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! ===Sports programming=== [[File:HBO Sports logo.svg|275px|right]] HBO broadcasts sports-related magazine and documentary series produced by HBO Sports, an in-house production division managed by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (previously through Time Warner Sports from 1990 to 2018) that also produced selected sports event telecasts for the channel from its November 1972 launch until December 2018. HBO Sports has been headed by several well-known television executives over the years, including its founder Steve Powell (later head of programming at [[ESPN]]), Dave Meister (later head of the [[Tennis Channel]]), Seth Abraham (later head of [[MSG (TV network)|MSG Network]]),<ref name="An Original Voice"/> and [[Ross Greenburg]]. ====Professional and tournament sports==== As HBO was being developed, the Time Inc./Sterling Communications partnership elected a local origination channel operated by Sterling Manhattan Cable Television (which served as the progenitor of the MSG Network) to handle production responsibilities for home game broadcasts involving the [[New York Knicks]] and [[New York Rangers]]—both based at [[Madison Square Garden]]—that would be televised on HBO throughout its initial Mid-Atlantic U.S. service area. (HBO founder Charles Dolan, through Cablevision, would purchase the arena and its headlining sports teams in a $1.075-billion joint bid with the [[ITT Corporation]] in August 1994; his son, [[James L. Dolan]], has owned the Knicks and Rangers through [[The Madison Square Garden Company]] since 2015, and Madison Square Garden through [[Madison Square Garden Entertainment]] by way of the former company's 2020 spin-off of its non-sports entertainment assets.) The contracts related to this arrangement dated to May 1969, when Manhattan Cable Television first signed a one-year, $300,000 contract with Madison Square Garden to broadcast 125 sports events held at the arena, and was extended for five additional years in November 1970.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=N.Y. CATV, Garden make sports deal |periodical=Broadcasting |page=22 |date=May 26, 1969}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=THE GARDEN SALE: THE DEAL; Madison Sq. Garden Deal Is a Victory for Viacom|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/29/business/the-garden-sale-the-deal-madison-sq-garden-deal-is-a-victory-for-viacom.html|author=Geraldine Fabrikant|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 29, 1994|access-date=July 17, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=CATV gets five-year TV sports contract |periodical=Broadcasting |page=51 |date=November 16, 1970}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=CATV gets five-year TV sports contract |periodical=Broadcasting |page=54 |date=November 16, 1970}}</ref> On November 1, 1972, one week before HBO formally launched, Madison Square Garden granted Sterling the rights to televise its sporting events to cable television systems outside New York City.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=How does your garden grow? |periodical=Broadcasting |page=51 |date=November 6, 1972}}</ref><ref name="nyt-sterlingmsgdeal">{{cite news |author=Louis Calta |date=November 2, 1972 |title=STERLING CABLE TV IN 200-EVENT DEAL |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/02/archives/sterling-cable-tv-in-200event-deal-signs-with-madison-square-garden.html |access-date=July 17, 2020}}</ref> The first game under this arrangement was the New York Rangers-Vancouver Canucks NHL game that launched Home Box Office on November 8, 1972, and served as its inaugural sports broadcast. For the 1974–75 Rangers and Islanders seasons, HBO contracted MSG announcers for play-by-play and color commentating duties; this created a burden on announcers to fill what otherwise would be [[dead air]] over the HBO feed of the games, since the service does not accept advertising, during the MSG Network's commercial airtime. [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA) and [[National Hockey League]] (NHL) coverage expanded with HBO's transition into a national satellite service, covering non-New York-based teams in both leagues (including the NBA's [[Milwaukee Bucks]], [[Boston Celtics]], [[Portland Trail Blazers]], [[Golden State Warriors]] and [[Los Angeles Lakers]]; and the NHL's [[Los Angeles Kings]]) under individual agreements as well as select playoff games.<ref name="b&c-hbograbssports">{{cite magazine |title=HBO grabs more sports |periodical=Broadcasting |page=49 |date=November 24, 1975}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Program Briefs: Partners. |periodical=Broadcasting |page=68 |date=February 16, 1976}}</ref> (The NBA and NHL discontinued their HBO telecasts after their respective 1976–77 seasons. In May 1978, the [[New York Supreme Court]] ruled then-Islanders and Nets president [[Roy Boe]] had [[breach of contract|breached an exclusive contract]] with Dolan's successor firm Long Island Cable Communications Development Co. through the HBO agreement and concurring contracts with other New York-area cable systems.