More than 50 years ago, HBO revolutionized television when it began to offer uncut movies, live boxing matches, concerts and comedy specials when you couldn’t watch those things anywhere but at a movie theatre or in person.
And slowly but surely, as video rental companies like Blockbuster began to compete with the network’s value proposition in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the company pivoted to investing in some of the most beloved original content of our time such as “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.”
But it didn’t end there, the company has continued to produce award-winning content such as “Game of Thrones,” “Veep,” “The Last Of Us” and “Succession.”
Despite establishing itself as the gold standard of storytelling, HBO has never operated as a stand-alone business and has instead experienced numerous mergers and acquisitions, including the ill-fated AOL-Time Warner deal, known as one of the worst in American corporate history.
Today, the company is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery but experts are predicting yet another transition is on the horizon.
50多年前，HBO通过提供未经剪辑的电影、现场拳击比赛、音乐会和喜剧专场而革新了电视行业，当时这些节目只能在电影院或亲自到场观看。
随着在上世纪90年代末和21世纪初，像Blockbuster这样的视频租赁公司开始与HBO的价值主张竞争，该公司逐渐转向投资一些最受欢迎的原创内容，如《黑道家族》和《欲望城市》。
但事情并没有止步于此，该公司继续制作屡获奖的内容，如《权力的游戏》、《副总统》、《最后的我们》和《继承者》。
尽管已经确立了自己作为叙事艺术的黄金标准，HBO从未作为一个独立的业务运营过，而是经历了多次合并和收购，包括备受诟病的AOL-Time Warner交易，被认为是美国公司历史上最糟糕的交易之一。
如今，该公司由华纳兄弟探索公司拥有，但专家们预测着又一次的转型即将到来。
*NZ Global Media Research Centre, keeps you updated on international media trends.
新西兰国际媒体研究中心，带你了解全球各大媒体发展趋势。
*CNBC is an American basic cable business news channel and website owned by NBC.
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