1 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: In Touch with Technology with tech Stuff from how stuff 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: Works dot com either everyone, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren Boltman, and we're going 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: to take you on a mega epic adventure. Uh. It's 5 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: going to be a three parter, something we haven't done 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: very frequently. But as we started researching this particular topic, 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: we discovered there's just so much interesting stuff that affects 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: so many different industries and technologies. We couldn't really wrap 9 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: it up into a single episode or even a two parts. 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: It is truly a special presentation. It in fact is 11 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: a special presentation. And if you, like me, are a 12 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: child of say the seventies and eighties, you might remember 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: seeing special presentation on a certain pay television channel, HBO 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: Home Box Office. That is what we are talking about 15 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: for the next three episode because there's so much history 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: involved and and I never realized it before we started 17 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: researching this, but if it weren't for some of the 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: people who were working in HBO's early days, we might 19 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: not have cable TV or or satellite cable as we 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: know it, right. Yeah, for example, all those other basic 21 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: cable stations that you are familiar with may not have 22 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: existed had it not been for some of the efforts 23 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 1: on the part of multiple players in the story, and 24 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: also some of the other issues everything from scrambling signals 25 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: to piracy to streaming online. All of these things come 26 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: into play with HBO and and original content as many 27 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: many of you statistically probably no yes, whether whether you 28 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: are subscribers or the other type. So we're going to, um, 29 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: we're gonna have to journey back in time. So uh yeah, 30 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: I know, we just we just tested it off recently, 31 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: but it's going to get a workout. Let's file into 32 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: the way back machine back in, is it tons out? 33 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,639 Speaker 1: We're gonna have to go far back, way before HBO 34 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: was founded, all the way back to nineteen twenty two. 35 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: So let's let's just set that right here and uh 36 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: push the button. Lauren pushed, All right, here we are 37 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: sunny nineteen two. That's when Henry Loose and Brittain hadn't 38 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: decided to U, you know, pack it up. They had 39 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: been working for the Baltimore News and they decided they 40 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: didn't want to do that anymore. They cut their ties, 41 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: said their goodbyes, and went to the Big Apple. Because 42 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: if you can make it there well you know the rest. 43 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: So they had this crazy idea they wanted together to 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,519 Speaker 1: launch a brand new magazine with the title of Time, 45 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: and they got about eighty five thousand dollars in startup 46 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: money from initial stockholders and uh AND incorporated in that 47 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: November of That's right, So the very first issue of 48 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: the magazine launched on March third, nineteen twenty three. Now, 49 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: this company would actually debut lots of other titles. It 50 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: wasn't just Time. Time was the starting point. But then 51 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: they also launched Fortune in nineteen thirty, which was a 52 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: year after the great stock market Crash of nineteen twenty nine, 53 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: when a lot of people lost their fortunes. Uh. They 54 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: also launched Life in nineteen thirty six. The magazine Life, 55 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: the actual you know, point of existence, had existed for 56 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: billions of years we know, yes, at least on Earth, 57 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: perhaps longer in other places, but the magazine itself didn't 58 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: come into existence still nineteen thirty six. And then, of 59 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: course the most important magazine of all time nineteen fifty four, 60 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated. I've never read a single issue I know 61 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: of Sports, but it's pretty it's pretty big. All of 62 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: these are pretty big. The company has certainly become a 63 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: print media giant, and I mean, at the time was 64 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: a print media giant and would go on to become 65 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: an other media giants, right, because why why would you 66 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: limit yourself to print media? They wanted to diversify. So 67 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: moving into the nineteen sixties, just just come along with us. 68 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: The nice thing about the way back machines that lets 69 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: us go forward in time much faster than backward. We 70 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: don't even have to get into it. So nineteen sixties, 71 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: Time Incorporated starts looking at a way of getting into 72 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,839 Speaker 1: this crazy television business to branch out from print media, 73 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: and so as doing that, they looked at a little 74 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: company called Sterling Communications, and they bought up a twenty steak. 75 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 1: In that company, there was a man running that by 76 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: the name of Chuck Dolan, who um was it was 77 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: a bit of a visionary, Yeah, oh, huge visionary. He's 78 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: talked about sometimes. I mean despite the fact that he's 79 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: kind of unassuming and and pretty soft spoken and doesn't 80 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: really he's not a public figure the way that some 81 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: of our other tech visionaries are. I mean he's not. 82 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: He doesn't have the stage presence at say a Steve Job, 83 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: but Nonetheless, without him, we probably would not have cable 84 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: TV as we know it. Um He was born in 85 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: Cleveland and served in the Air Force, dropped out of 86 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: John Carroll University and started up a company that edited 87 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: sports reels for TV syndication. Eventually he sold that and 88 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: moved to New York where he founded Sterling in nineteen Yeah, 89 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: that little company where he was adding sports footage. He 90 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: did that out of his home. He and his wife 91 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: and his wife in Cleveland in their house, ran this 92 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: entire company, um and and sold it for enough money 93 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: that he was able to found a cable television company. 