Showtime Networks
Encyclopedia
Showtime Networks, Inc. (SNI) is the corporate
division of media conglomerate
CBS Corporation
.
The company was established in 1983 as Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. after Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
(now MTV Networks
) merged their premium channels, Showtime and The Movie Channel
respectively, into one division. In 1984, American Express
sold their interest in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications (now Time Warner
) making Warner the new half-owner of Showtime/TMC. In 1985, Warner sold its half-interest to Viacom, making the company wholly owned division of Viacom. In 1988, the company was renamed Showtime Networks, Inc.
SNI along with CBS
, The CW Television Network
(formerly UPN
), Viacom Outdoor
, Spelling Television
, CBS Television Studios (formerly CBS Productions, Paramount Television and CBS Paramount Television), CBS Television Distribution
(formerly Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World), CBS Studios International (formerly CBS Paramount International Television), Simon and Schuster and other entities became part of CBS Corporation when CBS officially split from Viacom in December 2005. SNI managed the CBS, Robert Redford
and NBC Universal
joint venture Sundance Channel until 2008, when it was sold to Cablevision's Rainbow Media
.
1Channel created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment prior to 1983.
2Co-owned with the Smithsonian Institution
. Showtime Networks handles operations.
In 2008, Showtime Networks was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
s for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Best Use of Commercial Advertising on Personal Computer for the companion website to the series The L Word
.
As an added bonus, Showtime Networks made available the season premiere episodes of The L Word
as it started its final season and Secret Diary of A Call Girl
to all the participating platforms day and date with their January 18, 2009 premiere.
All three programs will be available online on the major entertainment, social networking and blogging destinations, including cable, telco and satellite affiliate broadband portals, on mobile phones, and on Free On Demand platforms. Example of these partners include: the largest entertainment portals such as TV.com
, Yahoo, YouTube
, MSN
, Fancast, Veoh
, EW.com
, Blockbuster.com, CinemaNow
, TVGuide.com
and Netflix
as well as additional sites via the CBS Audience Network; social networking sites such as Facebook
and Bebo
; and top entertainment blogs such as BestWeekEver.com, Gawker, Pink Is The New Blog and PopBytes. The episodes will also be available on mobile phones through MobiTV
, Joost
's iPhone App, and on CBS Mobile on Verizon's V-Cast Mobile TV and AT&T Mobile TV via MediaFLO
; and via podcast from iTunes
and Zune
. In addition, the first episode of United States of Tara will be available online in HD on SHO.com and TV.com.
There are 24 different cable, telco and satellite providers participating in the campaign, beginning with the first episode of United States of Tara on broadband and Free On Demand 10 days before its premiere. Among them: AT&T
, Charter
, Comcast
, Cox
, Insight
, Mediacom
, NCTC affiliates, RCN
, Time Warner
, Verizon and DirecTV
. DirecTV will also air the episode on its linear channel Audience Network. In addition, the episode can be seen in HD on Free On Demand as well as on the Audience Network.
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
division of media conglomerate
Media conglomerate
A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet...
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
.
The company was established in 1983 as Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. after Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company was a joint venture owned and operated by Warner Communications and American Express that developed and worked on interactive television systems in the late 1970s and initiated several successful cable...
(now MTV Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...
) merged their premium channels, Showtime and The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel is an American premium channel owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, which shows mostly movies, as well as special behind-the-scenes features, softcore adult erotica and movie trivia....
respectively, into one division. In 1984, American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
sold their interest in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications (now Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
) making Warner the new half-owner of Showtime/TMC. In 1985, Warner sold its half-interest to Viacom, making the company wholly owned division of Viacom. In 1988, the company was renamed Showtime Networks, Inc.
SNI along with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
(formerly UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
), Viacom Outdoor
CBS Outdoor
CBS Outdoor is the outdoor advertising division of media conglomerate CBS Corporation. It is the third largest outdoor media owner in revenue terms...
, Spelling Television
Spelling Television
Spelling Television Inc. was a television production company that produced popular shows such as Charmed, Beverly Hills, 90210, 7th Heaven, Dynasty and Melrose Place. The company was founded by television producer Aaron Spelling in 1969...
, CBS Television Studios (formerly CBS Productions, Paramount Television and CBS Paramount Television), CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
(formerly Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World), CBS Studios International (formerly CBS Paramount International Television), Simon and Schuster and other entities became part of CBS Corporation when CBS officially split from Viacom in December 2005. SNI managed the CBS, Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
and NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
joint venture Sundance Channel until 2008, when it was sold to Cablevision's Rainbow Media
Rainbow Media
AMC Networks is an entertainment company in the United States that owns the national cable channels AMC, IFC, WE tv, and Sundance Channel; the regional News 12 Networks, the art house movie theater IFC Center in New York, New York, and the film company IFC Films.The company was originally launched...
.