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable firm wins suit against sports owner |periodical=Broadcasting |page=75 |date=May 22, 1978}}</ref>) In 1974, the network acquired the rights to broadcast [[World Football League]] (WFL) games from the [[Charlotte Hornets (WFL)|New York Stars]] (later relocated to [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] as the Charlotte Hornets midway through the WFL's [[1974 World Football League season|inaugural season]]) and the [[Philadelphia Bell]]; 18 WFL games aired on HBO throughout two seasons until the league abruptly folded midway through the [[1975 World Football League season|1975 season]].<ref name="b&c-04291974">{{cite magazine |title=Pay television reaches 12% penetration on cable systems where it's offered |periodical=Broadcasting |page=25 |date=April 29, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=WFL on HBO Sports|url=http://wfl.charlottehornetswfl.com/pages_1974/hbo.php|website=WFL Charlotte Hornets|access-date=July 17, 2020}}</ref> In March 1973, HBO signed a $1.5-million contract to acquire the regional rights to a selection of [[American Basketball Association]] (ABA) games for five years; notably, it carried the [[1976 ABA Playoffs|1976 ABA Finals]]—the league's last tournament game before the completion of its merger with the NBA—a six-game tournament in which the [[Brooklyn Nets|New York Nets]] beat the [[Denver Nuggets]] four games to two. The merger of the two professional basketball leagues resulted in an early termination of HBO's ABA contract, which was originally set to expire on July 1, 1977, following the conclusion of the 1975–76 season.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable, pay TV make inroads on pro sports |periodical=Broadcasting |page=118 |date=March 19, 1973}}</ref> Through 1977, HBO carried other sporting events originating on the Sterling Manhattan/Manhattan Cable sports channel, including [[World Hockey Association]] regular season and playoff games; [[Eastern College Athletic Conference]] (ECAC) tournaments (including the [[ECAC Hockey Men's Ice Hockey Tournament|Men's Ice Hockey Tournament]] and the ECAC Holiday Festival basketball tournament); [[World TeamTennis]]; international [[high school basketball]] invitationals; the [[National Horse Show]]; [[harness racing]] events from [[Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino|Yonkers Raceway]]; equestrian, [[roller derby]] and ice skating events; the [[Professional Karate Association|World Professional Karate Championships]]; the [[Millrose Games]] track and field invitational; the [[American Kennel Club|Westchester Kennel Club Dog Show]]; and [[Capitol Wrestling Corporation|World Wide Wrestling Federation]] matches. (The regionalized sports focus was soon copied by other local subscription television services launched during the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably [[PRISM (TV channel)|PRISM]], [[ONTV (pay TV)|ONTV]] and [[Wometco Home Theater]].) [[NCAA Division I|NCAA Division I college basketball]] games held at Madison Square Garden and, after becoming a national service, other venues (including the [[National Invitational Tournament]] and the Holiday Basketball Festival) were also carried by the network until the 1978–79 season.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Trotters for a price |periodical=Broadcasting |page=50 |date=May 28, 1973}}</ref> HBO also provided regional coverage of [[New York Yankees]] baseball games for the 1974 season. New York independent station [[WPIX]] (now a [[The CW|CW]] affiliate) provided microwave signal pickup assistance to HBO for the telecasts; through its right of first refusal on game selection in its local television contract with the team, covering the team's away games, WPIX preempted planned coverage of four Yankees games that HBO was scheduled to carry that season. (The [[Philadelphia Phillies]] reportedly rejected an offer for HBO to televise regular season games not shown locally on independent [[WPHL-TV]] [now a [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Pay cable and sports trouble independents |periodical=Broadcasting |page=79 |date=April 2, 1973}}</ref>) HBO's Yankees telecast spurred a complaint filed in June 1974 by [[National Association of Broadcasters]] Special Committee on Pay TV chairman Willard Walbridge, who alleged they violated anti-siphoning rules barring pay television services from carrying live sports televised regularly on broadcast stations within two years. HBO representatives contended that regulatory interference over the game broadcasts was prohibited under the [[First Amendment of the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] and that it offered only weekday games as WPIX held rights to selected Yankees weekend games; it also contended the anti-siphoning rules did not apply as there was not a per-program charge for the broadcasts. In September 1974, citing the games were unavailable on broadcast television, the FCC gave temporary authorization for HBO to carry no more than three of the team's remaining regular season games. (The Yankees telecasts ran only for that season.)