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HBO’s push into original content was spurred by the threat of Blockbuster disrupting its business model.
Two small bets placed on “Dream On” and “The Larry Sanders Show” in the early 1990s demonstrated to HBO leadership that adult original series could flourish.
HBO developed on-demand technology to differentiate itself from network TV and fight off Blockbuster.

It’s well documented that Blockbuster’s video rental dominance spurred the launch of Netflix. What’s less known is it was also the catalyst for HBO’s pivot toward original programming, according to former HBO and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.
HBO, which stands for Home Box Office, centered its original consumer proposition around bringing unedited theatrical movies to people’s living rooms. Debuting in 1972, HBO charged a monthly fee to allow consumers to see full feature-length movies at home without commercials. While other premium networks came along offering similar products, such as Showtime, Encore and Starz, HBO continued to add subscribers through the 1980s by offering movies along with a small smattering of live boxing, comedy specials and concerts.

The first Blockbuster opened in 1985. Through the late 1980s, Blockbuster undercut HBO’s business proposition. Consumers now had another way to watch uncut, commercial-free movies in the house, and now they could do it on demand. HBO only broadcast one movie at a time. Blockbuster offered thousands of movies. Movie studios viewed the rental market as a booming industry and offered Blockbuster its films six months ahead of HBO’s window.

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“Movies were our No. 1 selling point,” said former HBO and Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes, who spoke to CNBC as part of a digital documentary on the history of HBO. “We’re sitting at HBO saying, ‘We’re screwed.’ Our No. 1 reason why people want to subscribe to HBO is now being taken by Blockbuster. What are we going to do?”
HBO, at the time led by Michael Fuchs, decided the answer was original programming. With only a few million dollars to spend, Fuchs placed two small bets on two original comedy series: “Dream On,” which premiered in 1990, and “The Larry Sanders Show,” which arrived in 1992.
“That pretty much shot our budget,” said Bewkes, who started working at HBO in 1979 and ran the network from 1995 to 2002. He later became CEO of Time Warner, the parent company of HBO. “We called it the best hour on TV. But I used to tweak Michael [Fuchs] about it, ‘Yeah, the best hour on TV — it literally is almost only one hour because we only had like 10 half-hours a year of ‘Dream On’ and ‘Larry Sanders.’ We had 10 hours of serious programming. We’d be repeating stuff to the point of nausea.”
While HBO had dabbled in original content before, including launching Jim Henson’s “Fraggle Rock” in 1983, “Dream On” and “Larry Sanders” were HBO’s first two adult hits. Both shows lasted for six seasons and ushered in HBO’s golden age of original programming, setting the stage for “Sex and The City,” “Oz” and “The Sopranos,” which all first aired in the late 1990s while Bewkes was HBO’s CEO.

Tony and Carmela Soprano.
Source: HBO | YouTube

Even after “The Sopranos” debuted, HBO still faced a dilemma over how much to invest in original shows. HBO’s TV schedule was always shifting, based on the length of feature films. While network shows always aired at a set time, HBO didn’t have that luxury. It also didn’t have consistent lead-in shows to boost the audience for new programming, as NBC famously constructed with its Thursday “Must See TV” featuring shows including “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” “Mad About You” and “ER” during the 1990s.
HBO tackled Blockbuster’s “on demand” advantage and differentiated itself from network TV by building technology that made past episodes available to subscribers. HBO On Demand first began in 2001, allowing subscribers to catch up on previous seasons of shows and build episodic larger audiences for episodic series.

Jeffrey Bewkes, former chief executive officer of Time Warner Inc. and HBO.
Christophe Morin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“It allowed us to do long form,” said Bewkes. “It gave us the ability to make completely different stuff. Now we can make series like ‘Band of Brothers,’ ‘Sopranos’ — something where it’s sequential. If you didn’t watch the show last week, you could watch it this week.”
Blockbuster ended up being the company that couldn’t recover from disruption. It filed for bankruptcy in 2010. AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018. Renamed WarnerMedia, AT&T divested the unit in a merger with Discovery Communications last year forming Warner Bros. Discovery.
Had HBO’s early investments in original programming not hit, Bewkes acknowledged he’s not sure what HBO would have done to fight off Blockbuster.
“Thank God those shows [hit],” Bewkes said. “If they didn’t hit, I don’t know what the hell would have happened.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
WATCH: Full interview with former Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes about the evolution of HBO More