94 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: And at the time, cable was not what it is today, right. Yeah. 95 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: In fact, cable at that time was really meant to 96 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: deliver broadcast television as an over the air television. This 97 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: is the stuff that normally you would put an antenna 98 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: on top of your TV or perhaps on top of 99 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 1: your home or apartment building, and you would get signals 100 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: over the air which would then run down to your television. 101 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: A lot of people considered this free television. It's not 102 00:05:57,680 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: like you had to subscribe to it. However, it's add 103 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: supported TV. But sure, and I mean, nothing's nothing's free 104 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: there and yeah, so even public television that exists on 105 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: on grants and and donations, the other commercial TV that 106 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: existed through ads supported. But anyway, the issue was that 107 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: in rural areas you couldn't necessarily get a good signal 108 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: because if you did not live near a transmission tower, 109 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: the transmission tower might not have enough power to put 110 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 1: out there so that you could get the same sort 111 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:30,840 Speaker 1: of content that you could if you lived closer. Al Right, 112 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: So cable stations were really just ways of getting TV 113 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: regular old broadcast airway of TV out to those rural 114 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: areas exactly. It didn't exist in big cities like New York, right, 115 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,160 Speaker 1: because the thing about New York was that you happen 116 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: to live really close to all those transmission towers. Yeah, 117 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: everything was being broadcast out of the Empire State Building basically. 118 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: Except the thing is is that New York has other skyscrapers, 119 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: and if you lived stay behind the skyscraper, you might 120 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: not I mean, you absolutely wouldn't be able to get 121 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: that signal from that tower. Right. If you got a 122 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: signal at all, it would be really weak, so you 123 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: would have lousy reception, which meant that there were people 124 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: in New York who might live a few blocks away 125 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: from the Empire State Building, but their reception on their 126 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: televisions were worse than what you might see in the 127 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: suburbs in New Jersey. You can get it better in Jersey. 128 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: Why would why you come on? Look, you gotta pay 129 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: to get out of Jersey. Why would you have to 130 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: You know that that was the way they got you. 131 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: You have to pay to get out. So then you're like, well, 132 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: I get better TV over here. Anyway, I'll just stay 133 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: in Jersey. I apologize everyone for starting Jonathan on that. 134 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: I promise I won't I won't continue. I apologize as 135 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: well that at any rate, this is exactly the case. 136 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: So what Dolan thought was, why don't I bring cable 137 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: into the city. That way we can have the same 138 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: single over cable and even if you live right behind 139 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: a skyscraper, you're still going to have great reception. Sure. 140 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: The thing is is that it's really I mean, it 141 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: was and still is really expensive to latest cable. We're 142 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: talking copper cable at the time. By the way, fiber 143 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: aptics wouldn't come into the picture until the nineteen eighties. Yeah, 144 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: and not only that, but it was in New York. 145 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: They had had a blizzard several decades earlier that had 146 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: wiped out a lot of the power lines and and 147 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: telephone lines, and as a result, city official said, hey, 148 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: you guys, you're gonna have to bury this everything so 149 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: that way we will never have an outage on this 150 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: scale ever again, which meant that the cable that Dolan 151 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: was gonna lay would have to be underground. Two. This 152 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: meant that per mile of cable minimum, you'd have to 153 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: spend ten thousand dollars per mile. Now in New York 154 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: to get those uh apartment buildings, those high rise apartment 155 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: buildings wired, you have to build a cable through the 156 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: apartment building to eat with a branch to each unit, right, 157 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:43,960 Speaker 1: that's the only way you could do it. That made 158 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: it go up to around three hundred thousand dollars per mile. 159 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: And this is in nineteen sixties dollars. We're not talking 160 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: about adjusting for inflation here, so this is really expensive stuff. 161 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: And Dolan, you know, this was a very ambitious plan. 162 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: And Dolan saw the long tail, right. He saw that 163 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: this could be profitable, but it was going to require 164 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: a lot of work, and it perhaps more work than 165 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: he anticipated when he first got into the business. Yeah, 166 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 1: Sterling almost certainly would have gone bankrupt if it hadn't 167 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: been for Times investment in them at that at that 168 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,679 Speaker 1: time exactly. So I'm just gonna say the word time 169 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: as many times. There's no way of avoiding it. Uh, 170 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: just wait till Warner gets in there, because I use 171 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: that word all the time. Nineteen seventy one. So, still 172 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: trying to make Sterling Communications a profitable company, Dolan begins 173 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,599 Speaker 1: to brainstorm ideas that would convince subscribers to join on 174 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: to this, to to actually willingly become a customer of cable, 175 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: because again, you have to convince people, Hey, I know 176 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: you could get this free over the air on your antenna, 177 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: but the reception is lousy. Pay for it on cable, 178 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: you'll get it. You'll get a great experience. And the 179 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: people who they were contacting, we're saying, but why would 180 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: I do that? Yeah, I mean, yeah, the stuff I 181 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 1: get over the air is lousy. But if it's going 182 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: to be the same thing, just better quality on cable, 183 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,319 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm getting the rough end of the 184 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,319 Speaker 1: deal here if I have to pay for it. So 185 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: he says, what what can I do to differentiate cable 186 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,719 Speaker 1: to make it more more attractive. Ah, what if we 187 