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156-674: Sling TV is led by Erik Carlson, who also serves as the President and COO of Dish Network. The service's precursor, the international television service DishWorld, was also brought under the auspices of Sling TV LLC and was rebranded as Sling International. Following an invitation-only beta launch of the service that began in January of that year, Sling TV formally launched on February 9, 2015. As of November 2023, Sling TV has 2.12 million subscribers. Dish Network began to trial run an over-the-top ("OTT") internet television provider in 2012 with

312-666: A National Hockey League (NHL) game between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks from Madison Square Garden , 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. The first movie presentation shown on the service aired immediately after the hockey game concluded: the 1971 film Sometimes

468-485: A digital cable subscription or at least scrambling), and, because of controversy surrounding daytime showings of R-rated films that began being scheduled on competing premium services as early as 1980, remained in place well after the V-chip became standard in newer television sets. From April 1979 to March 1987, rating bumpers preceding HBO telecasts of R-rated films included a special disclaimer indicating to viewers that

624-495: A subscription video-on-demand service (HBO On Demand). Off-the-air maintenance periods of anywhere from a half-hour up to two hours occur at varied overnight/early morning time slots (usually preceding the 6:00 a.m. ET/PT start of the defined broadcast day) once per month on each channel. HBO transmits feeds of its primary and multiplex channels on both Eastern and Pacific Time Zone schedules. The respective coastal feeds of each channel are usually packaged together, resulting in

780-564: A "First Look" early access program, which allows users to purchase up to 50 hours of content storage with unlimited length of time to keep the programs. The DVR service was eventually expanded to other devices. In December 2019, 10 hours of recording time was provided to all customers with the option to upgrade to 50 hours. Due to contractual limitations, users are unable to record content from a small number of channels, such as SEC Network+, Local Now and ACC Network Extra. In January 2021, Sling TV upgraded all customers to 50 hours recording time, while

936-403: A Great Notion , starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda . To reduce subscriber churn by offering extra programming choices to subscribers, on May 8, 1991, Home Box Office Inc. announced plans to launch two additional channels of HBO and Cinemax, becoming the first subscription television services to launch " multiplexed " companion channels (a term coined by then-CEO Michael Fuchs to equate

1092-479: A TV-MA rating outside the watershed period. As of 2021 , HBO employs fairly fluid enforcement of the watershed policy, varying based on the content scheduled to air on its main channel during each programming day. The policy began to be weakened in January 2010, when the main HBO channel started allowing original series, movies, and documentaries given a TV-MA rating for strong profanity or non-graphic violence to air during

1248-446: A backup provider during spikes in streaming demand. In July 2015, Sling TV accused NBC Owned Television Stations , a division of Comcast 's NBCUniversal unit, of refusing to air advertising for the service on NBC owned-and-operated stations in major markets as a form of protectionism. CEO Roger Lynch stated that " Comcast has a demonstrated history of shutting down ideas it doesn't like or understand, predictably to its benefit and at

1404-694: A cable system franchise serving an Upper Manhattan section of New York City (covering an area extending southward from 79th Street on the Upper East Side to 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. With external expenses resulting in consistent financial losses, in

1560-430: A closed, private network system that uses exclusive equipment like set-top boxes , which is typically the case with IPTV services (such as U-verse TV ). OTT services are typically accessed via television sets with integrated Smart TV platforms, streaming devices such as Amazon Fire TV and Roku , video game consoles , websites on personal computers , and apps on smartphones and tablets . In 2011,

1716-563: A combined package by many multichannel television providers; however, customers have the option of subscribing to HBO and Cinemax's corresponding channel packages individually. On August 1, 1980, HBO launched Cinemax, a companion movie-based premium channel created as a direct competitor to two existing movie-focused premium channels: The Movie Channel , then a smaller, standalone pay movie service owned by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (then part-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery predecessor Warner Communications), and Home Theater Network (HTN),

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1872-750: A default HBO OTT service for Amazon Fire and Fire TV customers. As a consequence of an agreement with WarnerMedia announced the day before offering HBO Max on Roku devices starting the following day, the HBO streaming service was discontinued on December 17, 2020. Max (formerly known as HBO Max) is an over-the-top subscription streaming service operated by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment built mainly around HBO's programming and other Warner Bros. Discovery assets. HBO's programming schedule currently consists largely of theatrically released feature films and adult-oriented original series (including, as of November 2023 , dramas such as Euphoria , Industry , The Gilded Age , House of

2028-486: A fourth HBO channel and two additional Cinemax channels, originally projected for a Spring 1997 launch. The HBO multiplex expanded to include a fourth channel on December 1, 1996, with the launch of HBO Family, focusing on family-oriented feature films and television series aimed at younger children. (HBO Family's launch coincided with the launch of Mountain Time Zone feeds of HBO, HBO2, Cinemax, and Cinemax 2, which were

2184-1117: A great thing for HBO or our brand if that had been gobbled up in the first week[..] I think it was very exciting for the viewer to have that mystery held out for an extended period." Pleper cited that he felt that binge-watching does not correlate with the culture of HBO and HBO watchers. Some of its original programs, however, have been aimed at families or children, primarily those produced before 2001 (through its original programming division and third-party producers both American and foreign) and from 2016 to 2020 (under its agreement with Sesame Workshop); children's programs that have aired on HBO have included Sesame Street , Fraggle Rock , Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child , A Little Curious , Crashbox , Babar , HBO Storybook Musicals , Lifestories: Families in Crisis , Dear America and The Little Lulu Show as well as acquisitions including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , The Legend of White Fang , Shakespeare: The Animated Tales , Animated Hero Classics and The Country Mouse and

2340-468: A high-definition simulcast feed on June 12, 1997, with initial plans for a rollout to television providers as early as the Summer of 1998, when electronics manufacturers planned to begin retailing their initial line of HD-capable television sets. HBO began transmitting a high definition simulcast feed on March 6, 1999, becoming the first American cable television network to begin simulcast their programming in

2496-455: A long-running children's television series that had previously aired on the program's longtime broadcaster, PBS (and its morning block), for the vast majority of its run, in a five-year programming and development deal with Sesame Workshop that was announced in August 2015. Although struck with the intent to have the show remain on PBS in some fashion, the nonprofit production company reached

2652-529: A lot of time working with programmers to make sure we had smaller bundles, lower costs and more flexibility." He also noted the importance of reaching a deal to include ESPN onto the service, which he felt was a sign of validity for the provider. After a one-month, invitation-only beta , Sling TV officially launched on February 9, 2015. That same day, Sling announced that it had reached a carriage deal with AMC Networks , allowing networks such as AMC , IFC , BBC America and SundanceTV to be included as part of

2808-408: A nightly block), would become strongly associated with the channel among its subscribers and in pop culture . The channel began gradually scaling back its adult programming offerings in 2011, in an effort to shift focus towards its mainstream films and original programs, culminating in the removal of "Max After Dark" content from its linear and on-demand platforms in 2018, as part of a broader exit from

2964-650: A now-defunct service owned by Group W Satellite Communications that focused on G- and PG-rated films. Cinemax succeeded in its early years partly because it relied on classic movie releases from the 1950s to the 1970s—with some more recent films mixed into its schedule—that it presented uncut and without commercial interruption, at a time when limited headend channel capacity resulted in cable subscribers only being able to receive as many as three dozen channels (up to half of which were reserved for local and out-of-market broadcast stations, and public access channels). In most cases, cable operators tended to sell Cinemax and HBO as

3120-494: A phased rollout to select Sling TV subs who access the service on Roku players and enabled television sets, the DVR allows up to 100 hours of recording storage, the ability to record multiple programs simultaneously, and automatically manages storage space to by deleting the oldest "watched" recording when the storage capacity becomes full to make room for additional recordings. The cloud DVR expanded to Amazon Fire TV subscribers through

