
Milestones
1992
- HBO Asia, backed by Paramount and Warner Bros, launches an 18-hour-a-day home movie channel in Asia, securing carriage on SCV in Singapore.
- The English-language service is distributed via Palapa B2P.
1993
- HBO Asia's regional headquarters is officially opened at New Tech Park by Singapore's Minister for Information and the Arts, BG George Yeo. HBO Asia, TVB, ESPN, Turner and ABC announce a broadcasters' alliance.
- HBO becomes available in Thailand and the Philippines.
1994
- HBO adds Taiwan to its territories.
- After 20 months on air, HBO moves to a fully programmed 24-hour service.
- In a landmark deal, HBO Asia concludes exclusive licensing deals with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Studios, who also become equity partners. The four HBO Asia partner studios jointly claim 19 of the top 25 films released in the United States during 1993 and 1994.
- HBO becomes available in Indonesia.
1995
- HBO starts the year with a subscriber base of 600,000, doubling its earlier record in the previous year and now covers eight markets in Asia.
- HBO adds Bahasa Indonesia subtitles to its full broadcast schedules in addition to closed-captioned subtitles for Thailand and Taiwan that was made available in 1994.
- HBO becomes available in Hong Kong and Malaysia and launches in three-star and above standard hotels and foreign housing compounds in China.
1996
- HBO doubles subscription figures to 1.1 million subscribers.
- Disney subsidiaries, Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone become exclusive HBO suppliers.
- With its lead movie channel in a strong position, HBO Asia launched CINEMAX, a channel for a wide range of entertaining movies. Agreements are soon signed with operators in Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.
1997
- Dan Murrell becomes HBO Asia's Managing Director, replacing CEO and President Bill Hooks who returns to HBO in New York after five years at the helm.
- HBO celebrates its fifth anniversary in Asia.
- HBO expands to 18 Asian countries.
1998
- HBO is granted Ministry of Radio, Film and Television approval to distribute its CINEMAX channel in China to three-star and above standard hotels and foreign housing compounds.
- CINEMAX launches on ASTRO in Malaysia.
- HBO Asia signs exclusive deal with DreamWorks SKG.
- HBO and CINEMAX launch in Sri Lanka.
1999
- HBO Asia opens representative office in Taiwan.
- Dan Murrell is appointed CEO and President of HBO Asia.
- HBO has 3.5 million subscribers by end of the year.
2000
- CINEMAX launches in Hong Kong as a premium service, alongside HBO.
- HBO launches an HBO South Asia service in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Maldives. The HBO channels in India and Maldives are ad-supported.
- James Marturano is appointed Executive Vice President of HBO Asia and HBO South Asia's Managing Director.
2001
- HBO has over 3.9 million subscribers.
- HBO South Asia reaches more than 15 million households.
- HBO premieres the most expensive HBO Original Production ever, BAND OF BROTHERS, across Asia. Based on the best-selling novel by the late-historian Stephen Ambrose, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg were executive producers for the ten-part World War II miniseries.
- For the second year in a row, HBO swept top honors in a trade survey reinforcing HBO as cable operators' top choice for programming, sales and marketing, on-air look, viewer feedback, value for money and most popular channel.
2002
- HBO Asia celebrates ten years of entertaining Asia.
- HBO Asia launches Asia's first fully 'tapeless' system, one that fully digitalizes and archives its extensive library of movies and promotional on-air materials.
2003
- In March, CINEMAX relaunches to be Asia's most exciting movie channel for hits, action and suspense movies, complete with new tagline of 'Get Into The Movies' and a brand-new on-air identity.
- HBO receives the prestigious Superbrands® Award in Singapore.
- HBO is voted as Asia's best cable and movie channel by cable operators across the region.
2004
- Jonathan Spink becomes HBO Asia's Chief Executive Officer, replacing CEO and President, Dan Murrell after 6 years at the helm.
- PCCW Limited, the largest communications provider in Hong Kong announces the launch of HBO and CINEMAX on now TV.
- In October, HBO is the first movie channel to broadcast to residential homes in China on CCTV.
- HBO adds Cambodia to its territories.
2005
- As part of its multichannel strategy, HBO Asia launches its first additional HBO channel - HBO Signature, in April 2005. This is the first additional HBO channel that will be offered to subscribers in premium markets as a cluster of multichannel services.
- In August, HBO signs an exclusive deal with PCCW's now TV in Hong Kong.
- In September, HBO launches into residential homes in Vietnam through distributor, Q.net.
- HBO premieres the second most expensive series in television history, the HBO Original Series ROME that was produced at US$100 million.
2006
- In March, HBO increases the number of channels under its multiplex bouquet with the launch of HBO Hits and HBO Family, which are distributed first through now TV in Hong Kong.
- In April, HBO SIGNATURE, HBO HITS and HBO FAMILY are launched in the Philippines as part of THE HBO/MAX PAK through SkyCable.
- In May, HBO SIGNATURE, HBO HITS and HBO FAMILY are launched for the first time in Taiwan.
- In July, HBO SIGNATURE, HBO HITS and HBO FAMILY are launched in Singapore as part of THE HBO PAK through StarHub Cable Vision.
2007
- In February, HBO Asia launches HBO ON DEMAND, the company’s first Subscription Video-On-Demand (SVOD) service exclusively to THE HBO MAX PAK PREMIUM subscribers on now TV in Hong Kong.
- In July, HBO SIGNATURE, HBO FAMILY and HITS are launched for the first time in Thailand as part of the HBO Package through TrueVisions and also in Sri Lanka on Dialog TV and Lanka Broadband Networks.
- HBO Asia celebrates its 15th anniversary.
2008
- In January, HBO takes majority stake in HBO Asia. Previously jointly held by HBO, NBC Universal, Paramount Films and Sony Pictures Entertainment, HBO Asia under the new equity structure is owned by HBO and Paramount.
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