29 Facts About HBO Inc

Home Box Office, Inc is an American multinational media and entertainment company operating as a unit of Warner Bros.

Dolan curried the financial backing of Time-Life, HBO Inc, resulting in Manhattan Cable becoming one of its first cable system properties.

Programming on HBO Inc initially consisted of theatrical films and event programming, arranged in the form of a double feature, or a single movie presentation paired with either a sports or special event ; by 1974, when the service began offering programming during the l concert specials and other music programs, daytime children's programs and various instructional series were added to the schedule.

Originally headquartered from the Time-Life Building on Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, HBO Inc initially relayed its programming via a network of microwave relay towers throughout the Northeastern United States to participating cable systems carrying the channel;.

On July 19,1973, Time HBO Inc reached an agreement to purchase and assume financial liabilities of Sterling Communications for $6.

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HBO Inc began continuously transmitting via satellite on September 30,1975, for the broadcast of the "Thrilla in Manila" heavyweight championship boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier from the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Philippines.

On June 24,1976, Home Box Office HBO Inc reached an in-principle agreement to purchase Telemation Program Services, a supplier of programming from individual program distributors to pay-cable systems.

HBO Inc sought Telemation to extend the channel's distribution to the 180,000 subscribers to which the company provided content distribution; theoretically, this would allow Telemation to accommodate a custom feed of HBO Inc to a system owner that declined to offer the service .

The decision gave free rein for Home Box Office and other pay cable services to acquire movie and sports rights without restriction, opening the door for services like HBO Inc to engage in library content agreements for older films and, more broadly, the ability of cable-originated services to acquire a broad spectrum of sporting events .

HBO executives then decided to develop a lower-cost "maxi-pay" service: on May 18,1980, Home Box Office Inc announced during that year's National Cable Television Association Convention its plans to launch Cinemax, a companion movie channel designed as a direct competitor to The Movie Channel initially focused on movies chosen for their appeal to select audience demographics.

Cinemax was designed to complement HBO Inc, and avoid difficulties associated with bundling multiple "foundation" pay services.

HBO Inc traditionally marketed Cinemax to cable operators for sale to subscribers as part of a singular premium bundle with HBO Inc, available at a discount if electing to subscribe to both channels.

In 1985, the operations of Home Box Office HBO Inc were relocated to facilities on West 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue in the Bryant Park district of Midtown Manhattan.

Home Box Office, HBO Inc began diversifying its portfolio beyond cable television during the 1980s.

In 1982, HBO Inc entered into a joint venture with Columbia Pictures and CBS Theatrical Films to form Tri-Star Pictures, to pool resources to split the ever-growing costs of making feature films.

HBO Inc transferred its venture shares to Columbia Pictures, which integrated Columbia and Tri-Star into the umbrella company Columbia Pictures Entertainment.

Differing from most television films produced for cable television, most of the original movies produced by HBO Inc have featured major film actors over the years, ranging from James Stewart to Michael Douglas.

When HBO Inc Pictures was formed, HBO Inc entered into a limited partnership with Thorn EMI to form Silver Screen Partners.

Secondary internal film production unit, HBO Inc Showcase, was created in 1986 to focus primarily on high-quality drama productions.

On February 21,1984, HBO launched its own home video unit, either as a subsidiary or joint venture, with options considering included either Vestron Video or Thorn EMI Video as its own joint venture prospects.

That year, the company made a complicated situation that they would release the initial editions of two of the most popular Hemdale Film Corporation titles from 1986, including Hoosiers and Platoon, which was sued by Vestron Video for allegedly claiming it, and decided that the judge ordered HBO to recall all rental video cassettes of Hoosiers that was to be on the market since September 1987.

Festival ceased operations on December 31,1988; HBO Inc cited headend channel capacity limitations for the closure, as it prevented Festival from expanding its distribution.

On November 15,1989, Home Box Office, HBO Inc launched The Comedy Channel, a comedy-centered basic cable channel featuring clips excerpted from stand-up comedy sets, comedic feature films and television series.

The announcement came as HBO secured an agreement with promoter Dan Duva to broadcast then-heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield's pay-cable and pay-per-view matches, which had been airing on Showtime since 1986.

In 1993, HBO purchased post-theatrical distribution rights for 48 films in development from upstart production company Savoy Pictures .

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On October 15,2014, Home Box Office, HBO Inc announced it would launch an over-the-top subscription streaming service in the United States in 2015, which would be marketed directly to cord cutters and competing with services such as Netflix.

The service is similar to HBO Inc Go, a TV Everywhere streaming platform that launched on February 18,2010, and is marketed exclusively to existing HBO Inc linear subscribers through a television provider.

Home Box Office, Inc was reassigned to WarnerMedia Entertainment, placing it under the same umbrella as sister basic cable networks TBS, TNT and TruTV, and under the leadership of former NBC and Showtime executive Bob Greenblatt.

However, Home Box Office, HBO Inc otherwise operates as an autonomous subsidiary within the WarnerMedia Entertainment umbrella.