3276-464: A phone, PC, or smart television set. By mid-2017, 58 percent of US households would access one in a given month, and advertising revenues from OTT channels exceeded revenue from videos playing in web browsers on desktops and laptops. In 2019, the record of simultaneous users watching an OTT event was set at 18.6 million in India by Disney Entertainment 's video streaming platform Hotstar . The record

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3432-439: A premium add-on through Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV , AT&T TV and Hulu . On October 15, 2014, HBO announced plans to launch an OTT subscription streaming service in 2015, which would be distributed as a standalone offering that does not require an existing television subscription to access the content. The service, HBO Now, was unveiled on March 9, 2015, and officially launched one month later on April 7. The service

3588-601: A presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas ; the service is co-branded with the Sling entity owned by Dish Network's former parent Echostar , which also co-branded and provided placeshifting technology for the provider's Hopper with Sling multi-room DVR system. Dish did not provide any specific details on when the service would be launched, beyond "soon." The company also announced that

3744-500: A program up to four hours, depending on the applicable time zone, in advance of their local airtime on their corresponding primary coastal feed. (Most cable, satellite, and IPTV providers, as well as its Amazon Prime Video and Roku OTT channels, only offer the East and West Coast feeds of the main HBO channel; some conventional television providers may include coastal feeds of HBO2 in certain areas, while wider availability of coastal feeds for

3900-591: A renewed agreement to keep Viacom's channels on the satellite provider – notably excluded Nickelodeon / Nick at Nite (although its three sister channels, the Nick Jr. Channel , Nicktoons and TeenNick , were included, with Nick Jr. being placed on the single-stream service's "Kids Extra" add-on lineup and in the core package, alongside Comedy Central and BET, on the beta multi-stream offering), while several of Viacom's other flagship networks (including MTV, VH1 , CMT , BET, Spike and TV Land ) were primarily relegated to

4056-487: A singular premium bundle, usually offered at a discount for customers that decided to subscribe to both channels. Cinemax, unlike HBO, also maintained a 24-hour schedule from its launch, one of the first pay cable services to transmit around the clock. Even early in its existence, Cinemax tried to diversify its programming beyond movies. Beginning in 1984, it incorporated music specials and some limited original programming (among them, SCTV Channel and Max Headroom ) into

4212-676: A sister production unit HBO Films , which traces its origins to the 1983 founding of HBO Premiere Films. Originally developed to produce original television movies and miniseries with higher budgets and production values than other telefilms, the film unit's first original movie project was the 1983 biopic The Terry Fox Story . Differing from other direct-to-cable television films, most of HBO's original movies have been helmed by major film actors (such as James Stewart , Michael Douglas , Drew Barrymore , Stanley Tucci , Halle Berry and Elizabeth Taylor ). The unit—which would be rechristened HBO Pictures in 1985—expanded beyond its telefilm slate, which

4368-417: A subscription to a multichannel television provider (34.939 million of which receive HBO's primary channel at minimum), giving it the largest subscriber total of any American premium channel. (From 2006 to 2018, this distinction was held by Starz Encore —currently owned by Lionsgate subsidiary Starz Inc. —which, according to February 2015 Nielsen estimates, had 40.54 million pay subscribers vs.

4524-439: A subscription to a streaming service, such as Hulu , with which to view programming from the major broadcast networks . Despite these initial reservations, Sling has since begun offering owned-and-operated stations of ABC , NBC and Fox in select markets. As of October 2016, Sling TV does not carry CBS , Telemundo (either its national feed or local stations, nor its sister network NBC Universo, which has since been removed from

4680-688: A test launch of the three channels over those systems, TeleCable customers in Overland Park, Kansas ; Racine, Wisconsin ; and suburban Dallas ( Richardson and Plano, Texas ) that subscribed to either service began receiving two additional HBO channels or a secondary channel of Cinemax. HBO2 (later renamed HBO Plus, then reverted to its original name), HBO3 (now HBO Signature), and Cinemax 2 (now MoreMax) each offered distinct schedules of programs culled from HBO and Cinemax's movie and original programming libraries separate from offerings shown concurrently on their respective parent primary channels. (Cinemax

4836-456: A two-day weekend (later extended to three days in 1997, then to a Friday-to-Monday "four-day weekend" format by 2008)—over a local origination channel, though satellite and digital cable providers elected instead to unencrypt the channels corresponding to each HBO feed for the preview period. Until 2002, interstitials hosted by on-air presenters (notably including, among others, Norm Crosby , Greg Kinnear , Sinbad and Ellen DeGeneres ) promoting

Sling TV - Misplaced Pages Continue

4992-424: A voluntary participation basis. (The total of participating providers that elected to offer a free preview event varies depending on the given preview period, and participating multiple-system cable operators may elect to carry the event only in certain regions where they provide service.) HBO also produces short segments promoting newer movies with the cooperation of the film studios that hold distribution rights to

5148-554: Is HBO's companion subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service that is available at no additional cost to subscribers of the linear television service, who regularly pay a premium fee to pay television providers to receive access to the channel. VOD content from the network is also available on select virtual MVPD services (including DirecTV Stream , YouTube TV and Hulu ), and through HBO's dedicated Roku video channel. HBO on Demand offers theatrical feature films from HBO's distribution partners and original programming previously seen on

5304-610: Is a high definition simulcast feed of HBO that broadcasts in the 1080i resolution format. HBO maintains high definition simulcast feeds of its main channel and all six multiplex channels. HBO HD is available on all major cable television providers including, among others, Charter Communications (including systems once owned by former HBO sister company Time Warner Cable); Comcast Xfinity (which, in 2016, began downconverting HBO, Cinemax and other cable channels transmitting in 1080i to 720p 60); Cox Communications and Optimum ; as well as DirecTV ; AT&T U-verse ; and Verizon FiOS . From

5460-479: Is also offered to subscribers.) On January 5, 2016, Channel Master added a Sling TV app to its DVR+ products via a firmware update, allowing users to access Sling content through the device's channel guide; because of clauses in digital distribution rights Dish Network maintains with content providers, Channel Master users cannot record channels through the Sling TV app. Supported Sling TV devices include: Sling TV

5616-428: Is also represented by its slogan, "Take Back TV"). Lynch argued the service's approach required Dish to be selective in how it built the service's lineup, stating that "it would have been easy for us to do deals earlier on if we just agreed to say 'let's just take these big pay TV packages and put them online.' We would have ended up with $ 60 or $ 70 bundles. We don't think that is the way to reach that demographic. We spent

5772-629: Is also responsible for promoting many of the major motion picture releases, via its behind-the-scenes featurette programs. HBO, via the beyond-the-scenes interstitial programs was the first network to promote many of these movies. They included, but were not limited to, The Godfather , The Godfather Part 2 , French Connection 2 , Jaws , Halloween , Star Wars , Star Trek , 9 to 5 , Sixteen Candles , Mac and Me , Home Alone , Home Alone 2: Lost in New York , A Few Good Men , Scream , and I Know What You Did Last Summer . In

5928-493: Is an industry first. During the beta period, guests can join the Watch Party through free Sling TV accounts, however, the free access only lasted until September 30, 2020. In addition to their selection of programming for paid subscribers, Sling TV offers a selection for free. Originally started as "Sling Free", viewers can watch ad-supported programming without signing up for an account on supported devices. In February 2023,

