The Movie Channel
Encyclopedia
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.
Although the majority of cable systems typically sell The Movie Channel as a package with sister premium channel Showtime, Dish Network
and DirecTV
do alternately sell The Movie Channel to non-Showtime subscribers (it is one of only two premium channels to be offered in this manner, the other being Encore).
delivered to the cable companies. Sometimes cable companies would have technical problems with the delivered tapes, especially when the tapes jammed on playback to viewers. Later in the decade, it was acquired by Warner Communications
, and eventually brought into the Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
joint venture. The network was initially offered on Warner Cable systems, and later on Warner-Amex's experimental QUBE
interactive service.
. In 1983, Warner-Amex merged The Movie Channel with Viacom's Showtime to form Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. (which would become Showtime Networks, Inc. in 1988). In 1985, Viacom acquired Warner's share of Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc., making them the sole owner of both networks. Ironically, Warner would acquire rivals HBO and Cinemax a few years later, when it merged with Time Inc.
The Movie Channel was the first premium channel to show R-rated films during the day. Parent network Showtime also airs R-rated films during the day, as do Cinemax
, Epix, Encore and Starz. HBO does not air any R-rated films on its primary channel until after 8 p.m. ET
. In 1981, The Movie Channel also became one of the first television channels to broadcast movies in stereo. As the standard for television broadcasts in stereo was a few years away, cable operators simulcast
the stereo as an FM radio
signal. During promo breaks in-between films from 1988 to 1997, The Movie Channel featured trailers for feature films to be released theatrically, and also included "The Movie Channel News", a daily segment featuring film-related entertainment news.
In 1997, The Movie Channel began an extensive rebranding effort. For a brief period, The Movie Channel experimented with premiering its own original movies (which were produced through Showtime). The channel also began airing TMC Movie Marathons, which featured three or four movies selected by the channel set around a specific theme. As part of these marathons, TMC would also air Double Vision Weekend, a marathon of movies airing for one weekend each month with two movies featuring the same actor. In addition, TMC also started running TMC Fun Facts (later known as TMC Reel Stuff) featuring behind-the-scenes facts about movies as well as celebrity trivia. TMC also inserted fun facts about movies the channel promoted that were scheduled to air on the channel. In October of that year, The Movie Channel launched a multiplex service, The Movie Channel 2 (which was renamed The Movie Channel Xtra in 2001).
The Movie Channel was originally a separate channel from the remainder of the Showtime Networks
family. Before cable systems dropped The Movie Channel (along with Showtime and rivals Cinemax, Encore and Starz) from their basic packages, relegating it to their digital cable packages, The Movie Channel had a high basic cable coverage rate. However, there were several cable providers in areas with smaller populations that did not offer TMC as an add-on to their basic service. In most of these cases, TMC was never carried as a pay service on said cable and satellite providers, though Showtime was.
Around the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, Showtime began offering all of its channels as part of the Showtime Unlimited package and many cable systems, with the exception of Comcast
, along with satellite providers DirecTV
and Dish Network
stopped advertising The Movie Channel as a separate network from Showtime and since Showtime Networks are only available on digital cable, many cable systems will not offer The Movie Channel to non-Showtime subscribers. However, The Movie Channel and The Movie Channel Xtra are both offered either as a separate channel and as part of the Showtime Unlimited package on Dish Network and DirecTV. TMC has the least multiplex services of any of the major premium channels, which is a probable reason as to why the channel is not part of a separate package from Showtime.
In 2001, The Movie Channel began showing TMC First Run Movies -- movies premiering on the channel that never were released theatrically or on home video or DVD. TMC also began to air softcore erotica late at night like parent network Showtime and their competitor Cinemax
, which started the trend on U.S. pay cable networks as a way to better compete against other premium channels. The channel also started running a two-minute sketch segment titled The Pitch which starred Sean Smith, a character actor who has appeared in several TV series and movies, as a movie exec who listens as people try to pitch him movie ideas. The movies pitched are famous movies such as Cliffhanger, The Terminator
, etc. Feature presentation bumpers on the channel also had to deal with the behind the scenes goings on in movies. All movie openings airing on The Movie Channel from 2001 to 2006, featured a faux scene from a movie being made. As the camera zoomed out, the "crew" comes into the scene.
and CBS
announced its intention to split up only six years after Viacom bought the network and its television assets. Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation
got the broadcasting elements, Paramount Television's production operations (renamed CBS Paramount Television
), Viacom Outdoor advertising (renamed CBS Outdoor
), Showtime Networks (including The Movie Channel), Simon & Schuster
and Paramount Parks
, which the company later sold, while the new Viacom kept Paramount Pictures
, MTV Networks
, BET
, and, until 2007, Famous Music
. National Amusements
retains ownership of both companies to this day.