<ref name="b&c-04291974"/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Walbridge damns Yankees on pay cable |periodical=Broadcasting |page=56 |date=June 24, 1974}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Walbridge damns Yankees on pay cable |periodical=Broadcasting |page=57 |date=June 24, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=FCC to question HBO on its pay-cable of Yankees |periodical=Broadcasting |page=33 |date=July 29, 1974}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=FCC to question HBO on its pay-cable of Yankees |periodical=Broadcasting |page=34 |date=July 29, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=HBO claims prohibition on Yankee games usurps its freedom of speech |periodical=Broadcasting |page=81 |date=August 19, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=FCC ad-hocs HBO-Yankees issue |periodical=Broadcasting |page=56 |date=September 23, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |title=Cable Television and Sports |author=Lawrence Walter Lynn |type=MA thesis |publisher=[[Michigan State University]] |year=1975 |url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/14804/datastream/OBJ/View/ |access-date=November 11, 2020 |doi=10.25335/M5CC0TW0V |archive-date=November 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111192939/https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/14804/datastream/OBJ/View/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1973 to 1976, HBO carried [[Professional Bowlers Association]] (PBA) [[HBO Sports Bowling|tournament events]]; beginning with the Winston-Salem Open on June 10, 1973, the network aired around 25 PBA tournaments, including eight which HBO co-sponsored over those three years. [[Dick Stockton]], [[Marty Glickman]] and [[Spencer Ross]] served as [[play-by-play]] announcers, and Skee Foremsky acted as the [[color commentator]] for the bowling telecasts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Just Paying Attention|url=http://www.thebowlingnews.net/pdf/02-09-17_Bowling_news-WEB.pdf|author=Mark London|website=The Bowling News|date=February 9, 2017|access-date=July 7, 2020}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|via=YouTube|title=1974 PBA New Jersey Open Introduction|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yg-pQC96Qw |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/2Yg-pQC96Qw |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|access-date=October 5, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> With the assistance of programming consultation and acquisition firm [[IMG (company)|Trans World International]],<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable Briefs |periodical=Broadcasting |page=62 |date=September 22, 1975}}</ref> the expansion into a national service resulted in HBO expanding its sports coverage to include a broader array of events from the United States and Canada, including the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (1976–1978), select [[Amateur Athletic Union]] tournaments (1976–1981), select [[LPGA]] golf tournaments (1976–1978), championship rodeo (1976–1978), the [[USA Gymnastics National Championships|USGF National Gymnastics Championships]] (1976–1981), [[Skate Canada International]] (1976–1978), the [[Canadian Football League]] (1976–1978), non-basketball NCAA tournaments including the [[NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships|Men's Gymnastics Championships]] (1976–1978) and the [[NCAA Division I Baseball Championship|Division I Baseball Championships]] (1977–1978). Most of the aforementioned events ceased to be part of HBO's sports offerings in 1978, citing much of its sporting events generally had regional appeal, "don't repeat" and were readily abundant on commercial television.<ref name="b&c-hbolevin">{{cite magazine |date=October 17, 1977 |title=Cablecastings: HBO: point man for an industry makes it into the clear |page=50 |periodical=Broadcasting}}<br />{{cite magazine |date=October 17, 1977 |title=Cablecastings: HBO: point man for an industry makes it into the clear |page=51 |periodical=Broadcasting}}<br />{{cite magazine |date=October 17, 1977 |title=Cablecastings: HBO: point man for an industry makes it into the clear |page=52 |periodical=Broadcasting}}<br />{{cite magazine |date=October 17, 1977 |title=Cablecastings: HBO: point man for an industry makes it into the clear |page=53 |periodical=Broadcasting}}</ref> The NCAA regular season and tournament events remained on HBO until the 1978–79 athletic season, shifting over to upstart basic cable network ESPN beginning with the 1979–80 athletic season under an exclusive national cable deal with the organization; USGF, AAU and select non-NCAA invitational events remained on the network until early 1981, thereafter limiting HBO's sports rights to boxing and Wimbledon.