6084-468: Is defined as instant messaging services or online chat provided by third parties, as an alternative to text messaging services provided by a mobile network operator . An example is the Facebook -owned mobile application WhatsApp , that serves to replace text messaging on Internet connected smartphones. Other providers of OTT messaging include Viber , WeChat , iMessage , Skype , Telegram and

6240-588: Is developed for and production is primarily, if not exclusively, handled by the channel of its originating broadcast. Since 1973, the network has produced a variety of original programs alongside its slate of theatrical motion pictures. Most of these programs cater to adult viewers (and, with limited exceptions, are typically assigned TV-MA ratings ), often featuring—with such content varying by program—high amounts of profanity, violence, sexual themes or nudity that basic cable or over-the-air broadcast channels would be reticent to air because of objections from sponsors and

6396-566: Is the audio, video, and other media content delivered over the Internet, without the involvement of a multiple-system operator (MSO) in the control or distribution of the content. The Internet provider may be aware of the contents of the Internet Protocol (IP) packets and may be able to block or restrict their transit to end users (unless that internet provider operates within a jurisdiction that requires " net neutrality "). However,

Sling TV - Misplaced Pages Continue

6552-408: Is the centerpiece of Max (previously HBO Max from 2020 to 2023), an expanded streaming platform operated separately from but sharing management with Home Box Office, Inc., which also includes original programming produced exclusively for the service and content from other Warner Bros. Discovery properties. Livestreams of the network's linear East and West Coast feeds are not presently accessible on

6708-654: Is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc. , itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery . The overall Home Box Office business unit is based at Warner Bros. Discovery's corporate headquarters inside 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan . Programming featured on the network consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television programs as well as made-for-cable movies, documentaries, occasional comedy, and concert specials , and periodic interstitial programs (consisting of short films and making-of documentaries). HBO

6864-432: Is the oldest subscription television service in the United States still in operation, as well as the country's first cable-originated television network (both as a regional microwave - and national satellite -transmitted service). HBO pioneered modern pay television upon its launch on November 8, 1972: it was the first television service to be directly transmitted and distributed to individual cable television systems, and

7020-625: The COVID-19 pandemic to contractually transfer their credentials to HBO Max), though only through the HBO Go desktop website. The "HBO Go" moniker remains in use as the brand for HBO's streaming platforms in select Asian markets until it would be also rebranded directly into Max in fall-2024. HBO Now (formally named HBO from August to December 2020) was an over-the-top (OTT) subscription streaming service that provided on-demand access to HBO's library of original programming and theatrical films, and

7176-665: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's telecommunications regulator, stated that it "considers that Internet access to programming independent of a facility or network dedicated to its delivery (via, for example, cable or satellite) is the defining feature of what has been termed 'over-the-top' services". In contrast to video on demand systems offered by cable and IPTV , which operate over managed networks where channels can be changed instantly and thus content available instantaneously, some OTT services such as iTunes require that

7332-529: The Duke Blue Devils and Michigan State Spartans , prompting criticism of the service's technical issues over social media . On April 6, 2015, Sling TV said that the errors, which affected between 1,000 and 2,000 users, were the result of network server failures caused by high volumes of subscriber traffic (including by new users that signed up in time for the Final Four), explaining that "while

7488-650: The El Rey Network from the Orange package to the Comedy Extra add-on. However, the channel remained in the Blue package. Subsequently, on July 12, concurrent with the addition of Showtime Family Zone, Sling added WeatherNation TV to the "News Extra" add-on pack. On March 29, 2019, Sling TV added MLB Network and MLB Strike Zone to its "Sports Extra" package. On July 24, 2019, Sling TV and Dish Network removed

7644-689: The HBO First Look series of 15-to-20-minute-long documentary-style interstitial specials, which debuted in 1992 and has no set airing schedule. (Since 2010, the "making of" specials, for which HBO officially no longer uses the First Look name, are only identified under the banner for program listing identification.) The network previously produced three-to-five-minute-long feature segments that aired during longer-duration between-program promotional breaks, HBO News (1988–2011; formerly titled HBO Entertainment News from 1988 to 2007) and HBO Behind

7800-727: The difference in local airtimes for a particular movie or program between two geographic locations being three hours at most; the opposite-region feed (i.e., the Pacific Time feeds in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and the Eastern Time feeds in the Pacific, Mountain and Alaska Time Zones ) serves as a timeshift channel , allowing viewers who may have missed a particular program at its original local airtime to watch it three hours after its initial airing or allowing them to watch

7956-431: The free preview concept—now a standard promotional tool in the pay television industry—in 1973, as a marketing strategy allowing participating television providers to offer a sampling of HBO's programming for potential subscribers of the service. Cable providers were permitted to offer the unscrambled HBO content—aired for a single evening or, beginning in 1981 at the network level (as early as 1978 on some providers), over

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8112-431: The major Hollywood film studios and live sporting events, all presented without interruptions by 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. Time-Life and Sterling Communications soon proposed for the " Sterling Cable Network " to be

8268-670: The "HBO2" moniker in September 2002. The "HBO Plus" brand—modified in 2019 to "HBO+"—remains in use on a multiplex channel of HBO Latin America featuring mainly theatrical movies previously carried on its parent feed; HBO Latin America also operates a separate channel sharing the "HBO2" name with the shared U.S. namesake of both services.) On May 6, 1999, the HBO multiplex expanded to include two new thematic channels: HBO Comedy—featuring comedic feature films, comedy series from HBO's original programming library, and recent and archived HBO comedy specials—and HBO Zone—aimed at young adults between

8424-513: The "Saturday Night Guarantee" to denote a promise of "a new movie [premiering] every Saturday night" all 52 weeks of the year. (HBO had highlighted said "guarantee" in promotions for the Saturday premiere night dating to January 1994.) Before settling on having Saturday serve as its anchor premiere night, the scheduling of HBO's prime-time film premieres varied between Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday, depending on competition from broadcast fare during

8580-595: The "Sports Extra" tier), Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (both on the "Lifestyles Plus Extra" tier). On November 2, the OTT business news service Cheddar was added to Sling's base tiers, while Sling Kids and TheBlaze respectively joined the Kids Extra and World News Extra tiers; two weeks later on November 16, NBA TV was added to the "Sports Extra" tier. In April 2017, Sling began offering Showtime as an add-on pack. The east and west coast feeds of

8736-807: The 1990s. (Outside of HBO Family, which regularly airs archived family-oriented series and specials, airings of older original programs may vary based on the channel's daily schedule.) Beginning with its programming expansion to afternoons in 1974, the primary HBO channel had imposed a longstanding watershed policy prohibiting films assigned an "R" rating from being broadcast before 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. (At various points, HBO also prohibited showings of X-/NC-17-rated and foreign art films .) The policy—which extended to films shown between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, when HBO began offering 24-hour programming on weekends in September 1981—may have once stemmed from HBO's pre-mid-2000s availability on analog cable tiers (whereas its multiplex channels generally require

8892-539: The 2008 rollout of HD simulcasts for the HBO multiplex feeds until the mid-2010s, the majority of pay television providers that carried HBO HD generally offered only the main channel in high definition, with HD carriage of the multiplex channels varying by market. As of 2020 , most providers transmit all seven HBO multiplex channels in HD, either on a dedicated HD channel tier separate from their SD assignments or as hybrid SD/HD feeds. Home Box Office, Inc. announced plans to launch

9048-448: The 35.8 million subscribers that HBO had at the time.) In addition to its U.S. subscriber base, HBO distributes its programming content in at least 151 countries worldwide too, as of 2018 , an estimated 140 million cumulative subscribers. Cable television executive Charles Dolan —through his company, Sterling Information Services—founded Manhattan Cable TV Services (renamed Sterling Manhattan Cable Television in January 1971),

