HBO

HBO (short for Home Box Office) consists of several American premium cable television specialty channels, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium subscription channel in America (Encore's programming reaches 33.1 million subscribers ).

HBO's programming consists primarily of theatrically-released motion pictures and original series, along with made-for-cable movies and documentaries, boxing matches, and occasional stand-up comedy and concert specials.

History

Development and launch

In 1965 Charles Dolan, who had already done pioneering work in the commercial use of cables, won a franchise to build a cable system in Lower Manhattan in New York. The new system, which Dolan called "Sterling Manhattan Cable", became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. Rather than stringing cable on telephone poles or using microwave antennas to receive the signals, Sterling laid underground cable beneath the streets of Manhattan — because the multitude of tall buildings blocked television signals. In the same year Time Life, Inc. purchased 20 percent of Dolan's company.

Dolan presented his "Green Channel" idea to Time Life management, and though...
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