Cable channels currently owned by Showtime Networks
Year in parentheses denotes when channel was brought into the Showtime Networks fold.- Showtime (1983)
- Showtime 2 (formerly SHOTOO) (1994)
- Showcase (formerly Showtime 3) (1996)
- Showtime Extreme (1998)
- Showtime Beyond (1998)
- Showtime Next (2001)
- Showtime Family Zone (2001)
- Showtime Women (2001)
- The Movie ChannelThe Movie ChannelThe Movie Channel is an American premium channel owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, which shows mostly movies, as well as special behind-the-scenes features, softcore adult erotica and movie trivia....
(1983)1- The Movie Channel Xtra (1999)
- Flix (1992)
- Smithsonian NetworksSmithsonian NetworksSmithsonian Networks is a joint venture between CBS Corporation's Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. The service consists of Smithsonian Channel, Smithsonian On Demand, and ....
(2007)2
1Channel created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment prior to 1983.
2Co-owned with the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. Showtime Networks handles operations.
- Showtime Women, Showtime Family Zone and Showtime Next are digital cable services of Showtime and are not available on Dish NetworkDish NetworkDish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
. DirecTV does carry Showtime Women and Showtime Next in HD only. - Flix is only available to DirecTV and other satellite systems. Flix was formerly carried on cable systems (as a premium service) in the early and mid 1990s. Flix is now considered a specialty premium service to satellite customers who subscribe to Showtime Unlimited. There are still cable providers that do carry Flix as a premium service with Showtime.
In 2008, Showtime Networks was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
A Technology and Engineering Emmy Award is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in technical or engineering development...
s for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Best Use of Commercial Advertising on Personal Computer for the companion website to the series The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
.
Unprecedented Campaign
In one of the largest content distribution campaigns ever done to launch a new original series, Showtime Networks Inc. announced on January 12, 2009 that the premiere episode of United States of Tara is now available on more than a hundred multi-platforms, which translates into a reach of 170 million users - as part of the network's launch campaign to promote the series premiere on Showtime on January 18, 2009 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.As an added bonus, Showtime Networks made available the season premiere episodes of The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
as it started its final season and Secret Diary of A Call Girl
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Secret Diary of a Call Girl is a British television drama broadcast on ITV2 from 2007-2011 based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous "Belle de Jour," starring Billie Piper as Belle, a high-class London call girl. The series was written by Lucy Prebble, who is also known as the author of The...
to all the participating platforms day and date with their January 18, 2009 premiere.
All three programs will be available online on the major entertainment, social networking and blogging destinations, including cable, telco and satellite affiliate broadband portals, on mobile phones, and on Free On Demand platforms. Example of these partners include: the largest entertainment portals such as TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
, Yahoo, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
, Fancast, Veoh
Veoh
Veoh is an Internet television company based in San Diego, California. It allows users to find and watch major studio content, independent productions and user-generated material. The company is a subsidiary of Israeli start-up Qlipso....
, EW.com
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Blockbuster.com, CinemaNow
CinemaNow
CinemaNow is an Internet-based digital video distribution company founded in 1999.The CinemaNow library contains approximately 14,000 feature-length films, shorts, music concerts and television programs from more than 250 licensors, including 20th Century Fox, ABC News, Disney, Endemol, MGM,...
, TVGuide.com
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
and Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
as well as additional sites via the CBS Audience Network; social networking sites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
; and top entertainment blogs such as BestWeekEver.com, Gawker, Pink Is The New Blog and PopBytes. The episodes will also be available on mobile phones through MobiTV
MobiTV
MobiTV, Inc. claims to be a leading provider of "end-to-end mobile media solutions". The MobiTV converged media platform delivers live TV, video on-demand and the ability to download and store content for offline viewing to millions of users on all major wireless networks and major mobile...
, Joost
Joost
Joost is an Internet TV service, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis . During 2007-8 Joost used peer-to-peer TV technology to distribute content to their Mozilla-based desktop player; in late 2008 this was migrated to use a Flash-based Web player instead.Joost began development in 2006...
's iPhone App, and on CBS Mobile on Verizon's V-Cast Mobile TV and AT&T Mobile TV via MediaFLO
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
; and via podcast from iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
. In addition, the first episode of United States of Tara will be available online in HD on SHO.com and TV.com.
There are 24 different cable, telco and satellite providers participating in the campaign, beginning with the first episode of United States of Tara on broadband and Free On Demand 10 days before its premiere. Among them: AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, Charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
, Cox
Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, United States, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. He was the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1920...
, Insight
Insight
Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect in a specific context. Insight can be used with several related meanings:*a piece of information...
, Mediacom
Mediacom
Mediacom is a cable television and communications provider in the United States. Founded in July 1995, it serves primarily smaller markets in the Midwest and Southern United States. Formerly a publicly traded firm, it went private in a $600.0 million transaction in March 2011 and is, as of 2011,...
, NCTC affiliates, RCN
RCN Corporation
RCN Corporation, founded in 1993 and based in Herndon, Virginia, is the first American facilities-based competitive provider of bundled telephone, cable television and high-speed internet service delivered over its own fiber-optic local network to consumers in the Boston, New York, Eastern...
, Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
, Verizon and DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
. DirecTV will also air the episode on its linear channel Audience Network. In addition, the episode can be seen in HD on Free On Demand as well as on the Audience Network.