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=In Brief |periodical=Broadcasting |page=39 |date=February 26, 1979}}</ref> ====Wimbledon tennis==== In [[1975 Wimbledon Championships|July 1975]], HBO inaugurated regional coverage of the [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] tennis tournament for its Mid-Atlantic U.S. subscribers. (That year saw [[Arthur Ashe]] defeat defending champion [[Jimmy Connors]], 6–1, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4, in the [[1975 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles|Gentlemen's Singles final]], becoming the first Black male to win a Wimbledon singles title.<ref>{{cite news|title=1975: Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2798000/2798971.stm|website=BBC News|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref>) Initially, the HBO telecasts of the tournament mainly consisted of replays culled from other video sources (including the [[BBC]]); HBO Sports began to employ an in-house team of commentators starting with the [[1978 Wimbledon Championships|1978 tournament]].<ref>{{cite news|title=LIVE, FROM WIMBLEDON, HBO SET TO SERVE|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-06-20-9406200170-story.html|author=Steve Nidetz|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=June 20, 1994|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Throughout its tenure on the channel, Wimbledon coverage on HBO, which was the first to offer weekday tennis coverage on network television, consisted of singles and doubles events from the early rounds of the tournament; [[Tennis on NBC#Wimbledon coverage|NBC]] (which had the over-the-air broadcast rights to Wimbledon since [[1969 Wimbledon Championships|1969]]) maintained rights to the quarterfinal, semi-final and final rounds as well as weekend early-round matches. (Before the arrival of Wimbledon, HBO also carried the men's and women's rounds of the [[U.S. National Indoor Championships]] from 1972 to 1976 and selected [[WTA Tour]] events from 1977 to 1979.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable briefs: Net gain for HBO. |periodical=Broadcasting |page=79 |date=February 21, 1977}}</ref>) On June 25, 1999, HBO Sports announced it would not renew its share of the Wimbledon television contract after the conclusion of [[1999 Wimbledon Championships|that year]]'s tournament, ending its 25-year broadcast relationship with the [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam]] event. Seth Abraham, then-president of HBO Sports parent unit Time Warner Sports, said at the time that the decision was guided by a need to "refresh" its programming slate rather than because of issues with financial terms or stagnant viewership. (At the time of the announcement, HBO paid $8 million annually—under a $40-million deal over five years—to air the tournament.)<ref>{{cite news|title=TENNIS: WIMBLEDON; HBO Won't Renew Wimbledon Deal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/sports/tennis-wimbledon-hbo-won-t-renew-wimbledon-deal.html|author=Richard Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 26, 1999|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Bids Adieu to Wimbledon|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/hbo-bids-adieu-wimbledon-154866|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Multichannel News|date=July 4, 1999|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Although ESPN, [[Fox Sports Networks|Fox Sports Net]] and [[USA Network]] each expressed interest in obtaining the cable package relinquished by HBO, Time Warner kept that portion of the Wimbledon contract within its corporate umbrella: on January 23, 2000, a co-owned subsidiary [[Turner Broadcasting System]] and NBC reached a joint three-year, $30 million contract with the [[All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club]] for the tournament rights. TNT (which would be folded into WarnerMedia Entertainment, alongside HBO, as part of the realignment resulting from AT&T's 2018 acquisition of Time Warner) and [[CNN/SI]] (later moved to the now-defunct [[CNNfn]] in 2002, after CNN/SI's shutdown), which would have their broadcasts produced through the [[Turner Sports|TNT Sports]] unit, assumed cable rights to the event beginning with the [[2000 Wimbledon Championships|2000 tournament]].<ref>{{cite news|title=PLUS: BROADCASTING; Wimbledon Deals Total $30 Million|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/19/sports/plus-broadcasting-wimbledon-deals-total-30-million.html|author=Richard Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 19, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=HBO Won't Renew Contract to Cover Wimbledon|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/tennis/longterm/1999/wimbledon/articles/hbo29.htm|author=Jeff Goodman|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 28, 1999|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Turner, NBC Double Up for Wimbledon|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/turner-nbc-double-wimbledon-159580|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Multichannel News|date=January 2, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Wimbledon gets big TV deal|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2000/01/24/No-Topic-Name/Wimbledon-Gets-Big-TV-Deal.aspx|author=Langdon Brockinton|website=Sports Business Daily|date=January 24, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> (Since 2003, the Wimbledon cable rights have been held by ESPN, which assumed full U.S. television exclusivity over the championship in [[2012 Wimbledon Championships|2012]].)