HBO: A Leader In Television
"The popularity, profitability and success of HBO (Home Box Office) in the mid-1970s helped spur the growth of cable TV, and soon after, new satellite-delivered basic and premium cable TV networks were successfully competing against the major TV networks in the late 70s and early 80s, including premium movie channels such as: Viacom's Showtime (1976, with satellite broadcast in 1978), Warner Amex's The Movie Channel (1979), Time/HBO's own Cinemax (1980), the Disney Channel (1983), American Movie Classics (1984), and other Pay Per View (PPV) channels, to name a few."
HBO is a well known network, known today by their current popular series’ True Blood, Game of Thrones and Broadwalk Empire, to name a few.
The above photos, taken in New Yorks subways, are specifically to advertise the series Broadwalk Empire, making HBO the first network to literally turn an entire train carriage into a promotional vehicle.
Being the leader in paid television, HBO sets the standard and we as viewers reap the rewards. This high level of entertainment is what keeps the industry evolving and other networks fighting to improve and stay on board.
“2010 was also a stellar award year for HBO, with the network garnering 25 Primetime Emmy® Awards, the most of any network for the ninth year in a row. Additionally, HBO won four Golden Globe® Awards, an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), nine Sports Emmys® (the most of any network and the most ever for HBO), and three George Foster Peabody Award in 2010.”
This was a statement from Time Entertainment, placing HBO as the #1 paid television network in 2010.
In it’s dominant position, HBO offers us a look into just what it is viewers are searching for, their shows bordering on explicit, gore, sex, coarse language and violence just a normal part of most of the programs and there is an exceptional focus on the underbelly of life.
True Blood gives us blood thirsty, murderous vampires and other such mythical creatures. In Boardwalk Empire we are given the perspective of the gangsters and outlaws who use the prohibition of alcohol to their advantage. Game of Thrones is about blood thirsty kings and traitorous citizens. And we are made to like them.
What does this say about us? Perhaps we are all bound by our natural instincts and enjoy watching things that are considered immoral in normal life. Perhaps we are simply curious about something we are not allowed to indulge in ourselves. Or perhaps the network, in pushing the lines of good and bad has reached something inside of us, making us question just what does make a person evil and whether our society judges too quickly.
A Global Leader In Television. Viewed 27/08/2011
Cable Hall of Fame Archives Charles Dolan. Viewed 27/08/2011
Both photos are available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid, http://www.laughingsquid.com/
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