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,839 Speaker 1: made a special channel just for cable. It's not for 188 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: over the air, Only people who are subscribers to the 189 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: cable will get it. And it has to be something 190 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: that's really really compelling, something maybe that carries a lot 191 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: of sports with it. That was his first approach, and 192 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: he called this idea the Green Channel. He he referred 193 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: to it and as the Macy's of television. And this 194 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: was not an entirely new idea. Actually, our CIA had 195 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: created a radio network specifically to give people a reason 196 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: to go out and buy our Cia radios. So why 197 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: would you buy something where there's no content? This is 198 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: sort of the argument people have about four K televisions 199 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,599 Speaker 1: right now. Why would you go out and get a 200 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: four K TV if there are no same argument? That 201 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 1: argument has been around ever since we started making this 202 00:10:57,480 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: kind of tech. Oh yeah, and and understand that at 203 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:03,719 Speaker 1: the time there was some programming on cable stations, but 204 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: most of it was either extremely load budget or or 205 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 1: very local like a clock streaming the local time, or 206 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 1: just weather reports, or at the very best, public access. 207 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,839 Speaker 1: Although that didn't become a mandatory thing. Uh, you know, 208 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: branching into the Wayne's World kind of kind of end 209 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: of the deal until after the FCCS Telecommunications Act of two, 210 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: wherein they said that any station that had more than 211 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: subscribers had to have public access content. Yeah this time, 212 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: but but not even that. I mean we we did 213 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: not even have Wayne's World, so that it was not 214 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: party time, It was not excellent, it was not and 215 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: nor Anton Jessip. We had no doctor Anton jessep that. No, 216 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:43,199 Speaker 1: I don't want to imagine a world where there's no 217 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: Anton Jessip. But so so it was considered a very 218 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: commercially unviable space exactly. Yeah, this was really again just 219 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,959 Speaker 1: an alternative to deliver broadcast over the air TV. It 220 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: wasn't thought of as a way to create new types 221 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: of content, and also very regionalized, very much spread out 222 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: and separated. Like we didn't have these massive cable companies 223 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,079 Speaker 1: that had enormous networks. You had all these different, smaller 224 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 1: regional companies that serviced little rural areas. And so even 225 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: if you wanted to launch a big idea, like a 226 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: big program, let's say that it's a company that's out 227 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: in the middle of nowhere, in the in the middle 228 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,719 Speaker 1: of a state, where there's hardly anything else, and they think, 229 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: we've got a great idea of our show. We're gonna 230 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: produce a show. They might only be able to deliver 231 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: that show to a very small audience because it wasn't 232 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: a nationwide network. So very different world than the one 233 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: we live in now. So how do you make the 234 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: Green Channel a must buy product? You know, we had 235 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: a lot of these attempts to make pay television channels before, 236 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,439 Speaker 1: but they had failed. And again that over the air 237 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:49,520 Speaker 1: for free model was very compelling. Well, nineteen seventy two, 238 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: Dolan decides to pitch this idea to Time, which had 239 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,319 Speaker 1: invested in Sterling Communications. Right. He wound up talking with 240 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,079 Speaker 1: one of their lawyers, a man named Jerry Levin, and 241 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: the two convinced the company to take on the idea. Yeah, 242 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:07,559 Speaker 1: and so, fifty years after the founding of Time Incorporated, 243 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,719 Speaker 1: remember those back in n Now we're in nineteen seventy two, 244 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 1: Time Incorporated launches a new cable television channel. They had 245 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,719 Speaker 1: taken the Green Channel idea. They renamed it after a 246 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: series of long and arduous meetings, and they figured that 247 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:22,559 Speaker 1: this name wouldn't really stick for that long because it 248 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: was pretty lame. Yeah, this was supposed to just be 249 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: a temporary kind of placeholder home box office. That was 250 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:30,800 Speaker 1: the name HBO for short. They thought, well, we'll home 251 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 1: box office until we figure out something better. They never 252 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: figured out anything better and they went with it. Uh 253 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 1: So this was again the idea originally was a paid 254 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:43,439 Speaker 1: television premium channel that would carry uncut, uncensored movies that 255 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: you wouldn't find on broadcast television, plus a few live 256 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,360 Speaker 1: sports events from Madison Square Gardener. Right, So again very 257 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: new thing. The cable television itself did not have that 258 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: many subscribers, and they time was not ready to commit 259 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: full on with this, you know, and so the well, 260 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: let's find a test market, let's look around and see 261 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 1: if we can figure out what we can, you know, 262 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: how to develop the strategy to make sure it works 263 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: before we really throw in. And they did have on 264 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: their side the fact that TV execs were eager for 265 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,839 Speaker 1: a way to make television unfree. I mean, you know, 266 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 1: if if you can turn a profit on something, that's 267 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: always better than giving it away for free. And um, 268 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: and stealing cable is a lot harder than it is 269 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: to steal signals out of thin air, right, Yeah, if 270 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: you were just broadcasting this over the air, then obviously 271 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: anyone with an antenna could get at it. There'd have 272 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: to be some other kind of scrambling thing. And we'll 273 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: talk about scrambling later on in another episode. Sure, but okay, 274 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: So that so this test market wound up being um 275 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania and New York. Yeah, so the very first 276 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: one was just Wilkes bar Pennsylvania, tiny community like people. Yeah, 277 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: we're talking. I mean, I think they had four hundred 278 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: subscribers at first. I think three five was the estimate. 