HBO

HBO’s Game of Thrones was the most-pirated TV series in 2015, according to copyright and privacy news site Torrent Freak. This is the fourth year the Emmy-winning drama has retained this crown, with an estimated 14,400,000 illegal downloads. That’s nearly double the estimated 8,100,000 illegal downloads that Torrent Freak reported it had last year.

The nominees have been announced on both the film and TV sides for the Critics’ Choice Awards, the newly combined honors from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association. Winners will be announced at the 21st annual Critics’ Choice Awards set for Jan. 17 at Barker Hanger in Santa Monica and airing live on A&E, Lifetime and LMN.

CBS is pulling the Enterprise out of storage. HBO landed one of the biggest free agents in showbiz. And NBCUniversal is trying to corner the market on hipster comedians. As traditional TV networks dive into the SVOD channels business, they’re feeling competitive pressure to make their streaming services something more than merely a new way to view their existing linear programming.

NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh from “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart has signed on with HBO in an exclusive four-year production pact. HBO said Tuesday the partnership will start with […]

HBO CEO Richard Plepler talks about what customers really want and the future of cable in a digital age. He also ponders where HBO might go with its broader freedom, particularly in content. “I want to do a series of minimovies that ultimately aggregate into a larger story. And I want to do it on HBO Now,” he says.

For all that was new and different and—for lack of a better word—revolutionary about the Emmys, they were also a reminder that in many ways, it’s the establishment that’s winning, epitomized by HBO taking home 14 statuettes. Combined with its Creative Emmy wins last week, HBO notched 43 awards overall, which is one less than than CBS won in 1974, when it set the all-time record.

With Andy Samberg emceeing, Viola Davis  became the first African-American woman to win best actress in drama series at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, while Jon Hamm won for best actor after seven previous nominations. HBO took 14 awards with Game of Thrones named best drama and Veep best comedy. 

The Aug. 13 announcement that HBO will premiere new episodes of Sesame Street, which will then be made available to PBS after nine months has prompted soul-searching among public broadcasters and others who recalled Sesame Street’s groundbreaking role in using free over-the-air broadcasts to teach preschoolers from low-income families the basic skills they need to succeed in school.

As part of its move to HBO, Sesame Street is killing off its own subscription-based streaming service, Sesame Go. The children’s series will now be available over the top on HBO’s offerings, HBO Go and HBO Now.

In a surprise move, the kids’ series heads to HBO. New episodes will air on longtime carrier PBS nine months later. The most significant part of the deal: Streaming rights.

HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo said at the Television Critics Association summer meeting yesterday  that the drama series’ producers are leaning toward three more seasons after the just-concluded season five.

NEW YORK (AP) — HBO says it has struck a multi-year, multi-platform deal with the multi-faceted Bill Simmons. Under the deal, which begins in October, HBO will be Simmons’ exclusive […]

Some 3.2 million total viewers tune in for the drama’s season two debut, its second best showing ever and up 40% from last year’s premiere.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — HBO’s “Veep” is leaving Maryland after four years after the series scored $6.5 million in California film tax credits. HBO announced Thursday that it will move […]

A controversial end to the fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones led to huge ratings, and viewers also took to Twitter to sound off. Sunday night’s episode generated 436,000 total tweets three hours before, during and three hours after the episode, according to Nielsen Social, up 79% from 243,000 tweets for the season four finale on the same night a year ago.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bill Maher strides into the weekly writers meeting for his HBO show and puts his feet up on the table. His team of scribes, many of […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A U.S. senator is among those condemning a rape scene on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” In a comment tweeted Tuesday, Sen. Claire McCaskill described the sexual […]

Boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquio are each known to pack a hard punch, but their fists have managed to break something else. Initial reports from distributors indicate that the event generated more than 4.4 million U.S. buys and more than $400 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue alone. The event is expected to generate in excess of $500 million in gross worldwide receipts, when additional revenue from the live gate at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, international television distribution, sponsorships, closed circuit and merchandise sales are tallied.

HBO and Showtime are banding together for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout, which is expected to set a record for revenue.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “How to Get Away with Murder” star Viola Davis will play Harriet Tubman in a HBO movie about the abolitionist hero. HBO said Monday that the […]

HBO CEO Richard Plepler says the decision to launch a streaming service was approached with the care of a politician mulling whether to launch a campaign. Plepler says so far, HBO Now subscriptions have exceeded expectations. He calls the service a “millennial missile” for its appeal to younger consumers.

NEW YORK (AP) — HBO says it’s going to pot by scoring the Web comedy series “High Maintenance.” The network said Monday it will premiere six new episodes of the […]

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Northern Illinois University is offering a course this semester on the HBO series “Game of Thrones.” The University Honors Program calls the class “Game of Thrones, […]