<ref>{{cite news|title=ESPN, Wimbledon come to terms|url=https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2003/04/14/ESPN-Wimbledon-come-to-terms/27281050341777/|work=United Press International|date=April 14, 2003|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=ESPN Reaches Deal to Carry Wimbledon|url=http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/espn-reaches-deal-to-carry-wimbledon/|author=Richard Sandomir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 3, 2011|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> Professional tennis briefly returned to HBO on March 2, 2009, when it broadcast the inaugural edition of the now-defunct [[BNP Paribas Showdown]] as a one-off special presentation.<ref>{{cite web|title=HBO SETS TENNIS TALENT LINEUP FOR MARCH 2|url=https://sportsmedianews.com/hbo-sets-tennis-talent-lineup-for-march-2/|website=Sports Media News|date=February 10, 2009|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> ====Boxing==== {{Main|HBO World Championship Boxing}} HBO's sports coverage was long synonymous with its boxing telecasts, fronted by matches featured on HBO Sports' longtime flagship series, ''HBO World Championship Boxing''. Its first boxing telecast, on January 22, 1973, was "[[Joe Frazier vs. George Foreman|The Sunshine Showdown]]", the world [[heavyweight]] championship bout from [[Kingston, Jamaica]] in which [[George Foreman]] defeated [[Joe Frazier]] in two rounds. Outside of high-profile matches held at exotic locales, most of the boxing events shown during HBO's early existence as a regional service were bouts held at Madison Square Garden; once HBO became a national service, boxing coverage began to regularly cover fights held at [[The Forum (Inglewood, California)|The Forum]] (as part of its television contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings<ref name="b&c-hbograbssports"/>) and other arenas. On September 30, 1975, the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier aired on HBO (under a licensing agreement with television program distributor Video Techniques) and was the first program on the network to be broadcast via satellite.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=In Brief |periodical=Broadcasting |page=18 |date=August 18, 1975}}</ref> (HBO also provided the first interconnected satellite demonstration broadcast on June 18, 1973, in which a heavyweight championship match between [[Jimmy Ellis (boxer)|Jimmy Ellis]] and [[Earnie Shavers]] was relayed via [[Anik (satellite)|Anik A]] to a closed-circuit system at the [[Anaheim Convention Center]] in [[Anaheim, California]] and to a Teleprompter Cable system in [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]].)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Domsat shows for Anaheim. |periodical=Broadcasting |page=60 |date=June 18, 1973}}</ref> Boxing telecasts aired on various scheduled nights through 1979, and mainly aired thereafter on Fridays; boxing telecasts moved to Saturdays full-time in 1987. (All boxing events shown on HBO aired on average in two- to three-week intervals.) Through 1979, HBO also carried various [[Golden Gloves|National Golden Gloves]] competitions, and from 1978 to 1979, carried the [[National Collegiate Boxing Association]] championships. HBO expanded its boxing content to [[pay-per-view]] in December 1990, when it created a production arm to distribute and organize marquee boxing matches in conjunction with participating promoters, TVKO (rebranded HBO PPV in 2001 and HBO Boxing Pay-Per-View in 2013); the first TVKO-produced boxing event was April 19, 1991, [[Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman|"Battle of the Ages" bout]] between [[Evander Holyfield]] and [[George Foreman]]. (TVKO signed Holyfield away from Showtime, which had been carrying his matches since its ''[[Showtime Championship Boxing]]'' telecasts premiered in 1986, under an agreement with promoter [[Dan Duva]] during Holyfield's reign as cruiserweight champion.