279 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: I saw a title so even even fewer than that. 280 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: But the reason for that, well, they wanted to do 281 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania mainly because is one of the big 282 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 1: partnerships that Time had struck was with the NBA, and 283 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: the idea was to be able to cover NBA games 284 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: live so that people who wouldn't have access to that 285 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: kind of programming could actually watch it live and that 286 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: would be really exciting and be a good reason to 287 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: subscribe to the service. However, the NBA, like a lot 288 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: of different sporting organizations, has blackout rules where where they 289 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: don't want you to uh to publish too broadcast broadcast 290 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: a game within a certain radius of the stadium where 291 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: it's being played exactly. And so if they had launched 292 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: in say Alan Town or Philadelphia, that would have been 293 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 1: in the radius for all the Philadelphia teams. So they said, well, 294 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: why don't we do Wilkes Bar. It's just outside that radius. 295 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: We're not going to be hit by any blackout dates. 296 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: It will be the best possible experience and that will 297 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: give us the test that we need that can be 298 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: used as word of mouth. So subscriptions six dollars per 299 00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: month for HBO. So uh. It goes live on November eighth, 300 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. And the very first movie carried on 301 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: HBO was titled Sometimes a Great Notion, a fantastic film 302 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: about logging. Yeah, Henry Fondo was in it and Paul 303 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: Newman was in it, and it was really a story 304 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: about individualism and being able to strike out on your 305 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: own and to survive against odds both from nature and man. 306 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: And I'm making it sound way more exciting than what 307 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: it really was. But yes, that's that was the movie. 308 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: And then the other thing that they aired was a 309 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 1: hockey game, not an NBA after a Yeah, the NBA 310 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: does not tend to play in hockey games. Uh. This 311 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: was a game featuring the Rangers against the Canucks, and 312 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: I know you're all dying to know who won, Rangers 313 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: five to alright, spoilers. Yeah, well, you know, for those 314 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: other people who are using way back machines of their 315 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 1: own to go back into nineteen seventy two and watch 316 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: all those games, forget I said that. So back in 317 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: these early years, the service would only be on the 318 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: air for a few hours each day. It was not 319 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: a twenty four hour channel, all right. They would sign 320 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: off at a certain point. Yeah. I actually watched the 321 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: little cartoon that used to play at the very end. 322 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,200 Speaker 1: It's very cute. This is actually like several minutes long. 323 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: It wasn't like a little twenty second thing. But it's 324 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: a cartoon showing, you know, lights going out in the 325 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: city and setting an alarm clock and fluffing a pillow. 326 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 1: And this is all cartoonish, right, all cartoons. It was 327 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: essentially saying good night, good night. Yeah, almost almost had 328 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: a night veil moment again there. Boy, it just creeps in, 329 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,640 Speaker 1: doesn't it. So meanwhile, on the back, on the corporate 330 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: side of things, So so that's what's going on on 331 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: the actual television. On the corporate side of things, you 332 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 1: have Time Incorporated, and they had to carve out space 333 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: for this new uh, this new enterprise HBO. So originally 334 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: they started making space in their own office building, and 335 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,719 Speaker 1: Time Incorporated its headquarters in New York, which was already 336 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 1: a bustling office. Yeah. So that meant that as h 337 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: began to grow, and it grew pretty quickly, Uh, it 338 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,159 Speaker 1: meant that they had to start getting creative finding places 339 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: to stick people. So departments wouldn't necessarily be all set together. 340 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 1: You might have a department head who's on a different 341 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: floor from the rest of the office. Uh. There were 342 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: stories about people having to find an office space in 343 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: an old broom closet, or or four or five people 344 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: all sharing a common office area that used to be 345 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: a meeting room. That kind of stuff, things that we 346 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: can kind of identify with here at how stuff works. 347 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: But the interesting thing was that this actually promoted a 348 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: kind of camaraderie among the office workers. They had a 349 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: closeness and kind of a party atmosphere too. Is this 350 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: idea that we're all in it together, We're doing this 351 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: exciting thing. A lot of the people who were working 352 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: there were very young. It was. It was a very happening, 353 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: very startup kind of vibe in despite the fact that 354 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: it was being owned and operated by this very large 355 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 1: company exactly that had been in business for fifty years, 356 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: and yet it had a very start up feel. That's 357 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: a very good way of putting it. So yeah, very exciting, 358 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: and uh, we can't wait to talk about where it 359 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: went after that first year. I mean, we've only made 360 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: it up to the actual year in which HBO premiered. 361 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: We've got so much more to talk about. But before 362 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: we get into that, let's take a quick break to 363 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. All Right, we're back and it's nineteen. 364 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: This was the year that Time bought HBO outright from 365 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 1: Chuck Dolan and the rest of the Sterling investors and 366 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:28,960 Speaker 1: was But poor Chuck Dolan, he must have i mean, 367 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,680 Speaker 1: he must have really missed out on everything, right that 368 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: just uh yeah, no, no, not but the the the 369 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: opposite of that. In fact, if we can set the 370 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: way back machine to be the way forward machine for 371 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: just a second, I'll just get on in here and 372 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: you just you keep going. I'm gonna I'm gonna work 373 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: on this, Okay, Okay, So Dolan would would use this 374 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: buyout money to found Cable Vision, which would make him billions. 