9204-425: The 36 markets where that service is available. As of September 2021, Locast service has been discontinued, following a lawsuit held against them by broadcasting organizations. In February 2023, the free portion of the service was renamed "Sling Freestream". At the time of the announcement, the plan was to offer users over 210 channels and more than 41,000 on demand titles, with additional content to be added throughout

9360-523: The CSN networks initially available in markets served by those channels, and would not be added to Sling until April 2, 2017. On September 8, 2016, coinciding with the channel's September 10 premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens , Sling TV began carrying Starz as a premium add-on; its rollout was commemorated with a seven-day free preview of the Starz package to existing subscribers. The service also added

9516-552: The City Mouse Adventures . Beginning in 2001, most of the family- or kid-oriented programs had migrated to HBO Family, with only a limited amount of newer family-oriented series being produced for either the primary channel or HBO Family since. (HBO Family continued to maintain a limited slate of original children's programming until 2003.) HBO ventured back into children's programming with its acquisition of first-run broadcast and streaming rights to Sesame Street ,

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9672-480: The DishWorld service would be absorbed into the Sling TV subsidiary and rebranded as Sling International, and that it also planned to launch a Sling Latino OTT service, which would incorporate various Spanish networks. Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch explained that the service was designed to target the viewing habits of the 18–35 demographic, which he believed was being ignored by the traditional pay television industry (and

9828-904: The Dragon , The Last of Us , and True Detective ; comedies such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Righteous Gemstones ; and topical satires Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Real Time with Bill Maher ). In addition, HBO also carries documentary films (mainly produced through its in-house production unit HBO Documentary Films), sports-focused documentary and magazine series (produced through its HBO Sports production unit), occasional original made-for-TV movies, occasional original concert and stand-up comedy specials, and short-form behind-the-scenes specials centered mainly on theatrical films (either running in their initial theatrical or HBO/Cinemax broadcast window). Newer episodes of most HBO original programs usually air over its main channel after 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time; depending partly on

9984-460: The ISP is not responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, and/or other redistribution of the content from the OTT provider. This model contrasts with the purchasing or rental of video or audio content from an Internet service provider , such as pay television , video on demand and internet protocol television (IPTV). OTT refers to content from a third party that is delivered to an end-user, with

10140-404: The ISP simply transporting IP packets. OTT television , commonly called streaming television , remains the most popular OTT content. This signal is received over the Internet or through a cell phone network, as opposed to receiving the television signal from a terrestrial broadcast or satellite. The video distributor controls access through an app, a separate OTT dongle, or a box connected to

10296-455: The Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP)-based transmission path where the transmission path is provided by a person other than the OVD. An OVD does not include an MVPD inside its MVPD footprint or an MVPD to the extent it is offering online video programming as a component of an MVPD subscription to customers whose homes are inside its MVPD footprint. In broadcasting , over-the-top (OTT) content

10452-577: The Magnolia Network occurred on January 5, 2022. In April 2022, Discovery Inc. merged with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery . On April 7, 2022, it was reported that after the completion of the merger, Magnolia Network leadership would report to HBO and HBO Max 's chief content officer Casey Bloys rather than directly to Zaslav, nor Kathleen Finch (who previously oversaw Discovery's lifestyle brands, and now oversees most of Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. cable networks); Deadline suggested

10608-463: The Max streaming app, but are available via its a la carte add-ons sold through Prime Video Channels , YouTube Primetime Channels and virtual pay television providers Hulu and YouTube TV (both of which sell their HBO/Max add-ons independently of their respective live TV tiers). As of September 2018 , HBO's programming was available to approximately 35.656 million U.S. households that had

10764-406: The OTT acquired licensed rights from the content owner. Programming may also include original content produced by the service or specifically for it. OTT services also include a range of "skinny" television offerings by streaming platforms, such as Sling TV and Hulu with Live TV , that provide live streams of specialty channels . OTT content is delivered via the public Internet instead of

10920-502: The Saturday 8:00 slot has been occupied by premieres of original specials and documentaries (scheduled at least once per month) and, since late December 2020, airings of older hit movies (mainly films released between 1979 and 2015) distributed under library content deals during gap weeks in the monthly premiere schedule. As of 2024, HBO and sister channel Cinemax (as well as their associated streaming platforms) maintain exclusive licensing agreements to first-run and library film content from

11076-626: The Scenes (1982–1992). The interstitials—particularly those aired as episodes of First Look —have also frequently been included as bonus features on DVD and Blu-ray releases of the profiled films. Since 2011, HBO no longer airs "behind-the-scenes" interstitials during promotional breaks, and has reduced airings of First Look to a few episodes per year as the network has honed its focus on higher-profile original programs and studios have increasingly limited their self-produced "making of" featurettes for exclusive physical and digital media release. During

11232-600: The Sling Blue tier), affiliates of The CW and MyNetworkTV , member stations of PBS and its affiliated networks, and most independent stations . Sling subscribers with Channel Master DVR+ devices, which support antenna-based tuning capability, can access local broadcast stations independently of the Sling TV app. On December 15, 2016, Sling TV began invitation-only beta testing of a cloud DVR that would allow subscribers to record programs from select channels carried on its programming tiers; initially available as part of

11388-426: The ability for up to three users to stream different channels through a single subscription account. The package includes several networks owned by 21st Century Fox , including FX , Fox Sports 1 , National Geographic Channel and the regional Fox Sports Networks , but excludes networks owned by The Walt Disney Company (including ESPN , ESPN2 , Disney Channel , Disney Junior , Disney XD and Freeform ) to hold

11544-412: The ages of 18 and 34, offering theatrical movies; comedy and alternative series, and documentaries from HBO's original programming library; and music videos. Rounding out the HBO multiplex expansion was HBO Latino, a Spanish language network launched on November 1, 2000, featuring a mix of dubbed simulcasts of programming from the primary HBO channel as well as exclusive Spanish-originated programs. HBO

11700-680: The carriage of its channels on the service was only for a "trial" basis, while both Time Warner's CEO Jeffrey Bewkes and an analyst from investment firm Macquarie Capital claimed that current contract language in Dish's OTT carriage deals with the service's content distributors would cap the number of subscribers that the service is allowed to have at any given time to 5 million. Neither Dish Network or its content providers have confirmed any such cap. On April 4, 2015, some Sling TV users were affected by brief outages preventing them from streaming portions of TBS ' coverage of an NCAA Final Four game between

11856-418: The channel's schedule. Around this time, Cinemax also began airing adult-oriented softcore pornographic films and series —containing strong sexual content and nudity—in varying late-night timeslots (usually no earlier than 11:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific); this programming block, originally airing under the "Friday After Dark" banner (renamed "Max After Dark" in 2008 to better reflect its prior expansion to

12012-456: The channel, which also gained exclusive streaming rights to the company's programming library for HBO Go and HBO Now (assuming those rights from Amazon Video , Netflix and Sesame Workshop's in-house subscription streaming service, Sesame Go, the latter of which will cease to operate as a standalone offering). With the debut of HBO Max in May 2020, under contract renewal terms agreed upon between

12168-693: The channels featured on both Sling Orange and Blue, as well as those that are restricted to the respective tiers. Those subscribing to the "extra" add-on packs are required to subscribe to the Sling Orange tier in order to access the Disney–ABC Television Group channels and Sling Blue to stream the NBCUniversal channels included in the service's subtiers. Comcast SportsNet California , Comcast SportsNet Bay Area , Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic were not among

12324-459: The content featured in original programs shown on HBO and other premium services, with relatively limited advertiser issues.) Mainly because it is not beholden to the preferences of advertisers, HBO has long been regarded in the entertainment industry for letting program creators maintain full creative autonomy over their projects, allowing them to depict gritty subject matter that—before basic cable channels and streaming services deciding to follow

