The founding of Home Box Office in the early 1970s was a harbinger of
the innovations that transformed television as an industry and a
technology in the decades that followed. HBO quickly became synonymous
with subscription television and became the leading force in cable
programming. Having interests in television, motion picture, and home
video industries was crucial to its success. HBO diversified into
original television and movie production, home video sales, and
international distribution as these once-separate entertainment sectors
began converging into a global entertainment industry in the mid-1980s.
HBO has grown from a domestic movie channel to an international
cable-and-satellite network with a presence in over seventy countries.
It is now a full-service content provider with a distinctive brand of
original programming and landmark shows such as The Sopranos and Sex and
the City. The network is widely recognized for its award-winning,
innovative and provocative programming, including dramatic series such
as Six Feet Under and The Wire, miniseries such as Band of Brothers and
Angels in America, comedies such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and Def Comedy
Jam, sports shows such as Inside the NFL and Real Sports with Bryant
Gumbel, documentary series such as Taxi Cab Confessions and Autopsy, and
six Oscar-winning documentaries between 1999 and 2004. In The Essential
HBO Reader, editors Gary R. Edgerton and Jeffrey P. Jones bring together
an accomplished group of scholars to explain how HBO's programming
transformed the world of cable television and how the network continues
to shape popular culture and the television industry. Now, after more
than three and a half decades, HBO has won acclaim in four distinct
programming areas -- drama, comedy, sports, and documentaries --
emerging as TV's gold standard for its breakout series and specials. The
Essential HBO Reader provides a comprehensive and compelling examination
of HBO's development into the prototypical entertainment corporation of
the twenty-first century.
