim Akass and Janet McCabe. Other critiques of The Sopranos include: The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire, and Betrayal in America’s Favorite Gangster Family by Glen O. Gabbard, The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am edited by Richard Greene and Peter Vernezze, and The Sopranos on the Couch by Maurice Yacowar. Recent collections have looked at HBO as a whole, and include The Essential HBO Reader edited by Gary R. Edgerton and Jeffrey P. Jones and It’s Not TV: Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era edited by Marc Leverette, Brian L. Ott, and Cara Louise Buckley.

See also

• HBO Boxing
• HBO Family
• HBO Films
• HBO Asia
• Festival
• List of past and present HBO shows
• On Location (TV series)
• Standing Room Only (TV series)
• Captain Midnight (HBO), for a 1986 incident where HBO's signal was jammed to protest the scrambling of their signal for satellite dish users
• Cinemax
• Showtime
• List of DirecTV channels
• List of Dish Network channels
• List of HBO video releases

References

External links

HBO

• Official HBO site
• HBO On Demand
• HBO 2
• HBO Comedy
• HBO HD
• HBO Family
• HBO Latino
• HBO Signature
• HBO Zone
• HBO Community

HBO International

• HBO Asia
• HBO Brazil
• HBO Brazil Family
• HBO Caribbean (for English speaking Americas)
• HBO Europe
• HBO Latin America
• HBO Latin America Family
• HBO UK