12480-503: The contractual period). Feature films from the aforementioned studios that maintain joint licensing contracts encompassing both services will typically make their premium television debut on HBO approximately two to three months before their premiere on Cinemax and vice versa. HBO's relationship with Warner Bros. began with a five-year distribution agreement signed in June 1986, encompassing films released between January 1987 and December 1992;

12636-431: The day's programming schedule, repeats of original series, made-for-cable movies, and documentaries (typically excluding programs with graphic violent or sexual content) are shown during the daytime hours on the main channel, and at various times on HBO's themed channels. Four of the themed multiplex channels—HBO Signature, HBO Family, HBO Comedy, and HBO Zone—also each carry archived HBO original series and specials dating to

12792-629: The daytime on Saturdays and Sundays; in January 2012, HBO began offering occasional Sunday daytime airings of R-rated films within its weekly encore showing of the Saturday movie premiere (airing as early as 4:00 p.m. ET/PT, depending on the previous night's scheduled premiere film, that film's length, and the Sunday night block of HBO original series that usually follows the rebroadcast); by 2017, afternoon R-rated movie airings (which occasionally have been shown as early as 2:00 p.m. ET/PT since then) were permitted in random afternoon timeslots any day of

12948-501: The deal due to cutbacks resulting from declines in public and private donations, distribution fees paid by PBS member stations, and licensing for merchandise sales. Through the agreement, HBO obtained first-run television rights to Sesame Street , beginning with the January 2016 debut of its 46th season (with episodes being distributed to PBS, following a nine-month exclusivity window at no charge to its member stations); Sesame Workshop also produced original children's programming content for

13104-417: The early 2000s, as the respective multiplex channels were being packaged in each tier mandatorily. In February 1996, in anticipation of the adoption of MPEG-2 digital compression codecs that would allow cable providers to offer digital cable service, Home Box Office, Inc. announced plans to expand its multiplex services across HBO and Cinemax to twelve channels (counting time zone -based feeds), encompassing

13260-446: The east and west coast feeds of the primary linear channel (although excluding its six multiplex services), and allows on-demand access to HBO's programming content – on April 9, 2015. The Sling Latino service was introduced on June 4, 2015, featuring two add-on Spanish-language programming tiers, "Paquete Total" and "Paquete Esencial." Customers can purchase two additional add-on packs, "Colombia" and "España." This service does not require

13416-479: The estimated cost of the initial pay-cable rights was between $ 300 million and $ 600 million, depending on the overall performance of Warner's films and HBO/Cinemax's respective subscriber counts. Although the Warner deal was initially non-exclusive, a preemptive strategy if its co-owned rivals Showtime and The Movie Channel (which elected not to pick up any spare Warner titles) sought full exclusivity over movie rights,

13572-738: The expense of consumers." Over-the-top content An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television , or simply OTT ) is a digital distribution service offered directly to viewers via the public Internet , rather than through an over-the-air , cable , or satellite -based provider. The term is synonymous with " streaming platform ", such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video which provide access to subscription-based film and television content (SVoD). OTT bypasses cable, broadcast , and satellite television platforms—the media through which companies have traditionally acted as controllers or distributors of such content. This content may include shows and movies for which

13728-557: The female-targeted WMax in May 2001); Cinemáx (a Spanish language simulcast feed, which originally launched as the young adult-focused @Max in 2001), 5StarMax (launched in May 2001) and OuterMax (launched in May 2001). Magnolia Network is an American multinational basic cable network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Chip and Joanna Gaines , formerly known as DIY Network. In April 2019, Discovery officially announced its new venture, and that its linear television component would launch sometime in 2020, replacing DIY Network, though it

13884-691: The first premium channel to be made available on the provider. Sling expanded its premium channel offerings on April 1, 2015, when Dish announced that it would add HBO to Sling TV as an add-on pack. Similar to the Epix deal, the addition of HBO was part of a wide-ranging deal between Dish Network and Time Warner that included the renewal of its carriage agreement for the Turner Broadcasting System 's cable channels, including TBS , TNT , TruTV , CNN , Cartoon Network and Adult Swim . Sling added HBO as an add-on pack – which consists of

14040-411: The first SVOD service to be offered by an American premium service, launched on July 1, 2001, over then sister company Time Warner Cable's Columbia, South Carolina , system. The service was developed to allow HBO subscribers access to the channel's programming at their choosing, thereby reducing the frequency in which viewers were unable to find a program they prefer to watch and limiting cancellations to

14196-537: The first sub-feeds ever offered by a subscription television service to specifically serve that time zone.) Home Box Office, Inc. began marketing the HBO channel suite and related coastal feeds under the umbrella brand "MultiChannel HBO" in September 1994; the package was rebranded as "HBO The Works", now exclusively classified to the four HBO multiplex channels (and later applied to the three thematic channels that were launched afterward), in April 1998. (The Cinemax tier

14352-1563: The following studios and their related subsidiaries: HBO also maintains sub-run agreements—covering television and streaming licensing of films that have previously received broadcast or syndicated television airings—for theatrical films distributed by Paramount Pictures (including content from subsidiaries or acquired library partners Miramax , Carolco Pictures , MTV Films , Nickelodeon Movies and Republic Pictures , all for films released prior to 2013), Universal Pictures (including content from subsidiaries Universal Animation Studios , DreamWorks Animation , Working Title Films , Illumination , and Focus Features , all for films released prior to 2022), Summit Entertainment (for films released prior to 2023), Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (including content from Walt Disney Pictures , 20th Century Studios , and Searchlight Pictures (except films co-produced by Pixar ), and former subsidiaries Touchstone Pictures , and Hollywood Pictures , all for films released prior to 2023), Sony Pictures Entertainment (including content from subsidiaries/library partners Columbia Pictures , Sony Pictures Classics , ELP Communications , Morgan Creek Entertainment , Screen Gems , Revolution Studios , and former HBO sister company TriStar Pictures ), and Amazon MGM Studios (including content from subsidiaries Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Orion Pictures , United Artists , and former subsidiaries The Cannon Group , and The Samuel Goldwyn Company ). HBO also produces made-for-cable television movies through

14508-543: The format. For the first 23 months of its existence, the HD feed only transmitted theatrical films from the network's programming suppliers (initially accounting for about 45% of its available feature film output, expanding to around 60% by early 2001) and HBO's in-house original movies in the format, as existing widescreen prints of those films were already scalable in the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and could readily be upconverted to HD resolution. Original programming began to be made available in HD on January 14, 2001, when

14664-706: The free portion of the service was renamed "Sling Freestream". At the time of the announcement, the plan was to offer users over 210 channels and more than 41,000 on demand titles, with additional content to be added throughout the year and an eventual goal of offering more than 400 channels. It would be available on LG, Samsung, and Vizio smart TVs. Sling TV content can be streamed via a number of platforms: at launch, these included Android and Apple iOS devices; Android TV ; Apple TV ; macOS , and Windows computers; LG and Samsung smart TVs ; and Amazon Fire TV , Nexus Player , Roku , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X/S devices. (Streaming of ESPN networks through WatchESPN

14820-497: The genre across Home Box Office, Inc.'s platforms. In terms of mainstream programming, Cinemax began premiering original action series in the early 2010s, beginning with the August 2011 debut of Strike Back (which has since become the channel's longest-running original program). As a consequence of WarnerMedia reallocating its programming resources toward the HBO Max streaming service, Cinemax eliminated scripted programming after

