Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Who owns HBO?
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by the namesake unit Home Box Office, Inc., a division of AT&T's WarnerMedia. The program which featured on the network consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television shows, along with made-for-cable movies, documentaries and occasional comedy and concert specials.
In Canada, Bell Media owns the exclusive rights to HBO's back-catalog for its own streaming service, CraveTV. Previously, current HBO programming was broadcast exclusively through HBO Canada, a multiplex channel of The Movie Network, and its own HBO Go app. In November 2018, Bell merged The Movie Network with CraveTV and relaunched the newly combined service as "Crave". The new service includes both current and library HBO programming, now available on a direct-to-consumer basis, similar to HBO Now.
In 1993, Anglia forged a partnership with American pay-TV network HBO, owned by Time Warner. Under this arrangement, Anglia acquired half-ownership in Citadel, an HBO production subsidiary; Time Warner subsequently acquired 50 percent of Itel, Anglia's distribution unit. In addition, a new company was formed: Anglia Television Entertainment, 51% owned by Anglia and 49% owned by HBO. In 1993, the station took over the cartoon studio Cosgrove Hall, when it was sold off by its original owners, Thames Television, though it remained based in Manchester.
The ownership of exclusive territorial rights to content may differ between regions, requiring the providers of the content to disallow access for users outside of their designated region; for example, although an online service, HBO Now is only available to residents of the United States, and cannot be offered in other countries because its parent company Time Warner had already licensed exclusive rights to HBO programming to different broadcasters (such as in Canada, where HBO licensed its back-catalogue to Bell Media), who may offer their own, similar service specific to their own region and business model (such as CraveTV). For similar reasons, the library of content available on subscription video on demand services such as Netflix may also vary between regions, or the service may not even be available in the user's country at all.
As objections to the advent of home video from factions of the entertainment industry began to die down, in November 1984, HBO partnered with independent film distributor Thorn EMI to form Thorn EMI/HBO Video.[139] Thorn EMI cut various distribution agreements with smaller film production companies that did not have their own home video units, such as Orion Pictures and New Line Cinema.[36] In 1986, Cannon Films bought out Thorn EMI's interest in the unit, which was accordingly renamed HBO/Cannon Video. Cannon dropped out of the venture by 1987 after the studio took a financial hit following its attempt at a series of larger budget films that did not experience box office success; the unit was then renamed HBO Video.[36] Over time, HBO Video (which eventually became HBO Home Entertainment by the early 2010s, with physical product manufactured by Warner Home Video) shifted away from releasing films from independent studios to releasing HBO's catalog of original programs and films on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.[36]
The first-run film output agreement with Fox was renewed by HBO for ten years on August 15, 2012 (with a provision allowing the studio to release its films through digital platforms such as iTunes and Amazon during a film's term of license with the channel for the first time),[110] and the Universal output deal was renewed for ten years on January 6, 2013 (with the exception of certain animated films that HBO can offer to pass over to the Netflix streaming service).[111] The first-run output deal with Summit Entertainment was renewed by HBO for an additional four years on March 1, 2016.[112] Since 2008, HBO also holds exclusive pay cable rights to its own in-house theatrical films made through HBO Films.
Since becoming "Kunhardt Films", Kunhardt has produced "" (HBO), Living With Lincoln (HBO), Nixon By Nixon: In His Own Words for (HBO), Makers: Women Who Make America Seasons 1 & 2 for AOL and PBS, The African Americans: Many Rivers To Cross, the HBO documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words, PBS's 10 part series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr Seasons 1 & 2, the HBO documentary "Teddy: In His Own Words", PBS's "African American Lives I & II", and PBS's "Faces of America". In 2009, Kunhardt produced "This Emotional Life" for WGBH which explores aspects of human emotions such as depression and anxiety.
Unlike HBO Go, HBO's online video on demand service for existing subscribers of the linear television channel, HBO Now is available as a standalone service and does not require a television subscription to use, targeting cord cutters who use competing services such as Netflix and Hulu. As of February 2018, HBO Now has 5 million subscribers.
Peter W. Kunhardt is a documentary film-maker who produces shows for HBO, PBS, and other U.S. television networks. He started Kunhardt Films (previously Kunhardt Productions, Inc.) which produced HBO's "JFK: In His Own Words," HBO's "Bobby: In His Own Words," ABC's "Lincoln", Discovery's "P.T. Barnum" Discovery's "Justice Files" and many more. He works with his two sons Teddy and George in Pleasantville, New York.
In Latin America, the channels owned by WarnerMedia are broadcast by two different subsidiaries, Turner Broadcasting System Latin America (who broadcasts TNT, CNN International, CNN en Español, truTV, Cartoon Network, Chilevisión and other sister channels) and HBO Latin America Group, which broadcasts other related channels.
The first signs of a Latin American expansion of HBO came with the debut of "Selecciones" in 1989, a Spanish-language track available during part of HBO's programming in the US. Up to the end of 1991, HBO already had a channel operating in Latin America, although not in Portuguese. The group's initial operations in the region happened with a partnership between Time Warner with Venezuelan-owned Omnivisión Latin Entertainment (OLE), forming HBO Olé Partners in that year. Currently known as HBO Latin America Group, the company still maintains HBO and several other licensed channels. Afterwards, Sony Pictures joined, guaranteeing exclusivity on Columbia and TriStar Pictures releases.
