Q 01/05

What do the letters HBO stand for?

A) Home Box Office

B) Home Broadcasting Organization

C) Hollywood Box Office

D) Home Broadcast Outlet

Answer · why

A) Home Box Office

The name was chosen to suggest a 'ticket' to movies and events you could see at home.

Q 02/05

In what year did HBO launch?

A) 1968

B) 1972

C) 1969

D) 1965

Answer · why

B) 1972

It went live at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on November 8 to subscribers of a cable system in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Q 03/05

What was HBO's very first broadcast?

A) A boxing match at Madison Square Garden

B) The film The Godfather

C) An NHL game between the Rangers and Canucks

D) A Frank Sinatra concert

Answer · why

C) An NHL game between the Rangers and Canucks

The 1971 film Sometimes a Great Notion followed straight after the game.

Q 04/05

Roughly how many subscribers received HBO's first-night broadcast?

A) 3,650

B) 36,500

C) 1,000

D) 365

Answer · why

D) 365

All of them were in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on channel 21.

Q 05/05

Which cable executive came up with the idea for HBO while on a family vacation aboard the QE2?

A) Charles Dolan

B) Ted Turner

C) John Malone

D) Gerald Levin

Answer · why

A) Charles Dolan

His company Sterling Manhattan Cable was losing money and he needed a way to keep Time Inc. invested.