14976-671: The initial airdate and usually uploaded at the normal airtime, of their original broadcast on the main linear HBO channel. By February 2019, subscribership of HBO Now subscribers had reached over 8  million customers. On June 12, 2020, WarnerMedia announced that HBO Now would be rebranded solely as HBO on August 1. Following HBO Max's launch, the HBO streaming service had served as the network's default OTT platform for Roku customers, as WarnerMedia has not yet signed deals to distribute HBO Max on that platform; until its replacement by HBO Max on those platforms in November 2020, it also served as

15132-474: The last of its remaining slate of action series ended in early 2021, shifting the channel back to its original structure as a movie-exclusive premium service. The linear Cinemax multiplex service, as of 2021 , consists of the primary feed and seven thematic channels: MoreMax (launched in April 1991 as Cinemax 2, in conjunction with HBO2's rollout); ActionMax (originally launched as Cinemax 3 in 1995); ThrillerMax (launched in 1998); MovieMax (originally launched as

15288-401: The launch of DishWorld, a service which provided access to over 50 ethnic and international television networks; DishWorld was initially made available through an app for Roku digital media players. In carriage deals that the company struck with major cable channel owners such as A&E Networks , The Walt Disney Company and Scripps Networks Interactive during 2014, Dish Network obtained

15444-526: The mob drama, " Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood ", on March 4 was the first first-run episode of an HBO series to be transmitted in high-definition from its initial telecast, with all subsequent episodes being delivered to HBO exclusively on HD videotape (and downconverted for the main standard-definition feed). Bob Zitter, then the network's Senior Vice President of Technology Operations, disclosed to Multichannel News in January 2001 that HBO elected to delay offering its original series in high definition until there

15600-548: The model set by HBO and other pay cable services—had not usually been shown on other television platforms. During the "Executive Actions" symposium held by The Washington Post and George Washington University in April 2015 (shortly after the launch of the HBO Now streaming service), then-HBO CEO Richard Plepler said that he does not want the network to be akin to Netflix in which users " binge watch " its television shows and film content, saying "I don't think it would have been

15756-735: The modern day, HBO has been the first promoter of movies like the Saving Private Ryan , Fight Club , Antz , American Beauty , the Spider-Man franchise (2002 - 2007) by Sam Raimi , Bruce Almighty , Minority Report , Dreamcatcher , Madagascar , War of the Worlds , Monuments Men , among others. Depending on the service provider, HBO provides up to seven 24-hour multiplex channels—all of which are simulcast in both standard definition and high definition , and available as time zone-based regional feeds—as well as

15912-478: The movie would air exclusively during the designated watershed period (“Home Box Office/HBO will show this feature only at night"). The watershed policy was extended to cover TV-MA-rated programs when the TV Parental Guidelines were implemented industry-wide on January 1, 1997, although HBO had already been withholding airing original programs incorporating mature content that would now qualify for

16068-530: The movie—such as boxing coverage or concerts—have caused rare variances in the preceding film's start time; if a live event was scheduled, before the December 2018 discontinuation of HBO's boxing telecasts, the premiered film would air after the event—in reverse order from the Eastern feed scheduling—on the Pacific Time Zone feed.) From June 1996 until September 2006, the presentations were marketed as

16224-732: 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 " H ome B ox O ffice ", which was meant to convey to potential customers that the service would be their " ticket " to movies and events that they could see in their own home. Home Box Office launched at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on November 8, 1972, initially available to subscribers of Teleservice Cable (now Service Electric Cable TV and Communications ) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania . HBO's inaugural program and event telecast,

16380-422: The network (including weekly series, documentaries, sports magazine and documentary programs, and concert and stand-up comedy specials). The service's rotating program selection incorporates newer film titles and episodes that are added to the platform following their debut on the linear feed, as well as library content (including complete seasons of the network's past and present original programs). HBO on Demand,

16536-401: The network commenced a 13-week Sunday "encore" presentation of the second season of The Sopranos in remastered 1080i HD. (HBO had been requiring the producers of its original series to film their episodes in widescreen—subsequently downconverted for the standard definition feed—to fit 4:3 television screens since 1996, to future-proof them for remastering in HD.) The third-season premiere of

16692-519: The network's early years, HBO aired other interstitials in-between programs. Originally billed as Something Short and Special , around 1980, InterMissions (as the interstitials were begun to be called in September 1978) was bannered into two groupings: Video Jukebox , a showcase of music videos from various artists (eventually separated from the other intermission shorts and given various long-form spinoffs, also titled as Video Jukebox or variants thereof), and Special , showcasing short films. By 1984,

16848-440: The network's pay television contractual windows for recent studio releases and from library content agreements with film distributors) and HBO original programming (including scripted series, made-for-cable movies, comedy specials, documentaries, and sports documentary and magazine programs). HBO Go, along with companion service HBO Now and HBO Max, did not provide live simulcasts of the seven linear HBO channels. (HBO and Cinemax are

17004-430: The northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England , into a national television network—in September 1975, and, alongside sister channel Cinemax , was among the first two American pay television services to offer complimentary multiplexed channels in August 1991. The network operates seven 24-hour, linear multiplex channels as well as a traditional subscription video on demand platform (HBO On Demand) and its content

17160-441: The now defunct Google Allo . OTT voice calling , usually called VoIP , capabilities, for instance, a softphone or as provided by FaceTime , Skype , Viber , WhatsApp , WeChat , and Zoom use open internet communication protocols to replace and sometimes enhance existing operator controlled services offered by mobile phone operators. HBO Home Box Office ( HBO ) is an American pay television network, which

17316-412: The on-demand streaming service was conceived as a TV Everywhere platform marketed exclusively to existing subscribers of the linear HBO television service. (The HBO Go website and mobile apps, including its apps for streaming devices such as Roku and Apple TV, and some video game consoles , required a password accompanying a linear HBO subscription by a participating television provider to access content on

17472-551: The only American premium television services not to include live network feeds in their proprietary streaming VOD platforms.) Based on the prototype HBO on Broadband service that was originally launched in January 2008 to linear HBO subscribers of Time Warner Cable's Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin , systems, HBO Go launched nationwide on February 18, 2010, initially available to existing HBO subscribers signed with Verizon FiOS . Initially carrying 1,000 hours of program content available for streaming in standard or high definition,

17628-573: The other five multiplex channels is limited to subscribers of DirecTV , YouTube TV and the Hulu live TV service.) HBO maintains a separate feed for the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone —the only American cable-originated television network to offer a timeshift feed for Hawaii viewers—operating a three-hour-delayed version of the primary channel's Pacific Time feed for subscribers of Oceanic Spectrum , which otherwise transmits Pacific Time feeds for

17784-410: The over-the-top distribution rights to their networks as part of clauses incorporated into the agreements pertaining to its existing direct broadcast satellite service – a move that served as a stepping stone for Dish towards launching a mainstream OTT offering. In November 2014, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen explained that the company planned to launch its OTT service by the end of that year and

17940-416: The overnight/early morning hours on its primary and select multiplex channels, in addition to being available on demand via HBO's various streaming and television VOD platforms (including its dedicated portal on HBO Max). HBO innovated original entertainment programming for cable television networks, in which a television series (both dramatic and comedic), made-for-television movie, or entertainment special

18096-425: The paid add-on was upped to 200 hours with unlimited length of time to keep. This was added in conjunction to a price increase for new subscribers. In September 2020, Sling TV announced Sling Watch Party, a co-viewing feature that allows people from different locations to watch live TV together simultaneously. A unique function of Sling TV's implementation is the ability for text and video chat alongside live TV, which

18252-497: The possibility that Magnolia Network could contribute content (such as library programs or original series) to HBO Max—noting that some of the service's scripted series have appealed to a similar adult female demographic to Magnolia Network, HBO Max's own forays into unscripted content , and reports that the Gaines had shown interest in working on scripted projects. HBO HD (originally called HBO HDTV from March 1999 until April 2006)

