Less And Less People Are Watching HBO

[FreddyE1977]

When our Pittsburgh neighborhood got cable in the early 80's (a late arrival) HBO was not part of the basic
package. They offered two tiers of programming, running on two separate cables which were part of the
Warner QUBE system. There were two premium channels above and beyond both tiers, HBO on channel
66 and TMC on 16. Basically they were on the same frequency but on separate cables. It was ten bucks
a month more to buy a movie channel. If you opted out they came and put a line filter in at the pole that
blocked out that one channel. Not a great system for them because the filters had a tendency to konk-out
over time, or there were a number of neighborhood entrepreneurs who would climb a pole and disable them for
a one-time fee.

 

[radiolives]

We forgot to mention Starz. Also The Movie Channel which isn't part of Showtime how Cinemax is part of HBO.

Seems we could see some of these channels disapper as their is about 8 of each channel no including the west coast feeds of the network cable companies add. Maybe have on 4 of each channel. I remember back in the day when their was only two HBOs, two Showtimes and so on.

 

[ansky212]

We forgot to mention Starz. Also The Movie Channel which isn't part of Showtime how Cinemax is part of HBO.

There is a big overlap in the movies on Showtime and The Movie Channel. They seem to go to Showtime first and then end up on TMC later. But TMC doesn't have any of the original series that Showtime does.

 

[therealjm12]

In the mid 70's I was working for a TV station that was owned by a cable company. I received cable for free. It was 12 VHF channels. I got HBO, also, for free. I believe I had HBO the first week it was on or very shortly after. I had a box on the TV that had a speaker and a descrambler in it. As I remember it, I put the TV on Ch 3 and turned the power on the box. HBO is pretty much worthless to me nowdays. I think if I got it for free, I would rarely watch it.

 

[JeeperOne]

I remember when WOR-TV 9 (Now more formally known as WWOR 9, the MyNetwork TV flagship station in NYC) was a SuperStation (Remember those?) back in the 1980s when we got cable from Mile High Cablevision (Now Comcast after a plethora of mergers, consolidations, etc).

Those were the days, weren't they?

Oddly enough, http://www.citysearch.com/CitySearch[/url STILL has [url=http://denver.citysearch.com/profile/37598214/denver_co/mile_hi_cablevision.html]a listing for Mile High Cablevision too. Talk about OLD information LOL!

Cheers

 

[DToTheJ]

That's nothing, Mr. Cook. I remember back when WWOR was "Universal 9".

 

[wprt949]

starz sucks now they uesd to be really good until disney put a stake in the channel


and comcast wants $18 a month for HBO
if you get it in a package its $12 you just have to ask for it

 

[radiolives]

Time Warner wants $14.95 for HBO package, but if you get two of the movie packages its only 23.95.

 

[JeeperOne]

That's nothing, Mr. Cook. I remember back when WWOR was "Universal 9".

What year was this?

Cheers

 

[LibertyNT]

in my opinion I think Cinemax is better than HBO. Showtime Starz and Encore are good time. I only have Cinemax and Starz/Encore now.

 

[kc1ih]

My system gives me 5 HBO channels. The problem is that HBO only seems to have four programs. In addition the variety of other services available (as posted above) it is the continuos repeats of the same four programs over and over and over on all of their channels that has made me no longer interested in paying for HBO.

And who needs all the repeats when the majority (I think) of cable/satellite customers now have DVR’s?

 

[EricStein]

Of the 3 major movie channels whats the most popular one? HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax?

I'd suspect HBO still has the most subscribers. Starz and Showtime are battling it out for second.

As for an idea, how about Showtime and Starz merge? They could benefit by having the strong movies of Starz (Showtime airs a lot of what appear to be direct-to-DVD features) and the popular original programs of Showtime (Starz still hasn't found a real breakout hit in terms of original series). The loss of the more recent Paramount films to upstart Epix hasn't helped Showtime, either.

But, my line of thinking will be whether or not these premium channels go from linear networks to an on-demand model in years to come. As Netflix builds its streaming movie library, that just might be the way they can stay relevant.

 

[mleach]

Of the 3 major movie channels whats the most popular one? HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax?

I'd suspect HBO still has the most subscribers. Starz and Showtime are battling it out for second.

As for an idea, how about Showtime and Starz merge? They could benefit by having the strong movies of Starz (Showtime airs a lot of what appear to be direct-to-DVD features) and the popular original programs of Showtime (Starz still hasn't found a real breakout hit in terms of original series). The loss of the more recent Paramount films to upstart Epix hasn't helped Showtime, either.

While the idea of Starz & Showtime to merge is a good one I suspect the local politics of Denver, Colorado could very well prevent it. Starz/Encore is based in Denver and local Colorado politics tend to get involved into local business and anything, anything that could "spook" Denver into thinking of a throwback to the late 1980s when the Mile High City was deep into that oil bust depression that resulted a massive loss of city jobs..I can't see it happening. Stars/Encore chances are would get money/kickbacks from the city of Denver if they even think about a merger with Showtime only to keep the handful of jobs there in Denver.

Now had Starz/Enocre been based elsewhere besides Denver...a merging between them and Showtime could very well happen.

 

[upstate29651]

Did anyone also consider that some may be cutting the cord to HBO due to their apparent embrace of left leaning idealogy (Bill Maher, etc)?

G

 

[justpassingthough]

Did anyone also consider that some may be cutting the cord to HBO due to their apparent embrace of left leaning idealogy (Bill Maher, etc)?

G

Its highly unlikely that this is the case, as HBO and the other 'premium' services have always tilted towards the younger, most likely urban crowd. This crowd tends to skew to the left of the aisle. Do you really think that Miranda from Sex & the City, Vince from Entourage, or any of the cast of Six Feet Under is/was a huge Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck fan? Some of the original programs on the premium channels were openly hostile to Bush-era politics, and the social repression and self-censorship by the networks (post- Nipplegate) that occurred at this time. These premium channels were an outstanding outlet for creativity at a time when creativity was to be squashed, lest someone look unpatriotic.

Their original programming has always been targeted to the left. Their shows offer greater diversity of people, lifestyles and opinion, and are groundbreaking in terms of subject matter. We all know how the Right feels about diversity and breaking new ground.

 

[dhett]

We all know how the Right feels about diversity and breaking new ground.

I'm willing to bet you haven't a clue how the Right feels, nor are you interested in learning, lest it upset your comfortable little world.

 

[upstate29651]

We all know how the Right feels about diversity and breaking new ground.

IE, most of the country, judging from last Tuesday.

Careful! Your hate is showing......

G

 

[flytrap]

I haven't watched HBO since the 80's. I check the TV guide and all I ever see listed is crap. Even when I used to watch it, it was mostly B movies I've never heard of that played over and over for weeks and months at a time. Why would anyone pay to see than garbage?

 

[DToTheJ]

When you say that all you ever see listed in TV Guide is crap, it's crap that's spread across far, far more channels than HBO, correct?

 

[Mark Giardina]

I cancelled HBO years ago. Just got tired of paying extra on my cable bill just to have the same movies repeated over and over again. Granted there have been some excellent specials the network has run; but if interested, one could purchase them on DVD and save a hell of a lot of money.