Episode 1: The Origin

On vacation in the south of France in 1971, cable entrepreneur Chuck Dolan dreamed up what would become the Home Box Office, launched with magazine giant Time Inc. the next year. But the new, commercial-free pay TV venture was losing money, and came close to shuttering by the mid-1970s, when a gamble on satellites and a pivot to original programming led to a tiny profit and lease on life. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes to Midtown Manhattan, where the clash between “egghead” Jerry Levin and “executioner” Nick Nicholas, the first two HBO CEOs, saved the network.