Len Amato, producer and as the president of Spring Creek Productions, was appointed HBO Films senior vice president in March 2007. In 2008, Picturehouse was discontinued with distribution being handled by WB's main distribution arm. HBO Films exited the theatrical film market with Picturehouse's closure. With Callender leaving to form his own production company in late 2008, no division president is appointed with department heads becoming president of their departments, Kary Antholis at HBO Miniseries, and Amato at HBO Films. Both answered to president of programming group/West Coast operations, Michael Lombardo.The films produced by the company have garnered hundreds of Primetime Emmy Awards, 694 nominations with 162 wins, and Golden Globe Awards. HBO Films productions have won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie every year from 1993 to 2015, except for four years. "Elephant" is the first film produced by HBO Films to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
These series produced by this HBO division are currently owned by HBO (pre-1992 series) and Viacom International (post-1991 series), except for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" which is currently owned by Shout! Factory.
In 2011, Garfunkel and Oates signed a deal with HBO for a pilot of their own show. Lindhome has described it as ""Glee" with dick jokes". HBO later decided not to go forward with the show, but in August 2012, HBO released the pilot as five webisodes through its online service.
The series was co-produced by HBO and Rysher Entertainment (who owns the copyright), and the underlying U.S. rights lie with HBO, which has released the entire series on DVD in North America. The international rights were owned originally by Rysher, then Paramount Pictures/Domestic Television after that company acquired Rysher. CBS Studios International currently owns the international TV rights, and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD owns the international DVD rights.
The HBO Canada schedule was common to both services, with the exception of timeshifting for the Eastern (TMN) and Mountain (MC) time zones. Although, when it launched, essentially operating as a joint venture of Corus and TMN's parent company Bell Media, the east and west feeds are technically separate channels wholly owned by the parent company of the applicable regional service. In any event, HBO's parent company Time Warner is not a shareholder, and only licenses the name, logo and programming to Corus and Bell. Unlike the other multiplex channels offered by Movie Central and The Movie Network, both the standard-definition and high-definition HBO Canada feeds (East/West) are available nationally to those television providers who wish to carry them. The Movie Network's master control acts as the hub for HBO Canada.
HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non-fiction works, primarily for distribution to their own customers, though recently the company has been funding theatrical releases.
"HBO The Works" continued in use as the brand for the HBO multiplex until 2004. Individually, the HBO multiplex channel suite has no "official" marketed name as of 2016, although HBO and Cinemax's respective multiplex packages are marketed collectively as the "HBO/MAX Pak".[71] HBO Family and HBO Latino had the distinction of being the only multiplex channels of HBO that have their own websites, as all of the others were integrated within the main HBO site; the separate sites and sections for both channels were eliminated in 2010, around the time the HBO Go service was launched.
The standard definition and high definition versions of the HBO on Demand service are available on most cable and satellite providers, delivered to customers who subscribe to the linear HBO channels at no additional charge. On January 3, 2011, HBO became the first premium channel and the first cable network to offer a 3D-only VOD service as it launched a subscription video on demand service offering feature films in 3D to Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Verizon FiOS customers who subscribe to the HBO service.[87]
In the first quarter of 2010, Time Warner purchased additional interests in HBO Latin America Group for $217 million, which resulted HBO owning 80% of the equity interests of HBO LAG. In 2010, HBO purchased the remainder of its partners' interests in HBO Europe (formerly HBO Central Europe) for $136 million, net of cash acquired. In August 2010, Time Warner agreed to acquire Shed Media, a TV production company, for £100 million. Its distribution operation, Outright Distribution, was folded into Warner Bros. International Television Production. On August 26, 2010, Time Warner acquired Chilevisión. On August 25, 2010, Time Warner's Latin American division bought Chilean nationwide terrestrial television station Chilevisión from Chile's elected president Sebastián Piñera. WarnerMedia already operates in the country with CNN Chile.
Crave has distribution agreements for original programming produced and owned by the American pay networks HBO (including sister network Cinemax) and Showtime. Prior to the merger of TMN and CraveTV, TMN held exclusive rights to new seasons of HBO programming, which are now included in Crave's premium tier. Showtime series as well as library HBO programming (as well as some past seasons of current HBO series) were available on both services, and remain available in both tiers.
In 2001, Halifax Group (a large UK financial institution) merged with Bank of Scotland to form HBOS plc. HBOS then acquired all the outstanding shares of Bankwest, making it HBOS's wholly owned subsidiary.
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It is the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operates the Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands in the UK, as well as HBOS Australia and HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Limited, the group's insurance division.
In 1983, HBO premiered its first original movie, The Terry Fox Story, a biographical film about the Canadian runner who embarked on a cross-country run across Canada to raise money and awareness for cancer research; the film was also the first movie ever produced for pay television. That year also saw the premiere of the first children's program to be distributed on the channel: Fraggle Rock (that series' creator, Jim Henson, had earlier produced the special Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, which won an ACE Award in 1978[25]). HBO continued to air various original programs aimed at children until 2001, when these programs almost completely moved over to HBO Family (which continued to occasionally distribute its own slate of original children's programming until 2003).[34]
In addition to maintaining rights to films from various distributors, HBO also produces its own made-for-cable movies through HBO Films; the film division, originally named HBO Pictures, began producing original movies for the network in 1983 with the debut of The Terry Fox Story. Unlike most television films produced for cable television, most of the original movies produced by HBO have featured major film actors over the years, ranging from James Stewart to Michael Douglas. The channel also produces stand-up comedy specials, which were formerly broadcast under the On Location, HBO Comedy Hour and HBO Comedy Half-Hour banners, which periodically premiere on certain Saturday nights when a boxing match or movie is not scheduled during the late prime time slots.