HBO Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== {{main|History of HBO}} Cable television executive [[Charles Dolan]]—through his company, Sterling Information Services—founded Manhattan Cable TV Services (renamed Sterling Manhattan Cable Television in January 1971), a cable system franchise serving an [[Upper Manhattan]] section of New York City (covering an area extending southward from [[79th Street (Manhattan)|79th Street]] on the [[Upper East Side]] to [[86th Street (Manhattan)|86th Street]] on the Upper West Side), which began limited service in September 1966. Manhattan Cable was notable for being the first urban underground cable television system to operate in the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Manhattan Cable begins limited CATV service |periodical=Broadcasting |page=47 |date=September 12, 1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=TV In the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas|author=Vincent Lobrutto|publisher=Greenwood|location=Santa Barbara, California|pages=xli|year=2018}}</ref><ref name="Sterling Cable">{{cite web|title=1970s: Coming of Age – Sterling Manhattan Cable|url=http://m.history.timewarnercable.com/the-twc-story/era-1970s/Story.aspx?story=44|publisher=[[Time Warner Cable]]|date=February 18, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130412001540/http://m.history.timewarnercable.com/the-twc-story/era-1970s/Story.aspx?story=44|archive-date=April 12, 2013}}</ref> With external expenses resulting in consistent financial losses, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation to France aboard the [[Queen Elizabeth 2]], a desperate Dolan—wanting to help Sterling Manhattan turn profitable and to prevent [[Time Life|Time-Life, Inc.]] (then the book publishing unit of [[Time Inc.]]) from pulling its investment in the system—developed a proposal for a cable-originated television channel. [[Code name#Project code name|Codenamed]] "'''The Green Channel'''", the conceptual subscription service would offer unedited theatrical movies licensed from the [[major film studio|major Hollywood film studios]] and live sporting events, all presented without interruptions by [[television advertisement|advertising]] and sold for a flat monthly fee to prospective subscribers. On November 2, 1971, Time Inc.'s board of directors approved the "Green Channel" proposal, agreeing to give Dolan a $150,000 development grant for the project.<ref name="Green Channel">{{cite web |author=Bill Mesce |date=August 11, 2013 |title=It's Not TV: HBO, The Company That Changed Television: The Green Channel |url=http://www.soundonsight.org/its-not-tv-hbo-the-company-that-changed-television-thel-green-channel/ |access-date=February 1, 2014 |publisher=Sound on Sight}}{{Dead link|date=June 2022|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref name="psu-hbo">{{cite web|title=Risk: A Game of Cable Domination|url=http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/HBO.html|author=Kimberly C. Van Schoick|website=Pennsylvania Center for the Book|publisher=[[Penn State University]]|date=Fall 2010|access-date=January 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515203331/http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/HBO.html|archive-date=May 15, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Accord on Growth of Cable TV Unlikely to Affect City Soon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/13/archives/accord-on-growth-of-cable-tv-unlikely-to-affect-city-soon.html|author=Jack Gould|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 13, 1971|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref> Time-Life and Sterling Communications soon proposed for the "'''Sterling Cable Network'''" to be the name of the new service. Discussions to change the service's name took place during a later meeting of Dolan and the executive staff he hired to assist in developing the project, who ultimately settled on calling it "'''<u>H</u>ome [[Box office|<u>B</u>ox <u>O</u>ffice]]'''", which was meant to convey to potential customers that the service would be their "[[Ticket (admission)|ticket]]" to movies and events that they could see in their own home.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Profile: A young Philadelphian puts a big circle around Sept. 30 on HBO's calendar |periodical=Broadcasting |page=73 |date=September 8, 1975}}</ref><ref name="Green Channel"/> Home Box Office launched at 7:30 p.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]] on November 8, 1972, initially available to subscribers of Teleservice Cable (now [[Service Electric|Service Electric Cable TV and Communications]]) in [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo, From Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jcYfsgKFGwC&q=Home+Box+Office+November+8,+1972+Sometimes+a+Great+Notion|author=Scott Kirsner|publisher=CreateSpace Publishing|page=53|isbn=9781438209999|date=May 15, 2008|access-date=December 13, 2016}}</ref><ref name="newspapers-hbodebut">{{cite news|title=HBO Home Box Office first broadcast|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18804318/hbo_home_box_office_first_broadcast/|newspaper=[[Times Leader|Wilkes-Barre Times Leader]]|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|page=39|date=November 8, 1972|access-date=August 13, 2019}}</ref><ref name="hboguide-111974">{{cite magazine|title=HBO Guides: November 1974|url=http://hboguides.com/1974/1974-11.html|periodical=HBO Guide|publisher=[[Home Box Office, Inc.]]|via=The HBO Guide Archive|access-date=June 27, 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815060609/http://hboguides.com/guides/1974/1974-11.html|archive-date=August 15, 2018}}</ref> HBO's inaugural program and event telecast, a [[National Hockey League]] (NHL) game between the [[New York Rangers]] and the [[Vancouver Canucks]] from [[Madison Square Garden]],<ref name="nyt-sterlingmsgdeal">{{cite news|title=STERLING CABLE TV IN 200‐EVENT DEAL|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/02/archives/sterling-cable-tv-in-200event-deal-signs-with-madison-square-garden.html|author=Louis Calta|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 2, 1972|access-date=July 17, 2020}}</ref> was transmitted that evening over channel 21—its original assigned channel on the Teleservice system—to its initial base of 365 subscribers in Wilkes-Barre.<ref>{{cite news|title=HBO Started 20 Years Ago in Wilkes-Barre|url=https://apnews.com/7234e60624a3ac1b2c33c4fb690dc235|author=Kelly P. Kissel|work=Associated Press|date=November 9, 1992|access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> The first movie presentation shown on the service aired immediately after the hockey game concluded: the 1971 film ''[[Sometimes a Great Notion (film)|Sometimes a Great Notion]]'', starring [[Paul Newman]] and [[Henry Fonda]].<ref name="newspapers-hbodebut"/><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite magazine|title=HBO Soundtrack: Home Box Office 5 Years|url=http://hboguides.com/guides/1977/1977-11.html|periodical=HBO on Air|publisher=Home Box Office, Inc.|via=The HBO Guide Archive|date=November 1977|access-date=June 28, 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602095411/http://hboguides.com/guides/1977/1977-11.html|archive-date=June 2, 2018}}</ref><ref name="psu-hbo"/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=And the winner is. |periodical=Broadcasting |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc. |page=11 |date=April 30, 1984}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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