375 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:52,959 Speaker 1: Today it is the largest cable provider in the New 376 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: York metro area. UM along with its spinoffs like AMC 377 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: and i f C, the two very popular channels which 378 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: you might know from everything from using your remote control, Yeah, well, 379 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: walking Dead and etcetera. Madman UM and his resulting properties 380 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: like Madison Square Garden and the New York Nixon Rangers. 381 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: This from a guy who had a little business out 382 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: of his kitchen right in Cleveland. Cleveland. Boy, so he's 383 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 1: he's still kicking as at this podcast. He's worth some 384 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: three point six billion. He has six children who UM 385 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 1: more or less run a lot of his empire. And 386 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: it's a huge success story. And someday he's a very 387 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: interesting person and I would really like to do more 388 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,880 Speaker 1: on him and or Cable Vision and or all of that. Yeah. 389 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,399 Speaker 1: But okay, back in ninety three, I just got this 390 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: thing fixed to go forward. Oh forget it, we'll just 391 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: stay here, Okay, alright, So, uh, nine seventy three, Jerry 392 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 1: Levin continues working with the HBO brand, but it only 393 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: has about eight thousand subscribers. And uh, that's spread across 394 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,160 Speaker 1: maybe fourteen different cable opera rating systems, all of which 395 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: are still in Pennsylvania. Yeah, it still hasn't moved into 396 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: New York yet. So the big, the big irony here 397 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: is that it was possible because of the stake in 398 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,360 Speaker 1: Sterling Communications, but that was based solely in New York, 399 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: and Sterling Communications did not yet carry HBO. It was 400 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: all still in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, that same year, nineteen seventy three, 401 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: you saw several other pay television channels launch. They had 402 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: names like Star Channel from Warner Cable, Theater Vision and 403 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: Channel one. And if you're asking yourself, okay, well where 404 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,919 Speaker 1: did those go? Yeah nowhere. Yeah they didn't. They did 405 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,360 Speaker 1: not succeed. They did not in the long run survive, 406 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: so but they it did show that HBO was starting 407 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: to kind of set a precedent, and other other companies 408 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: were thinking, how can we also capitalize on this? They 409 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: just hadn't quite figured out the best way of doing it. 410 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: Nineteen seventy four, we see HBO clawing its weight, you know, 411 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,919 Speaker 1: just inch by inch, to fifty seven thousand subscribers in Pennsylvania, 412 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,440 Speaker 1: and finally also in New York, also finally available on 413 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: Sterling Communications, but now Time had bought out the rest 414 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: of the interest in Sterling and it renamed it Manhattan Cable. 415 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah. In an effort to reach an even 416 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: broader audience, Levin convinced the then president of Time to 417 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: let HBO begin to deliver content via satellite. And this 418 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: was crazy. No one, no one wanted to believe that 419 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: this was going to work at all. This is the 420 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: very first television station in the United States to use 421 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: satellite as a means of distribution. And it didn't mean 422 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: that they were using satellite to beam it two households 423 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: that had satellite dishes, because satellite dishes at the time 424 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:44,120 Speaker 1: cost some seventy five thousand dollars in that day's money, 425 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: something your average homeowner probably wasn't going to probably invest in. 426 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: I wouldn't know. I wouldn't have either. So what they 427 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: were doing was sending beaming the signal up to a 428 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: satellite that would then beam down to satellite receiver dishes 429 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: that were owned by other able systems. All right, So 430 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: the cable operator would then send that signal out via cable. 431 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: Right Because originally what these companies were doing was using 432 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,159 Speaker 1: microwave transmission. But microwave transmission has a limited range and 433 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,639 Speaker 1: you need line of sight for it to work. So 434 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: in other words, if you had even a really powerful 435 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: microwave radio station in say Pennsylvania, it's not going to 436 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: reach all the way out to the other side of 437 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: the United States, not without a bunch of relays exactly 438 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: between exactly you'd have to end line of sight relays. 439 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: So getting those rocky mountains be kind of tricky. But 440 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:39,159 Speaker 1: what they decided to do was instead use geo stationary satellites. 441 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: So geo stationary orbit it means that the satellite is 442 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: actually maintaining its position above a specific point on the Earth. 443 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 1: And these satellites are way the heck out there. Okay, 444 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: So our satellites that we tend to think of in 445 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,159 Speaker 1: our you know, the ones that by the way in 446 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,040 Speaker 1: the in the biziness, they're called birds. Apparently I did 447 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,719 Speaker 1: not know that until I started eating all the information 448 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 1: to call them birds. So these birds up there, like 449 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: if you're talking about normal ones that just pass over 450 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: in low earth orbit, we're talking to maybe a hundred 451 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: hundred fifty miles out from the surface of the Earth, 452 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,879 Speaker 1: like where the I S is. Yeah, these these satellites, 453 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: they don't maintain a position directly over a point. You 454 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 1: have to go much further out. So the Geo stationary 455 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,919 Speaker 1: UH satellites that that HBO was interested in were twenty 456 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: two thousand, three hundred miles out because from that distance 457 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: they had a broadcast footprint that covered all of North America. 