18408-399: The preview event—usually following the headlining prime time film—that previewed upcoming HBO programming for prospective and existing subscribers. HBO offers between three and five preview events each year—normally scheduled to coincide with the premiere of a new or returning original series, and in the past, a high-profile special or feature film—to pay television providers for distribution on

18564-495: The price of the tier at a moderated rate. Two months later on June 13, Sling added several channels to the multi-stream package: it added FS2 , FXX and Nat Geo Wild among the Fox-owned offerings on the tier, and began carrying several channels owned by Viacom Media Networks (including MTV , VH1 , BET , Spike , and Comedy Central ). The Viacom deal – a caveat of a carriage dispute that Viacom and Dish Network resolved with

18720-444: The primary Showtime linear channel and its seven multiplex services are included in the package, which also grants access to Showtime's on-demand service; sister channels The Movie Channel and Flix have been excluded from the package ever since Showtime's addition to Sling. With the addition, Sling became the first over-the-top MVPD streaming service to offer all five major premium networks: HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and Epix. This

18876-470: The programming choices that would be provided to subscribers of the channel tier to that offered by multi-screen movie theaters ), each available at no extra charge to subscribers of one or both networks. (The three prior premium services that HBO launched between 1979 and 1987, Cinemax and the now-defunct Take 2 and Festival, were developed as standalone services that could be purchased separately from and optionally packaged with HBO.) On August 1, 1991, through

19032-402: The projects (almost universally by studios maintaining exclusive pay television contracts with HBO and Cinemax, and which have been rebroadcast on the former during a film's pay-cable distribution window), and have usually consisted of either interstitial "behind-the-scenes" and interview segments on an upcoming/recent theatrical release or red carpet coverage. Currently, these segments air under

19188-591: The provider's YouView set-top boxes via a standalone VOD subscription. HBO Go is an international TV Everywhere streaming service for broadband subscribers of the linear HBO television service. It was accessible through play.hbogo.com, and through apps for Apple iOS and Apple TV devices; Android devices and Android TV ; Amazon Fire TV ; Chromecast ; PlayStation consoles ( PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 ); Xbox One consoles; Roku devices; and most Samsung Smart TV models. Content available on HBO Go included theatrically released films (sourced from

19344-494: The purchase of the "Best of Live TV" package. On November 19, 2015, Blockbuster LLC migrated the Blockbuster On Demand VOD service exclusively to Sling TV; as a result, Blockbuster and Dish Network began redirecting all Dish customers who subscribed to the service to switch to Sling in order to continue accessing its film content. On April 13, 2016, Sling TV introduced a "multi-stream" package, which allows

19500-526: The regional Comcast SportsNet channels), as well as BBC America , BBC World News and Vibrant TV; the NBCUniversal channels joined sister service Local Now (an OTT-exclusive service of NBC-part-owned The Weather Channel ), which initially launched as a Sling-exclusive offering on January 25. In addition, subscribers could also stream NBC stations in all markets where the network has an owned-and-operated station . With this, Sling began offering existing and prospective subscribers an upper-end tier comprising

19656-425: The regional Fox Sports Networks, as a result of Dish and Sling being unable to come to an agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group , which had just acquired the networks from Disney (a byproduct of its acquisition of certain film and television assets from 21st Century Fox the year prior) through a joint venture with Entertainment Studios . In February 2021, Sling added local stations to its guide from Locast in

19812-418: The risk of them pulling or refusing to sell their advertising depending on the objectionable material that a sponsor is comfortable placing their advertising. (Incidentally, since the early 2000s, some ad-supported basic cable channels—like FX and Comedy Central —have incorporated stronger profanity, somewhat more pervasive violence and sexual themes, and occasional nudity in their original programs, similar to

19968-445: The service and its upcoming programs to prospective subscribers aired alongside on-air promotions between programs during the preview weekend, although interstitials produced in-house or by third-party producers were inserted by some providers over the HBO feed during promo breaks for their local or regional audience; from September 1988 to September 1994, the network also aired a 15-minute-long promotional "free preview show" each night of

20124-549: The service because of that issue. On January 3, 2011, HBO became the first pay television network to offer VOD content in 3D ; initially available to linear HBO subscribers signed with Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Verizon FiOS, 3D content consisted of theatrical feature films available in the format. In the United Kingdom, a domestic version of HBO on Demand was launched in 2015 to subscribers of IPTV provider TalkTalk TV , which provides HBO's program offerings through

20280-613: The service's "Comedy Plus Extra" and "Lifestyle Plus Extra" add-on packs. In addition, the service added support to allow access to its content on Apple TV devices. Sling restructured its programming tiers on June 30, 2016, redesignating the "Best of Live TV" single-stream tier as "Sling Orange" and the multi-stream package as "Sling Blue". Additionally, the service added most of the NBCUniversal family of networks (including USA Network , Bravo , Syfy , Golf Channel , CNBC , MSNBC , E! , Oxygen , NBC Universo , NBCSN and most of

20436-482: The service. One week later on February 16, as part of a renewed agreement between Dish and the Paramount Pictures / Lionsgate / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer joint venture Studio 3 Partners to continue its carriage on the company's satellite service, Sling announced that it would carry Epix as part of its "Hollywood Extra" tier – in a package that includes its main channel and all three multiplex services – becoming

20592-496: The service.) On June 12, 2020, WarnerMedia announced that HBO Go's mobile and digital media player apps would be discontinued in the U.S. on July 31, as most traditional and virtual MVPDs have secured distribution deals for HBO Max. Those providers that have not yet made an HBO Max deal continue to allow customer access to HBO Go (mainly Altice USA 's brands, Mediacom , smaller cable providers, and closed-circuit university television systems which had not had personnel available during

20748-533: The short segments had mainly been limited to comedic film shorts (originally branded as HBO Comedy Shorts and then as HBO Short Takes , which used a set of differing animated intros) and youth-targeted live action and animated short films seen largely before and during family-oriented programming (branded as HBO Shorts for Kids ). Intermission shorts had largely vanished from the channel by 1988. Since 2014, HBO has occasionally aired short films ranging between 15 and 25 minutes in length at varying times each week during

20904-701: The six other HBO multiplex channels. (The state's other major cable provider, Hawaiian Telcom , offers the Pacific Time Zone feed of all seven channels.) Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Originally developed as a companion service to HBO, the channel's programming consists of recent and some older theatrically released feature films, original action drama series, documentaries, and special behind-the-scenes featurettes. While Cinemax and HBO operate as separate premium services, their respective channel tiers are very frequently sold as

21060-415: The six regional Pac-12 Networks to its "Sports Extra" tiers, and added support for Windows 10 users through the launch of an app for the operating system . During October 2016, the service also added six additional channels to its lineup: Game Show Network (on the "Comedy Extra" tier), AXS TV (on the main "Sling Orange and Blue" lineup), HDNet Movies (on the "Hollywood Extra" tier), NHL Network (on

21216-781: The studio and WarnerMedia in October 2019, Sesame Street and other Sesame Workshop content will shift from the linear television service to the streaming-based HBO Max later in the year. On average, movies occupy between 14 and 18 hours of the daily schedule on HBO and HBO2 (or as little as 12 hours on the latter, depending upon if HBO2 is scheduled to carry an extended "catch-up" marathon of an HBO original series), and up to 20 hours per day—depending on channel format—on its five thematic multiplex channels. Since June 6, 1992, HBO has offered weekly pay television premieres of recent theatrical and original made-for-cable movies on Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. (Event presentations that have followed

