Blockbuster's Influence on HBO's Investment in Original Content

Former HBO and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes revealed that Blockbuster's video rental dominance pushed HBO to pivot towards original programming. With only a few million dollars to spend, HBO placed two small bets on two original comedy series: "Dream On" and "The Larry Sanders Show," which ushered in HBO's golden age of original programming, setting the stage for "Sex and The City," "Oz" and "The Sopranos." HBO tackled Blockbuster's "on demand" advantage and differentiated itself from network TV by building technology that made past episodes available to subscribers.