458 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: So with one satellite you could then being the signals 459 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,640 Speaker 1: that could be picked up across the United States. Because 460 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: the further out you kind of think of it like 461 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: a flashlight. The further out you go, the more area 462 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: it covers. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I mean to put 463 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: it in perspective. If you remember from our A T 464 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: and T episode, the very first active communication satellite had 465 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: only been launched like twelve years earlier, in nineteen sixty two. 466 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: So so although twelve years is a long time and 467 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: technological thinking, that's still this is this is cutting edge 468 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: technolo time exactly. Yeah. No one else had done it yet, 469 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: you know, no one else had managed to do the 470 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: television stuff yet like HBO did. So they the technical 471 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,400 Speaker 1: term for beaming it up, that's using the up link 472 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: satellite to antenna. So you're that's the transmission, use the 473 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: up link to send it up to the satellite. The 474 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 1: satellite has transponders on it specifically that have been leased 475 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: by whatever company in this case HBO to then beam this, 476 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: amplify that signal that it picks up, and then beam 477 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: it back down to the Earth. And then you have 478 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,440 Speaker 1: the down link receiver dishes that capture that signal and 479 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: then send it onto the cable station for transmission. It 480 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: might do that might be transmitted over microwave at that point, 481 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: depending upon whether or not the receiving station and the 482 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: cable station are adjoining or if they're separated by several 483 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: miles or whatever. So that was the basic principle behind it, 484 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: and so on September, HBO was able to carry the 485 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: Muhammad Ali Joe Frasier boxing match also known as the 486 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: Thrill in Manila. They were the only live carrier in 487 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: the US for for this programming, and the organizers time 488 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: to the fight to happen during East Coast prime time, 489 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: and so those Pennsylvania and New York subscribers who could 490 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: already enjoy HBO because it was being transmitted via microwave 491 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: transmission to to cable operators were joined by folks in Florida, 492 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: like fifteen thousand of them who were able to see 493 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: this simultaneously. Because of this, it actually could technically be 494 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: picked up across the entire United States, just whichever ones 495 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,400 Speaker 1: were affiliated with HBO. Three towns in Florida. I think 496 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: we're the only ones that actually had the satellite down 497 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: link at that time. Yeah. So the thing was that 498 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: because HBO was able to do this, and because they could, 499 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: they could back up the claim that they could do 500 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,920 Speaker 1: this to anywhere in the United States that happened to 501 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: have cable service as long as the cable operator carried HBO. 502 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: So if they partner with us, we can let you 503 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 1: see this stuff too. It ended up being a huge boon. 504 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: In fact, uh, there there are reports that if someone 505 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: came out to install cable in a neighbor's house and 506 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 1: other neighbors notice, they would chase down the cable car 507 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: they don't see HBO on the side of the van 508 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: and like run down the street and like knock on 509 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: the side, and so you could you also hook me up? 510 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,400 Speaker 1: I would love to have that too, So big big 511 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,640 Speaker 1: boost to HBO. If it hadn't been for the satellite move, 512 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: it probably never would have gone much further than the 513 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 1: regionalized paid TV network that it was. Maybe eventually would 514 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,920 Speaker 1: have crept further along, but it wouldn't be near where 515 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: it is now, certainly. And by the end of nineteen 516 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,359 Speaker 1: seventy five, they had more than three hundred thousand subscribers 517 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,880 Speaker 1: in sixteen states to show for it. Furthermore, I mean, 518 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: this really proved that there was a lot of money 519 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,440 Speaker 1: and space in the cable and satellite TV field. Yeah. 520 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: And not only did they prove that to their subscribers, 521 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: they proved it to competitors, all right, because in n Yeah, 522 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 1: HBO had a rival pop up, a rival known as Showtime. 523 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: Now here's an interesting thing to me, Lauren. Uh. You know, 524 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: when I started doing the research for this episode and 525 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,200 Speaker 1: we started building out these notes, I did not realize 526 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:03,719 Speaker 1: that HBO dated all the way back to nineteen seventy two, 527 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: Nor did I realize that Showtime dated back to nineteen 528 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: seventy six, probably because I didn't have cable as a 529 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: kid until I was at least seven or eight years old. 530 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: Uh And and so to me, and and we didn't 531 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: have Showtime, we did get HBO. But to me, I 532 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 1: always thought of this why it must have been late seventies, 533 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: maybe early eighties. I didn't realize that it was actually 534 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: much older than that. Now Showtime very similar in concept 535 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: to HBO. It also would run uncut, uncensored movies. In fact, 536 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: HBO and Showtime would often have a very similar, if 537 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 1: not nearly identical list of movies that they could run 538 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: at any given time at this early beginning stage. Yes, yeah, 539 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: and some would argue moving forward, same thing, um within 540 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: two years. So nineteen seventy eight, Showtime would follow suit. 541 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: It would follow HBO's example and go nationwide with a 542 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: satellite service, which at that time had only been done 543 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: by one other channel besides HBO, which was Ted Turner's 544 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: superstation w tb S also known as just to TBS, 545 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: our Turner Broadcast System. So TBS and HBO together were 546 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: companies that made cable subscriptions more attractive. Keep in mind 547 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: it's still really expensive to install cable into cities. It 548 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: wasn't just New York that was a special case. That 549 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 1: was an example that was mirrored in cities across the 550 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: United States. So although supposedly Ted Turner and and TBS 551 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: got into the game because he heard about HBO, mostly 552 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 1: after that that big prize fight had occurred. Legend has 553 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 1: it that someone said, yeah, someone convinced Time to to 554 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: use the satellite hookup and they're and they're getting to 555 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: fight live. It's on HBO, And he was like, what's 556 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: an HBO, which was a common refrain at the time. 557 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: Apparently right in those early days before that boom, no 558 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: one had really heard of it, but everyone was fascinated 559 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: once they did, because again, in those early days, it 560 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: was only available to a few tens of thousands of people. 