An upcoming Ram electric pickup truck from Stellantis will offer up to 500 miles of driving range when fully charged.
That range would top Ram’s current gas-powered 1500 full-size trucks as well as all-electric pickups currently available such as GMC’s Hummer EV, Ford’s F-150 Lightning and Rivian’s R1T.
Stellantis executives said that while the 2025 Ram 1500 REV won’t be first to market, it will offer leading capabilities for truck owners.

2025 Ram 1500 REV electric pickup truck

NEW YORK — An upcoming Ram electric pickup truck from Stellantis will offer up to 500 miles of driving range when fully charged, the automaker said Wednesday as it officially revealed the vehicle.
That range would top Ram’s current gas-powered 1500 full-size trucks as well as all-electric pickups currently available such as GMC’s Hummer EV, Ford’s F-150 Lightning and Rivian’s R1T. Tesla has said its Cybertruck, which is expected later this year, would be capable of up to 500 miles of EV range.

“Ram is one of the most important pillars of our business,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said Wednesday during the truck’s unveiling at the New York International Auto Show. “We will be able to compete, if not win the battle. It’s all about performance. It’s all about functionalities. It’s all about being competitive.”
Stellantis executives said that while the 2025 Ram 1500 REV won’t be first to market when it becomes available for sale, expected to be late next year, it will offer leading capabilities for truck owners.
However, the expected 500-mile range for the truck comes with an extremely large 229 kilowatt-hour battery pack — bigger than any all-electric pickup truck that’s currently available or expected from an established automaker. A standard 168 kilowatt-hour battery pack has a targeted range of up to 350 miles, the automaker said.
“We are delivering an electric pickup truck when we should, because for electrification being first actually might not be the best,” Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr. said during the event. “The Ram 1500 REV lineup will give our customers options depending on how they use their truck.”

2025 Ram 1500 REV electric pickup truck

Ram said both battery pack sizes will be able to add up to 110 miles of range in approximately 10 minutes with 800-volt DC fast charging.

The Ram 1500 REV will offer performance specifications that are in line with or better than its competitors, including towing of up to 14,000 pounds, payload of up to 2,700 pounds and class-leading storage in its front trunk, or “frunk.”
Other targeted performance figures include a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds, 654 horsepower and 620 foot-pound of torque, and up to 24 inches of water fording. It also will be capable of vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid bidirectional charging.

2025 Ram 1500 REV electric pickup truck

The vehicle’s exterior, which was revealed during a Super Bowl ad, resembles the current gas-powered models more than a concept version of the truck that was revealed in January — and largely well-received. It is built on Stellantis’ new “STLA Frame” designed specifically for full-size electric vehicles featuring a body-on-frame design.
“The Ram 1500 REV is built on what our customers know and love … just now electrified,” Koval said. “Now the face of Ram’s all-new electric light-duty is instantly recognizable, but also instantly forward.”
Ram did not announce pricing for the 1500 REV, which will be available in five trims, including Tradesman, Big Horn/Lone Star, Laramie, Limited and a new trim called Tungsten.
Pricing of electric vehicles, especially pickup trucks that require large batteries, has been a moving target for automakers amid increases in commodity costs and changing market conditions.
Ram reconfirmed Wednesday that an extended-range gas-electric version of the pickup with even more range, called the Ram 1500 XR, will launch after the all-electric version of the pickup truck.
The company on Wednesday also reopened reservations for the Ram 1500 REV. It had closed the program days after opening it following the brand’s Super Bowl ad.