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=HBO and Showtime Climb Into the PPV Ring |periodical=Broadcasting |page=28 |date=December 24, 1990}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=HBO and Showtime Climb Into the PPV Ring |periodical=Broadcasting |page=29 |date=December 24, 1990}}</ref> HBO expanded its boxing slate on February 3, 1996, when ''[[HBO Boxing After Dark]]'' (titled ''HBO Late Night Fights'' for its inaugural edition) premiered with title fights involving contenders in the [[super bantamweight|junior featherweight]] ([[Marco Antonio Barrera]] vs. [[Kennedy McKinney]]) and [[super flyweight|junior bantamweight]] ([[Johnny Tapia]] vs. Giovanni Andrade) classes. The program typically featured fight cards involving well-known contenders (generally those not designated as "championship" or "title" bouts), and up-and-coming boxing talents that had previously been featured mainly on basic cable boxing showcases (such as ESPN's ''[[Friday Night Fights]]''). A second franchise extension, ''[[KO Nation]]'' (which ran from May 6, 2000, to August 11, 2001), attempted to incorporate [[hip-hop]] music performances between matches involving up-and-coming boxers to attract the show's target audience of males 18 to 24 (later broadened to ages 18 to 34) to the sport; former ''[[Yo! MTV Raps]]'' VJ [[Ed Lover]] was the "face" of the show and acted as its ring announcer. (Internal research stated that males aged 18–34 accounted for 3% of boxing viewership, while men 50 and older made up 60% of the sport's audience.)<ref>{{cite web|title=HBO seeks younger auds with 'KO'|url=https://variety.com/2000/tv/news/hbo-seeks-younger-auds-with-ko-1117778808/|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Variety|date=February 27, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=HBO adds afternoon boxing series |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=69 |date=February 28, 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Has High Hopes For New KO Nation|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/hbo-has-high-hopes-new-ko-nation-152794|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Multichannel News|date=August 20, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> ''KO Nation'' drew low ratings throughout its run, even after it was moved from Saturday afternoons to Saturday late nights in January 2001. HBO Sports then refocused its efforts at attracting younger viewers through ''Boxing After Dark''.<ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Sports plans to take boxing series 'KO Nation' into the night|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2000/11/27/This-Weeks-Issue/HBO-Sports-Plans-To-Take-Boxing-Series-KO-Nation-Into-The-Night.aspx|author=Langdon Brockinton|periodical=Sports Business Daily|date=November 27, 2000|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Knocks Out KO Nation|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/hbo-knocks-out-ko-nation-139493|author=R. Thomas Umstead|periodical=Multichannel News|date=July 2, 2001|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> To court the sport's Hispanic and Latino fans, the network's boxing franchises expanded to HBO Latino with the January 2003 premiere of ''[[Oscar De La Hoya]] Presenta Boxeo De Oro'', a showcase of up-and-coming boxers represented by the De La Hoya-founded [[Golden Boy Promotions]]. A second boxing series for HBO Latino, ''Generación Boxeo'', premiered on the multiplex channel in April 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Latino Enters the Ring|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/hbo-latino-enters-ring-136521|periodical=Multichannel News|date=October 9, 2002|access-date=May 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|title=HBO Latino Launches New Boxing Series, Generación Boxeo, Debuting Exclusively, Thursday, April 27|url=https://www.warnermediagroup.com/newsroom/press-releases/2006/04/24/hbo-latino-launches-new-boxing-series-generaci-n-boxeo-debuting|website=WarnerMedia|date=April 24, 2006|access-date=May 9, 2020}}</ref> On September 27, 2018, HBO announced it would discontinue its boxing telecasts after 45 years, following its last televised match on October 27, marking the end of live sports on the network. (Two additional ''World Championship Boxing''/''Boxing After Dark'' cards would follow that originally scheduled final broadcast, airing respectively on November 24 and December 8, 2018.) HBO's decision to bow out of boxing telecasts was due to factors that included the influx of sports-based streaming services (such as [[DAZN]] and [[ESPN+]]) and issues with [[Promoter (entertainment)|promoters]] that hampered its ability to acquire high-profile fight cards, and resulting declining ratings and loss of interest in the sport among HBO's subscribers. Also factoring into the move was HBO parent WarnerMedia's then-recent ownership transfer to AT&T, and the network's efforts to focus on its scripted programming; network executives thought that "HBO [was] not a sports network."