561 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: So if you were didn't live in one of those 562 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: regions that that was currently served by HBO, why would 563 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: you have heard of it? So, yeah, it was one 564 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: of those things where Turner ended up jumping on that 565 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: that strategy, even though he had not really heard of 566 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: the the channel that had already done it. It's also 567 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: why we all got to enjoy Georgia Championship Wrestling, So 568 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: thank you, Mr Turner. Um. So, then uh, we start 569 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: seeing some competition showing up with showtime there and some 570 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: actual competition that that lasts. It's not like those other 571 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: channels we mentioned earlier that yeah, that made it go 572 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: into it and didn't succeed. So nineteen seventy seven, HBO, 573 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: for the first time since it started in nineteen seventy two, 574 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: turns a profit, which not been again not very surprising. 575 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: You've got a lot of money that has to go 576 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: out from HBO for it to be able to run 577 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: its business. It had to pay licensing fees to movie 578 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: studios in order to get the rights to show the 579 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: movies on HBO. So it had to spend money in 580 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: order to even have content, and then it had to 581 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: try and make that up in subscriptions. That in structure 582 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: was certainly not cheap. Right. So, while HBO probably didn't 583 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 1: have to foot the bill for most of that, considering 584 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: that they would partner with cable companies, they had to 585 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: convince cable companies to go through the trouble of installing 586 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 1: all that cable into major metropolitan areas, uh in order 587 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: to have a larger subscription base, right, I mean, they 588 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: had to say, like, hey, cable company that services Nashville, Tennessee, 589 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: you want to put cable in all your homes. I 590 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: know that it's a lot of money, poor concrete and 591 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: build a nine foot dish to get a satellite down 592 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: link so that you can run you know, dollars worth 593 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: of cable per miles. But just keep in mind that 594 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: over the long term, you're gonna make lots of money. 595 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: So that was an argument they had to make over 596 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: and over again. They got really good at making that argument. Also, 597 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: in seven a Law your name, Michael Fooks came over 598 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: to HBO from the William Morris Agency. He'll be pretty 599 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: important later on in the story. That's why I decided 600 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,479 Speaker 1: to mention when he showed up resolutely. Um, but at 601 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 1: the time in so, at this point, HBO has about 602 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: one point five million subscribers, but they are losing tens 603 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: of thousands. Yeah, because of a pretty nasty business move 604 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,280 Speaker 1: on the part of Showtime. So here's the thing about 605 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: the cable business, y'all. It's it's not polite. This is 606 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: it is a competitive, cutthroat business, so that the gloves 607 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 1: are off. Yeah. No, we've seen this in multiple ways, 608 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: both as consumers and on the other side. I mean, 609 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: there are a lot of considerations you have to make 610 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: when you're running a cable business. Whether you're an operator, 611 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: there are a lot of of considerations you have to make, 612 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: or if you're a content creator, there are a lot 613 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: of considerations you have to make absolutely um and so okay, 614 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,480 Speaker 1: so so Showtime. Showtime's parent company was Viacom. Yeah, big 615 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: big company, big competitor to Time, and they had made 616 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: a deal with a cable provider call Teleprompter, which was 617 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: the largest cable operator in the United States, to be 618 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: their exclusive pay TV movie channel, which meant that any 619 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 1: Teleprompter subscriber could get Showtime, but would not be able 620 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: to get HBO even if they wanted it. It was 621 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: not an option. So that meant that HBO was suddenly 622 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 1: cut off from a large portion of potential customers. So 623 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: what does Time Incorporated do? They purchase American Television and 624 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,479 Speaker 1: Communications Corporation, which was the second largest cable system operator 625 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: in the US. They were hoping that perhaps the siv 626 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: thousand or so customers would also subscribe to HBO. And 627 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: HBO also continued to add premium films to its collection, 628 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: making some pretty interesting business deals. They were able to 629 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: negotiate a block of forty MGM and United Artist titles 630 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: for about thirty five million dollars. Now, these were titles 631 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: that were movies. Some of them hadn't come out yet, 632 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: so this was just kind of uh, you know, here's 633 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: thirty five million. We want to be able to grab 634 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: forty titles that you guys come up with, right right. 635 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: They were investing in pre production in return for exclusive 636 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: rights to these films, um and it was a huge 637 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: gamble because you don't know if that film is going 638 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: to be a flop or not. You you don't know 639 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,760 Speaker 1: if people are going to want to subscribe to your service. 