21372-531: 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, 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. Codenamed " The Green Channel ", the conceptual subscription service would offer unedited theatrical movies licensed from

21528-440: The traditional network television season. First-run theatrical films debut on average from ten months to one year after a film's initial theatrical run has concluded, and no more than six months after their DVD or digital VOD download release. COVID-19 -related postponements of newer theatrical releases by its distribution partners caused HBO to reduce the frequency of scheduled theatrical premieres in September 2020; since then,

21684-501: The unit and, since HBO became co-owned with the film division through the 1989 Time-Warner merger, distributed through Warner Bros. Entertainment. Films to which HBO maintains traditional telecast and streaming rights will usually also be shown on the Cinemax television and streaming platforms during their licensing agreement period (either after a film title completes its HBO window or transfers between services over certain months during

21840-588: The video be downloaded first and then played. Relatedly, some OTT services require movie download but can start playing the content before the download completes ( streaming ). The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) categorizes OTT services into two groups: multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and online video distributors (OVDs). Virtual MVPDs include such services such as DirecTV Stream , FuboTV , Sling TV , Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV . The FCC defined an OVD as: any entity that provides video programming by means of

21996-399: The viewing experience was spot on for the vast majority our customers, we were able to rebalance traffic loads for those who were affected [through traffic redirection to a different network provider] and improve the experience for the remainder of the evening." Roger Lynch later stated that the service would limit future outages by upgrading its software to automatically switch from the main to

22152-459: The week on the main channel at the network's discretion. Most of the six HBO thematic multiplex channels—except for HBO Family, which prohibits programming containing either equivalent rating by the effect of the channel's target audience and format —air TV-MA and R-rated programming during morning and afternoon periods. HBO also does not typically allow most NC-17-rated films to be aired on the primary channel or its multiplex channels. HBO pioneered

22308-642: The year and an eventual goal of offering more than 400 channels. It would be available on LG, Samsung, and Vizio smart TVs. Sling TV was originally not designed to be a full substitute for a "traditional" pay television provider, but as a complement to subscription-based online services. On February 22, 2017, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said that although it was positioned as a complementary service, he considered Sling TV now to be "a direct replacement for cable and satellite." The service originally had several limitations for contractual, economic, and technological reasons: only one stream could be used per account, there

22464-498: Was accordingly marketed as "MultiChannel Cinemax" and then "MultiMax" at the respective times.) Concurrent with the adoption of "The Works" package brand, two of the channels changed their names and formats: HBO2 was rebranded as HBO Plus, and HBO3 was relaunched as HBO Signature—incorporating content catering toward a female audience, alongside theatrical films aimed at broader audiences and content from HBO's original made-for-cable movie and documentary libraries. (HBO Plus would revert to

22620-432: Was aiming for the package to retail for around $ 30 per month. He explained: "the regular linear MVPD business is a mature business. You can't just go back every day and say 'I'm going to raise my rates to make my budget.' You have to figure out other revenue streams and get other people to pay for your product and watch more minutes of your product." The OTT service was officially unveiled as Sling TV on January 5, 2015, in

22776-640: Was both sustainable consumer penetration of high-definition television sets and wide accessibility of HDTV equipment on the retail market. Sports telecasts were upgraded to HD on September 25, 2004, with an HBO World Championship Boxing fight card headlined by Roy Jones Jr. and Glen Johnson . HD programming can also be broadcast in Dolby Digital 5.1 . The network began transmitting its six multiplex channels in high definition on September 1, 2008, when DirecTV began offering HD simulcast feeds of HBO2, HBO Family, HBO Signature, and HBO Latino. HBO on Demand

22932-1001: Was broken again in 2023 with 59 million concurrent viewers during the ICC Cricket World Cup final on Disney+ Hotstar . Consumers can access OTT content through Internet-connected devices such as smart TVs , digital media players , gaming consoles , set-top boxes , desktop and laptop computers, tablets , and smartphones . The results of a 2018 in-house data analysis of their subscribers by Uscreen (a membership platform for video creators and entrepreneurs) reported that 45% used iOS and Android mobile devices to access their OTT content, while 39% used web browsers for streaming. The term "OTT" has also been used to describe no-carrier cellphones , for which all communications are charged as data, avoiding monopolistic competition , or apps for phones that transmit data in this manner, including both those that replace other call methods and those that update software. OTT messaging

23088-537: Was delayed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the ability to produce the network's launch programming and ending up launching several months before the closing of the Warner Bros. and Discovery Inc. merger. Due to the delay in production, some Magnolia Network programming debuted as part of the January 4, 2021, launch of the Discovery+ streaming service. The transition of the linear DIY Network to

23244-445: Was followed on April 5, with the introduction of the "Heartland Extra" add-on tier (including six newly added channels, FamilyNet , Outdoor Channel , Sportsman Channel , PixL, World Fishing Network and RFD-TV ), and expanded its "Best of Spanish TV" tier with the additions of Estrella TV , V-me Kids and El Financiero-Bloomberg TV . Maker and Polaris TV were removed from the service in May 2017. On June 14, 2017, Sling TV moved

23400-409: Was initially available via Apple Inc. to Apple TV and iOS devices for a three-month exclusivity period following its formal launch, before becoming available for subscription through other participating Internet service providers . Available for $ 15 per month, HBO Now was identical to the former HBO Go in terms of content and features. New episodes of the HBO series were made available for streaming on

23556-423: Was marketed independent of a pay television subscription to the linear HBO service as a standalone platform targeting cord cutters . HBO Now was available online and as apps for Apple iOS and Apple TV devices; Android tablets, phones and Android TV devices; Amazon Fire TV; Roku devices; Xbox consoles ( Xbox 360 and Xbox One ); PlayStation consoles ( PlayStation 3 and later); and select TiVo devices; and as

23712-680: Was named the CES 2015 "Best Home Theater Product", "Best Software/App", and "Best in Show" by Engadget , for its clear goal and pricing, its "intuitive, user-friendly and surprisingly well-done" interface, and the fact that the service "may very well be the beginning of the end for traditional pay TV" in the United States. Some broadcasters have been hesitant about over-the-top services such as Sling TV, showing concern that they may undermine their carriage deals with larger conventional cable , satellite and Internet TV providers. Time Warner initially noted that

23868-444: Was no DVR functionality beyond the ability to pause and rewind programs, and the service did not offer local broadcast television stations or regional sports networks . Sling CEO Roger Lynch explained that including local broadcast stations and regional sports networks would drive up the price of the service from the high fees demanded by networks and station owners; he also cited that most cord cutters already have either an antenna or

24024-443: Was originally scheduled to launch a tertiary channel, Cinemax 3, on November 1, 1991, but these plans were shelved until 1996.) While most cable providers collectively offered the HBO and Cinemax multiplex channels in individual tiers, some providers had sold their secondary or tertiary channels as optional add-ons to expanded basic subscribers; this practice was discontinued when HBO and Cinemax began migrating to digital cable in

24180-490: Was scaled back to focus on independent film production in 1984. The current HBO Films unit was formed in October 1999 through the consolidation of HBO Pictures and HBO NYC Productions (created as HBO Showcase in 1986, and following its June 1996 restructuring, had also occasionally produced drama series for the network). Since 1984, HBO Films has also maintained an exclusive licensing agreement with HBO (later expanded to include Cinemax) for theatrical productions produced by

24336-475: Was the conceptual blueprint for the "premium channel", pay television services sold to subscribers for an extra monthly fee that do not accept traditional advertising and present their programming without editing for objectionable material . It eventually became the first television channel in the world to begin transmitting via satellite—expanding the growing regional pay service, originally available to cable and multipoint distribution service (MDS) providers in

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