‘ ‘ ‘ HBO ought to change its name. ‘ ‘ ‘ For more than 10 years, HBO’s famous marketing… ‘ ‘ ‘ HBO ought to change its name. ‘ ‘ ‘ For more than 10 years, HBO’s famous marketing slogan has been ‘It’s not TV. It’s HBO.’ The only problem is that now it is TV ‘mdash; in fact, TV is the only good thing about the Home Box Office, and the term ‘movie channel’ is outdated almost to the point of being oxymoronic. ‘ ‘ ‘ It used to be worth something, having access to premium movie channels like Starz, Cinemax or the stalwart HBO. Before the Internet, before OnDemand, hell, before DVD, it was the best option for catching a movie without leaving the house ‘mdash; even though you couldn’t choose what movie to watch or when it started. ‘ ‘ ‘ Now when you can rent a new release and download it to your cell phone, the concept of a movie channel is almost puzzling. In the next 11 days, HBO is showing ‘Juno’ ‘mdash; which came out on DVD more than nine months ago ‘mdash; 12 times. That isn’t including the showings on HBO Latino. ‘ ‘ ‘ Count that among the other high profile titles listed on the HBO Web site, like ‘The Golden Compass’ (on DVD for nine months) and ‘I Am Legend’ (10 months). Padding out the big-name features? Movies you’d long-forgotten even existed, like ‘Unaccompanied Minors’ and ‘Because I Said So.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ These are cinematic hot dogs ‘mdash; cheap, fatty filler that you choke down because it’s the only thing they’re serving at the ballpark. Unlike HBO, though, a hot dog costs less than a subscription to Netflix. ‘ ‘ ‘ It must be hard for HBO, or any other movie channel, to watch its purpose slip away into obsolescence. The best thing about a modern movie channel isn’t even the movies ‘mdash; it’s the original programming. Even if shows like ‘Entourage’ and ‘Flight of the Conchords’ can’t muster the ratings of predecessors like ‘The Sopranos,’ they bring something to the network that’s desperately lacking from its movie schedule: entertainment value. ‘ ‘ ‘ Unfortunately, the floundering ratings might be a result of the same changes in entertainment distribution that are rendering HBO’s movie lineup useless. Why spend the extra money every month when you can just rent or buy the show on DVD? If you like the show enough to subscribe to HBO, you’re probably going to do it anyway. ‘ ‘ ‘ HBO isn’t the only movie channel re-branding itself. ‘The United States of Tara’ joined Showtime’s original programming lineup this Sunday, alongside popular shows like ‘Dexter’ and ‘Weeds.’ Popularity is relative, though ‘mdash; ‘Dexter’ broke Showtime records with its third-season finale last month, which still scored less viewers than the most recent season premiere of ‘Entourage’ ‘mdash; a three-year low for the series. Only time ‘mdash; and Nielsen results ‘mdash; will tell for ‘Tara.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The way we watch movies is changing faster than we can predict ‘mdash; Netflix users can now stream movies directly to their televisions, the iTunes store offers high-definition rentals, and you can watch ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ for free online (just ignore the Korean subtitles). ‘ ‘ ‘ Demand for 10 channels endlessly looping old and unremarkable movies is fading, and if premium channels like HBO and Showtime want to keep up with increasingly lucrative basic cable series like AMC’s ‘Mad Men’ and FX’s ‘Damages,’ they’ll have to shift their focus from crappy movies to respectable programming. ‘ ‘ ‘ Of course, that still leaves the question of the name ‘mdash; ‘Home Box Office’ may not be appropriate for much longer. It could always officially drop the part that no longer applies and simply go by ‘HBO’ ‘mdash; like that period of time when ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ changed its name to ‘KFC.’ Weird.