640 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,320 Speaker 1: Right right, you might be like, wow, HBO has exclusive 641 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 1: rights to some of the worst movies I've ever had 642 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:29,320 Speaker 1: in Fever. That's great. Yeah, sorry, Cabin Fever. I'm not 643 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: sure where that came from, but yeah, sometimes it paid off, 644 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: sometimes it didn't. And in fact, they also began to 645 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: learn lessons down the line. One of the early lessons 646 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: they learned, actually, I guess it wasn't that early. One 647 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 1: of the lessons they would eventually learn is that they 648 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: could set minimums for how much money they would spend 649 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: for a title. This was something that was negotiated with 650 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: the movie studio. So they might say, all right, at minimum, 651 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,279 Speaker 1: will pay you fifty dollars for this title. That's I'm 652 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 1: just pulling a number out of the air. By the way, 653 00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: that's not necessarily a real number, but what they didn't 654 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: think to do is set a cap on how much 655 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 1: ultimately a movie might be valued at. And if they 656 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:09,399 Speaker 1: entered an agreement ahead of time to purchase a certain 657 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: number of movies from a certain studio and one of 658 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 1: those movies becomes a runaway hit and they are obligated 659 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:19,839 Speaker 1: to purchase the rights to that movie, and the movie 660 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: studio is in the the the bargaining position where they 661 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 1: can demand huge amount of money for that. That became 662 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:28,800 Speaker 1: a huge, uh expense for RHO. We'll talk about a 663 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: specific example of that a little bit later on in 664 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: another episode. So yeah, yeah, big risks, but it also 665 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 1: what meant that it was paying off and helping differentiate 666 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,879 Speaker 1: HBO from Showtime. Now we move up to nineteen seventy nine. 667 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,320 Speaker 1: This is where we're going to conclude this episode. But 668 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: ninety nine we see a man named Jeff Bukes who 669 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: had started as a trainee at City Bank in their 670 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: law department, and also, by the way, is rumored to 671 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,360 Speaker 1: have had a very what's HBO of response when he 672 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: first heard about the network and figured out what the 673 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 1: network was and and left his entire career in order 674 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,279 Speaker 1: to go be a part of this new media company. Yeah, 675 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: he had worked he had entered City Banks trainee program. 676 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: He worked there in the law department for two years 677 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 1: and then said I'm going to HBO. And I'm sure 678 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: some of the people at that time said, what's HBO. 679 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 1: So he would end up doing pretty well over at HBO. 680 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: We'll talk more about Bukes throughout the next few episodes, 681 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: but in general, just to give you a little preview, 682 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: in he became president of HBO. So no, pretty good, 683 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,919 Speaker 1: became the CEO's that's even better. And in two thousand 684 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,880 Speaker 1: eight he became CEO of the parent company Time Warner 685 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 1: than now granted, Time Warner itself is still off in 686 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: the future. It's back in nineteen nine. It was still 687 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: just Time Incorporated. But yeah, he he became the head honcho. 688 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: And the same year, back in nine, HBO decided to 689 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 1: experiment with launching a complementary pay TV channel that ran 690 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: more kid friendly PG rated movies and was priced at 691 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,960 Speaker 1: a lower price point because some people were saying, you know, 692 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 1: it's too expensive of or I don't really want all 693 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: this sex and violence on my television, and so they thought, oh, well, 694 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,239 Speaker 1: well we'll cater to this. This group of people will 695 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: be able to get people who can't justify the expense 696 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 1: of a monthly subscription to HBO or who wants something 697 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:15,319 Speaker 1: that's kid friendly, Well we'll give them this and it'll 698 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: be terrific. We'll call it Take two, which if you 699 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 1: start searching for it's gonna take you a while to 700 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,560 Speaker 1: find because it didn't know Yeah, no one really cared. 701 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,920 Speaker 1: It died out pretty quietly. Um So yeah, finding finding 702 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,800 Speaker 1: mentions of Take two somewhat challenging. I mean, I'm pretty 703 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: sure Wikipedia has a short little entry about not not 704 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,320 Speaker 1: an entry on Take two, but I think it mentions 705 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,799 Speaker 1: it in the overall article for HBO. It's a little 706 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,080 Speaker 1: red lenk. Yeah, probably. Yeah, one of those things where 707 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: like you've you may have heard of it if you 708 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,839 Speaker 1: worked for HBO. That's how how scared we're talking. Well, 709 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:52,920 Speaker 1: we've got so much more to talk about with HBO. 710 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:56,080 Speaker 1: We have a lot of of interesting information about what 711 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 1: it did into the eighties and of course the the 712 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,920 Speaker 1: easing uh crazy boom and original content and uh and 713 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,439 Speaker 1: where it stands today. Yeah, so keep with us, guys. 714 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,440 Speaker 1: We've got two more episodes to go with this, and 715 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,239 Speaker 1: in the meanwhile, if you're thinking, you know, I really 716 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,440 Speaker 1: like how they're doing this in depth coverage of a 717 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: specific topic. I want to hear this kind of of 718 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,960 Speaker 1: depth on this other topic. Get a let us now, 719 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 1: because otherwise we're just we're just turning the lights off 720 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,040 Speaker 1: and groping around in the dark and to try and 721 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: talk about something, and half the time that ends up 722 00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,800 Speaker 1: this being installation film, because that's all this room is 723 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,759 Speaker 1: filled with. So guys, if you have an idea for 724 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,200 Speaker 1: an episode, let us know. Send us an email. That 725 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:42,279 Speaker 1: address is text up at Discovery dot com, or drop 726 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,960 Speaker 1: us a line on the various social networks we'd like 727 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 1: to hang out on that includes Twitter, Facebook, and Tumbler. 728 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,759 Speaker 1: The handle there is tech stuff hs W and Lauren 729 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:57,320 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again. Really sick for 730 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,319 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics of stuff 731 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:01,000 Speaker 1: works dot com