Ram 1500 Revolution BEV electric concept truck
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On April 1st, after nearly 14 years as boss of Toyota, Toyoda Akio handed the wheel to his successor. Sato Koji, formerly chief engineer of the Japanese carmaker’s premium brand, Lexus, has his work cut out. Toyota continues to produce more vehicles than any other firm. Its market value is almost three times as high as its closest rival in terms of output, Volkswagen. But it came late to battery-electric vehicles, having bet that hydrogen was the answer to zero-emission driving. Meanwhile firms like Tesla have thrived, ushering in more electric-vehicle startups. Other established carmakers, Volkswagen chief among them, have quickened the pace of electrification. All that has left Toyota in the dust. In 2022 its total battery-EV sales ranked 24th in the sector.■To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. More

EY just can’t get a break. The accounting-and-consulting giant is being sued for $2.7bn by the administrators of NMC, a London-listed hospital operator it had audited and which went into administration after understating debts by $4bn. EY is being investigated by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), a British regulator; the firm denies the administrators’ claims of negligence. Its plan to unshackle an advisory business constrained by its inability to work with audit clients, codenamed “Project Everest”, is in doubt amid a rebellion by a group of American partners. And on March 31st its German arm received the harshest penalty ever meted out by APAS, Germany’s accounting watchdog, which includes a €500,000 ($548,000) fine and, worse, two-year ban on auditing new publicly listed clients in the country. This is a financial blow to the firm—and an even bigger reputational one.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Family business makes for compelling drama. Just ask anyone tuning in to the final season of “Succession”, which has recently begun airing on HBO. This Bartleby prefers “Buddenbrooks”, Thomas Mann’s chronicle of the decline and collapse of a German merchant family over the course of four generations. That novel, first published in 1901, drew heavily on the author’s personal experience. The dilemmas of working for an organisation which an immediate family member runs or in which they own the majority sound alarming enough in fiction, never mind real life. And nepotism can be plenty dramatic even without the plot twists. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

In some ways, freight rail and trucking seem to be direct competitors. Companies that need to get a container of goods from one city to another can choose between them. Rail is more cost-effective, fuel-efficient and can move greater volumes on a single trip. Trucking is usually faster and, unless the container is going from rail yard to rail yard, more direct. In America, both sectors boomed during the pandemic, as service-deprived shoppers stocked up on stuff. Now both are bracing for an economic slowdown, which may also affect them in similar ways.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Korean automaker Kia on Wednesday unveiled the U.S. version of its upcoming EV9, a three-row electric SUV.
The EV will serve as the brand’s flagship model when it launches late this year.
The automaker is aiming to sell 1.6 million EVs per year by 2030, CEO Ho Sung Song said during an investor presentation on Wednesday.

2024 Kia EV9
Courtesy: Kia Motors

NEW YORK — Korean automaker Kia on Wednesday unveiled the U.S. version of its upcoming EV9, a three-row electric SUV that will serve as the brand’s flagship model when it launches late this year.
The EV9 is a midsize SUV that – like many other EVs – has a surprisingly spacious interior for its size, in this case with seating for six or seven passengers depending on configuration. It’s the second Kia EV to be based on the E-GMP modular EV platform developed with Kia’s corporate sibling Hyundai.

Kia hopes that the EV9 will build on the success of its EV6 electric hatchback, which has won critical acclaim around the world since its launch in 2021, and the battery-electric version of its Niro crossover. The company sold nearly 80,000 EV6s worldwide in 2022, including more than 20,000 in the U.S., despite a starting price of almost $49,000.
Kia is expected to add a third EV, a small crossover called EV5, to its U.S. lineup next year.
The automaker is aiming to sell 1.6 million EVs per year by 2030, CEO Ho Sung Song said during an investor presentation Wednesday. The company expects to sell 258,000 EVs worldwide this year, he said.
Kia will announce U.S. pricing for the EV9 later this year.

2024 Kia EV9
Courtesy: Kia Motors

The EV9 will come standard with a 76.1 kilowatt-hour battery driving a single motor at the rear wheels. An optional 99.8 kWh battery will offer 300 miles of range in single-motor configuration. A dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup with 379 horsepower will be optional with the larger battery.

