Dinesh jain
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HBO to shut down premium channels "HBO Defined, HBO hits".
Three years after announcing plans to launch
two ad-free premium movie channels, HBO Defined and
HBO Hits, the broadcaster has decided to pull the plug on them.
“By the first quarter of 2016, both these channels will be
off the air. With this, HBO is back to where it started with
one ad-supported channel,” an industry source told
HBO had been negotiating a distribution deal with Star
India, which fell through. It has been learnt that Star’s main
interest was in HBO Defined, which is a more refined
offering of the two channels and focuses on content like
‘Game of Thrones’.
“The potential deal with Star was taken off a couple of
months back. After that, HBO’s management concluded
that if it was not commercially viable, then there was no
point in continuing with the channels,” added the source.
HBO Hits, on the other hand, focuses on more mainstream Cinema.
The reach of the HBO ad-free channels was less than half
a million homes. Surely, content costs would have been a
big reason for the decision. In the current environment, it
is impossible to run a service without taking any ads at
all. “Buying movies is expensive. It is hard to justify an
ad-free service in this scenario,” explained the source.
The two channels are carried by the three major DTH
operators—Tata Sky, Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV. It is
also available on some digital cable TV networks.
HBO to shut down premium channels Defined, Hits | TelevisionPost.com
Three years after announcing plans to launch
two ad-free premium movie channels, HBO Defined and
HBO Hits, the broadcaster has decided to pull the plug on them.
“By the first quarter of 2016, both these channels will be
off the air. With this, HBO is back to where it started with
one ad-supported channel,” an industry source told
HBO had been negotiating a distribution deal with Star
India, which fell through. It has been learnt that Star’s main
interest was in HBO Defined, which is a more refined
offering of the two channels and focuses on content like
‘Game of Thrones’.
“The potential deal with Star was taken off a couple of
months back. After that, HBO’s management concluded
that if it was not commercially viable, then there was no
point in continuing with the channels,” added the source.
HBO Hits, on the other hand, focuses on more mainstream Cinema.
The reach of the HBO ad-free channels was less than half
a million homes. Surely, content costs would have been a
big reason for the decision. In the current environment, it
is impossible to run a service without taking any ads at
all. “Buying movies is expensive. It is hard to justify an
ad-free service in this scenario,” explained the source.
The two channels are carried by the three major DTH
operators—Tata Sky, Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV. It is
also available on some digital cable TV networks.
HBO to shut down premium channels Defined, Hits | TelevisionPost.com
