HBO 1979 Sign off (1970)

hahaha hbo sign off.

Does anybody else notice what they use to lock the house up for the night? A hook and eye latch? Truly old school!

This was A great bumper,too bad HBO went 24/7.

Ahh memories.... I used to stay up watching movies, and I was sad when this little cartoon came on, that meant I had to turn the TV off and go to bed.

HBO couldn't afford to be 24/7

This is a great sign off and HBO is an all-nighter now.

It wasn't until the late 1980s that TV started going 24/7. I guess the head honchos figured that people would rather go to bed than watch TV.

I rather like this.

And yes, HBO has been around a long time, since 1972, but then only in & around the Wilkes-Barre, PA area (it's home base), and finally going national in 1975, when they first went on via satellite for all the local cable tv companies to pick up...

I wonder why HBO signed off back then. Either because they couldn't afford to be on 24 hours (as mentioned here previously), or, as was common practice back in the earlier days of cable/satellite TV, they shared the same transponder (channel) with another TV network on the satellite relaying them to all the cable tv systems.

I remember reading that Nickelodeon (back before 1985, when Nick at Nite was introduced), would sign off and relinquish its satellite transponder to a channel called ARTS (Alpha Repertory Television Service) for the rest of the night and early morning. ARTS would later evolve to become A&E, and Nick at Nite then took over for the hours ARTS was on, after they got their own sat transponder and changed their name to A&E. I wonder if HBO shared their sat space with another channel too, or if they just shut down for the night...

I remember seeing your upload of this on YouTube. I was wondering what happened to it on there. Glad to see it on RetroJunk. Do you know where I can get a copy of just this HBO spot?

hbo had a shut off time? glad it's not like that anymore.

I dont remember that, we had HBO in 1979, I remember it use to be a push button box, grant it I was 5 but I still remember.

*falls asleep on keyboard*

HBO had to shut down at night? Did Turner not have enough cash to keep them rolling 24 yet? No 3:30 AM Softcore Porn?

^ I'm one of those people that never knew that. I thought HBO got started in the mid 80s.

Whoa. Most people probably don't even know that HBO existed in 1979, much less had sign-offs!