The
Home Box Office began back in the 1970s as "The Green Channel" on a little cable system in
New York City. The concept behind the channel was to obtain first-run
movies and run them on the channel. There would be no commercials or advertising, customers would pay for the channel, and positive word of mouth would spread, resulting in more and more people signing up for cable.
After a brief test phase, The Green Channel morphed into HBO, began running movies after their first runs in theaters, and began showing sports events such as boxing. Eventually the channel began running original series and imports such as Canada's Not Neccessarily The News.
The channel went digital in 1999 and spawned sister channels such as HBO Comedy, HBO Zone, HBO Family, and HBO Signature. Today it is owned by AOL Time Warner and has several millions of subscribers. The channel is more known for its original series Sex and the City and The Sopranos.