{"id":147160,"date":"2023-03-12T10:06:44","date_gmt":"2023-03-12T18:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=147160"},"modified":"2023-03-12T10:12:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T18:12:24","slug":"tinderbox-hbos-ruthless-pursuit-of-new-frontiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=147160","title":{"rendered":"Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

From this 2021 book:<\/p>\n

* Gerald Levin: “There were cultural differences as well. I wasn\u2019t a Time Inc. type. Time had few Jewish people. I didn\u2019t dress the way they dressed. I didn\u2019t talk about closing advertising deals on a golf course in Connecticut. I wasn\u2019t getting shit-faced on martinis at lunch.”<\/p>\n

* The 1960 rematch between Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson was the first such [PPV] broadcast accessible from the comfort of a viewer\u2019s own couch. Subscribers mailed $2 to access the match. HBO had shattered the PPV record with \u201cRumble in the Jungle,\u201d but that record crumbled with \u201cThrilla in Manila.\u201d
\n Jerry Levin secured \u201cThrilla\u201d by once again making a selling point out of HBO\u2019s modest subscriber base. It was a visionary move. HBO carried the Ali\u2013Frazier fight live on October 1, 1975, scooping the competition by inaugurating its continual satellite feed. (Regular TV stations had to wait for videotapes of the fight to arrive from the Philippines, which took days.)<\/p>\n

* But cultural challenges sometimes got in the way. In certain parts of the country, people weren\u2019t happy about R-rated movies and other HBO content coming into their homes. Some cable operators worried that when they went to the local municipality to renew their franchise, they\u2019d hear, \u201cYou\u2019re the people bringing that filth into our town.\u201d
\n When we would do weekend promotions, where we\u2019d be showing up for free on everyone\u2019s TV, we tried to be really careful. We didn\u2019t want to be showing an R-rated movie when somebody didn\u2019t invite us into their home. One cable operator in Mississippi said, \u201cNo worries, it won\u2019t be a problem,\u201d and insisted on taking the regular HBO satellite feed, which was playing The Exorcist and had a fairly graphic masturbation scene. He got a lot of complaints, but the real surprise was they weren\u2019t about the explicit scenes. This was the Bible Belt. People weren\u2019t happy about a movie that had the devil showing up unannounced.<\/p>\n

* There were sensitivities even on non-free weekends. I was in the master control room in December 1975 when we were playing the movie Groove Tube , and after one particular sexy part, Jerry called and said, \u201cPull it off the air.\u201d I said, \u201cBut we\u2019re in the middle of the movie,\u201d and he told me, \u201cI don\u2019t care. Put a slide up.\u201d I took it off, and we put up a note that said the program was being interrupted.<\/p>\n

* Michael Fuchs: “You get to William Morris and they lie to you. They tell you you\u2019re coming in to eventually be the president. You should never take a job waiting for old Jews to die.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From this 2021 book: * Gerald Levin: “There were cultural differences as well. I wasn\u2019t a Time Inc. type. Time had few Jewish people. I didn\u2019t dress the way they dressed. I didn\u2019t talk about closing advertising deals on a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26990],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hbo-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t