How HBO started
In 1965, Charles Dolan started a company to provide paid lower television to lower Manhattan. Although, He decided it was a great idea people preferred free TV.
And as his New York business dwindled in 1971, Dolan came up with another idea called the green channel. The green channel was actually filled with exclusive content, content that people actually wanted to see. And luckily time Inc. saw the potential and funded his dream. And after Time sent out a survey to gage people's response, 99% of consumers said : They did not want it.
Never the less they kept trying. But, it was after a salesman offered 1 month of free service and a refundable installation fee, that around 400 neighbors in Allentown, Pennsylvania agreed to sign up. And despite the rough start HBO officially launched in 1972, In Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. In order to avoid the blackouts for NBA games they intended to televise.
The first film ever to be televised was called sometimes a great notion and it was immediately followed by an NHL Hockey game. And they changed their original name to HBO because they wanted something that sounded like Hollywood centered programming.
By 1983 HBO was already streaming 24/7 with about 12 Million subscribers and they were streaming films, sports and selected special programming. All without ads. And it was in the 90s that HBO really picked up steam because their original content was actually getting noticed at the emmys and Golden Globes.
Nowadays HBO stands as the oldest and longest continuously running paid television service in the US. And they have been responsible for transforming TV viewing into a cultural phenomenon. As of 2019 with over 30 million US subscribers and 125 million worldwide subscribers, HBO is synonymous with high quality entertainment.
And in march of 2019, AT&T own Time warner acquired HBO. And today HBO is scheduled to produce even more original content in order to compete with the likes of Netflix, amazon and hulu. And as of 2019 we don't know how much HBO is worth but HBO's parent company AT&T is worth 223 Billion dollars.
And That's how HBO got started. Thanks for watching my video if you enjoyed it, please subscribe to my youtube channel and follow me on instagram @austindanielpatry