HBO

**Home Box Office (HBO)** is the television network on which *Succession* premiered and ran for four seasons. All episodes of the series can be streamed on the network's streaming service, Max (previously HBO Max).

## History

Cable television executive Charles Dolan—through his company, Sterling Information Services—founded Manhattan Cable TV Services (renamed Sterling Manhattan Cable Television in January 1971), a cable system franchise serving an Upper Manhattan section of New York City (covering an area extending southward from 79th Street 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 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 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 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 "Home Box Office", 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.

## Original programs

*Note: this is an incomplete list. For a full list of original programs currently airing on HBO, click here.*
### Current

#### Comedy

* *Curb Your Enthusiasm* (2000-present)
* *Random Acts of Flyness* (2018-present)
* *The Righteous Gemstones* (2019-present)
* *Somebody Somewhere* (2022-present)
* *The Rehearsal* (2022-present)

#### Drama

* *Euphoria* (2019-present)
* *The Gilded Age* (2022-present)
* *House of the Dragon* (2022-present)
* *The Last of Us* (2023-present)

#### Anthology

* *True Detective*
* *The White Lotus* (2021-present)

### Most popular former

* *The Sopranos* (1999-2007)
* *Sex and the City* (1998-2004)
* *Six Feet Under* (2001-2005)
* *True Blood* (2008-2014)
* *Game of Thrones* (2011-2019)
* *Entourage* (2004-2011)
* *Big Little Lies* (2017-2019)
* *Girls* (2012-2017)
* *Watchmen* (2019)
* *Oz* (1997-2003)
* *The Wire* (2002-2008)
* *Sharp Objects* (2018)
* *Deadwood* (2004-2006)
* *Veep* (2012-2019)
* *Silicon Valley* (2014-2019)
* *Insecure* (2016-2021)
* *Succession* (2018-2023)
* *Barry* (2018-2023)
* *The Idol* (2023)

## References

1. ↑ "Manhattan Cable begins limited CATV service". *Broadcasting*. September 12, 1966. p. 47.
2. ↑ Vincent Lobrutto (2018). *TV In the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas*. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. pp. xli.
3. ↑ "1970s: Coming of Age – Sterling Manhattan Cable". Time Warner Cable. February 18, 2013. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013.
4. ↑ Kimberly C. Van Schoick (Fall 2010). "Risk: A Game of Cable Domination". *Pennsylvania Center for the Book*. Penn State University. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
5. ↑ Jack Gould (November 13, 1971). "Accord on Growth of Cable TV Unlikely to Affect City Soon". *The New York Times*. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
6. ↑ "Profile: A young Philadelphian puts a big circle around Sept. 30 on HBO's calendar". *Broadcasting*. September 8, 1975. p. 73.