<ref>{{cite news|title=HBO Says It Is Leaving the Boxing Business|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/sports/hbo-boxing.html|author=Wallace Matthews|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 27, 2018|access-date=September 27, 2018}}</ref> Since then, although it no longer produces sporting event telecasts, HBO Sports has continued to exist as a production unit for the network's sports magazine shows and documentaries. ====Magazine and documentary series==== Since 1977, HBO has offered documentary- and interview-based weekly series focusing on athletes and the world of athletics. On September 22, 1977, HBO premiered the channel's first original weekly series, and its first sports-related documentary and analysis series, ''Inside the NFL'', a program that featured post-game highlights and analysis of the previous week's marquee [[National Football League]] games (using footage provided by [[NFL Films]]) as well as interviews with players, coaches and team management. The program was one of the first studio shows on cable television to offer weekly NFL game reviews, predating the launches of similar football review shows on ESPN and other sports-centered cable networks. ''[[Inside the NFL]]'' would go on to become the network's longest-running program, airing for 31 seasons until it ended its HBO run in February 2008. (After HBO canceled the program, ''Inside the NFL'' was subsequently acquired by Showtime, under arrangement with [[CBS Sports]], formally moving to the rival premium channel in September 2008.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=HBO fills in its hand for fall |periodical=Broadcasting |page=63 |date=September 12, 1977}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Inside the NFL' ending 31-year run on HBO|url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/football/2008-02-06-3063546697_x.htm|agency=[[Associated Press]]|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=February 6, 2008|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CBS, Showtime go 'Inside the NFL'|url=https://variety.com/2008/scene/news/cbs-showtime-go-inside-the-nfl-1117986847/|periodical=Variety|date=June 3, 2008|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> The network would build upon the concept behind ''Inside the NFL'' through the debuts of additional sports talk and documentary programs: the [[Major League Baseball]]-focused ''[[Race for the Pennant]]'' (1978–1992), ''HBO Sports Magazine'' (1981–1982), ''[[On the Record with Bob Costas]]'' (2001–2005) and its revamped iteration ''[[Costas Now]]'' (2005–2009), and ''[[Joe Buck Live]]'' (2009). Another program built on similar groundwork, ''[[Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel]]''—which eventually became the network's flagship sports [[newsmagazine]]—premiered on April 2, 1995, and lasted for 29 seasons before ending on December 19, 2023. The hour-long monthly series (originally airing quarterly until 1999), hosted by veteran television journalist and sportscaster [[Bryant Gumbel]], regularly received positive reviews for its groundbreaking journalism and typically features four stories centering on societal and athletic issues associated with the sports world, investigative reports, and interviews with famous athletes and other sports figures. {{As of|2020}}, ''Real Sports'' has received 33 [[Sports Emmy Awards]] (including 19 for Outstanding Sports Journalism) throughout its run, as well as two Peabody Awards (in 2012 and 2016) and three [[Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award]]s.<ref>{{cite news|title=A REALLY GOOD SHOW CELEBRATES 10 YEARS|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/os-xpm-2005-04-08-0504080218-story.html|author=Scott Andera|newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel]]|date=April 8, 2005|access-date=July 7, 2020|archive-date=July 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708142113/https://www.nydailynews.com/os-xpm-2005-04-08-0504080218-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Of note, the show's 2004 Sports Emmy win for "Outstanding Sports Journalism" and 2006 duPont–Columbia University Award win for "Outstanding Broadcast Journalism" was for a half-hour hidden camera investigative report—guided by human rights activist [[Ansar Burney]]—into slavery and torture in secret desert camps in the [[United Arab Emirates]] (UAE), where boys younger than age 5 were trained in [[camel racing]]. The segment uncovered a carefully hidden [[child slavery]] ring that bought or [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] hundreds of young boys in [[Pakistan]] and [[Bangladesh]], who were then forced to become camel jockeys in the UAE and questioned the sincerity of U.S. diplomatic pressure on the UAE, an ally to the United States, to comply with the country's ban on children under age 15 from participating in camel racing. The documentary brought worldwide attention to the plight of child camel jockeys in the Middle East and helped the Ansar Burney Trust convince the governments of [[Qatar]] and the UAE to end the use of children in the sport. In 2001, HBO and [[NFL Films]] began to jointly produce the documentary series ''[[Hard Knocks (2001 TV series)|Hard Knocks]]'', which follows an individual [[National Football League|NFL]] team each season during [[training camp]] and their preparations for the upcoming football season.<ref name="An Original Voice"/><ref>{{cite web|title=HBO Hard Knocks|url=http://www.hbo.com/hardknocks/|publisher=Home Box Office, Inc.|access-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page