The EV9 will be DC Fast charging compatible, with a maximum charging speed of up to 230 kilowatts.
While the first EV9s will be built in South Korea, Kia plans to begin producing the SUV at its factory in West Point, Georgia, next year. More

The domestic box office reaped $1.8 billion during the first three months of the year, lagging 25% behind 2019 levels.
To compare, last year ended up 34% behind 2019’s pace, and even more movies are on their way to theaters this year after Hollywood’s production schedule returned to normal.
A steady stream of mid-tier films have augmented the performance of massive blockbusters such as “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Zoran Zeremski | Istock | Getty Images

For nearly three years, the domestic box office has been chasing the highs of the pre-pandemic era, hoping that blockbuster franchise films would fill seats and sell popcorn.
While superheroes, fighter pilots and blue aliens have lured moviegoers back to cinemas, it’s the recent steady stream of mid-budgeted films from a wide variety of genres that has bolstered ticket sales.

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“We’re actually catching up with 2019 levels,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Remember: 2019 was no slouch. It was the second-highest box office year with $11.4 billion.”
The performance of the 2019 box office has become the benchmark for the industry in recent years as it represents the last full year of theatrical normalcy before the Covid pandemic.
Since movie theaters reopened to the public in late 2020, the domestic box office has steadily recovered, generating significantly higher ticket sales each year. Last year, the box office reached $7.5 billion, up 64% from the $4.58 billion in ticket sales seen in 2021. But, it lagged around 34% from 2019.
Industry analysts attributed the smaller box office to a more limited inventory of theatrical releases, not a general disinterest by consumers to return to cinemas. After all, the number of wide releases, those that open in more than 2,000 locations, was down just about the same percentage as the over all box-office totals.

A lifelike doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally turns murderous in Universal Studios and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN.”

In 2023, that volume is coming back and it’s “driving a healthier market overall,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.

Between January and March 31, studios opened 18 wide releases, a 25% drop from the 24 released during the same period in 2019. Similarly, the first-quarter box office in 2023 also lags by 25%, generating around $1.8 billion during the first three months of the year, compared with $2.4 billion in 2019.
The number of film releases is important to the industry. In 2022, there were only 16 wide releases during the first quarter, and the box office generated $400 million less in ticket sales, tallying $1.41 billion.
Both Dergarabedian and Robbins told CNBC that blockbusters and franchise films are important, but a steady stream of low- to mid-tier budget movies is also critical to the overall success of the industry.
While Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” alongside Warner Bros.’ “Creed III” and Universal’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” were the top-performing films during the first three months of the year, original titles like “M3GAN,” “Jesus Revolution” and “Cocaine Bear” delivered strong results, boosting the overall box office.

“The most encouraging sign to me is that there’s more variety then there was last year,” Robbins said.
He noted that there were more titles for adult audiences, like “80 For Brady” and “A Man Called Otto,” as well as more genre films like “Plane,” “65” and “Knock at the Cabin.”
And that kind of variety is appealing to potential moviegoers. Around 33% of consumers said they would go to theaters more if the box office offered a wider array of film genres and choices, according to new study by United Talent Agency.
The survey, which polled 2,000 U.S. people aged 15 through 69, also found that 75% of respondents planned to go out to the movies more often in 2023, compared with 2022.
And there are plenty of films for moviegoers to see. Robbins and Dergarabedian both noted that the 2023 slate will improve as we enter the second quarter of the year:

April

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” — Wednesday
“Air” — Wednesday
“Paint” — Friday
“Renfield” — April 14
“The Pope’s Exorcist” — April 14
“Evil Dead Rise” — April 21
“Beau is Afraid” — April 21
“Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” — April 28

May

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” — May 5
“Fast X” — May 19
“The Little Mermaid” — May 26

June

“The Boogeyman” — June 2
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” — June 2
“Strays” — June 9
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” — June 9
“Elemental” — June 16
“The Flash” — June 16
“Asteroid City” — June 23
“Joy Ride” — June 23
“Harold and the Purple Crayon” — June 30
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” — June 30

“It’s a killer slate,” Dergarabedian said, noting that the second quarter doesn’t include all of the summer movie season or titles like “Barbie,” “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” or “Oppenheimer.”
And with more people venturing out to see movies, Robbin foresees a windfall. Movie theaters are where most moviegoers see trailers for upcoming releases and will likely inspire audiences to return again and again to their local cinema to see new films.
“I firmly believe moviegoing begets moviegoing,” Robbins said.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of Universal and CNBC. More