HBO 07

The network had broadcast only for nine hours a day for its first nine years on air, from 3 p.m. to midnight ET. In September 1981, HBO began broadcasting a 24-hour schedule on weekends, until midnight ET on Sunday nights. On December 28, 1981, HBO expanded its programming schedule to 24 hours a day, seven days per week (Cinema had a 24-hour schedule from its launch, and Showtime and The Movie Channel went to a 24-hour schedule earlier). 

On August 1, 1980, HBO launched a companion network, Cinema, a movie-based pay service created as HBO's answer to The Movie Channel; in its early years, Cinema carried music specials and some limited original programming such as SCTV and Max Headroom, in addition to movies, but the network has since become known for airing soft-core adult films and series during its late night schedule, and has forayed into original programming with the addition of weekly action series to its lineup in August 2011.