On May 3, 2006, The Movie Channel rebranded itself once again, adopting a new logo and new slogan, Movies For Movie Lovers.
The feature presentation opens were dropped entirely, going straight from a channel promo to the ratings bumper, as is the case with Showtime since that time period. Up until the 2006 revamp, The Movie Channel's official website was unusual in it was one of only a few (if not the only) cable networks whose website had no special features whatsoever. The channel's website consisted mainly of a programming schedule of films to air on the channel a month in advance. This changed with the channel rebrand, when special features were added to the site such as an online store, a video player and previews of films airing on the channel. The Movie Channel continues to occasionally feature movie trivia segments during promo breaks, as well as on its video-on-demand service, though viewers are redirected to the channel's website to find the answers to the trivia questions.
channels and an On Demand
service. The Movie Channel also packages the Eastern
and Pacific
feeds of the main channel and its multiplex services together, giving viewers a second chance to watch the same movie/program three hours earlier or later — depending on their geographic location:
high definition
, which is carried by most of the major American television providers, including Time Warner Cable
, Cox Communications
, Xfinity by Comcast
, Cablevision, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV
, Dish Network
and Verizon FiOS
.
counterpart to The Movie Channel. The Movie Channel On Demand was launched in 2003 with a subscriber base of two million homes.
Movies are divided into the following categories: Action, Drama, Comedy, "Midnight Movies" (softcore pornographic films), and "Movie Stuff" (film trivia and behind-the-scenes features).
, The Weinstein Company
, Miramax Films
(also including rights to Dimension Films
releases), DreamWorks Pictures (live-action releases through Touchstone Pictures
only), CBS Films
, First Look Pictures, IFC Films
(rights are shared with Starz), THINKFilm
and Anchor Bay Entertainment
. Showtime holds sub-run rights to films from MGM
, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures
and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Many lesser-known film titles released by independent film studios, that have either not been released theatrically or have been released on DVD or home video are also commonly broadcast on The Movie Channel's schedule. The window between a film's initial release in theatres and its initial screening on Showtime and The Movie Channel is much larger than on HBO and Starz. Usually films for which Showtime has rights will also run on The Movie Channel during its time of license.
, The Movie Channel has used a myriad of unusual and sometimes bizarre logos and promotions. TMC's launch logo featured strips of film made to resemble a star with folded sides and another star inside it, in a fitting reference to its previous identity as Star Channel. In 1981, a text was added to include an uppercase "The Movie Channel" (with a slightly enlarged letter "M"). From early 1983 to the summer of 1985, the network also used a script logo, sometimes more often than its "star" logo; one slogan the channel used during this time was "The Heart of Hollywood." In the late 1980s, TMC began airing somewhat clever graphics for their time such as a "tour of Hollywood" movie open which closed with a shot of Hollywood with a faintly visible heart in the middle of the sky.
In November 1988, The Movie Channel changed its logo to feature a profile of a person's face with a pair of eyes and bridge of a nose visible (with various designs used), in a rectangle with the network's name in a Helvetica Extended
font on two tilted lines on either side; many viewers have referenced on online blogs and video websites that this logo, due to the eyes being prominently displayed, had frightened them as young children. Ironically, this logo would be replicated somewhat in May 2008, when WGN America introduced a new logo featuring a set of female eyes rimmed with green mascara
(this logo was replaced in the spring of 2009 with a more retro-styled logo). The channel was then guided towards creating a series of internal campaigns to emphasize the seeming paradox of a contemporary network setting that programmed recent and classic movies. The channel began running a few different computer animated 10 second feature presentation opens/network identifications. One of them was of a the logo at the time, a rectangle with a face visible with the channel's name above and below it, changing facial expressions at the open of a curtain set to calliope-type music. Another open featured the logo rotating to the front profile in front of a gray background with the face also colored gray accompanied by a steady drumbeat; the logo would then "wink." In a longer open, set in a family living room, someone strikes a match about to set fire to a newspaper with the logo on it. Noticing it is in danger, the logo shoots lasers from its eyes and escapes experiencing numerous calamities and seeing unusual sights from the logo's point-of-view such as a close-up of dog's face, the logo almost getting run over by a toy train, etc. until it reaches the safety of a television screen, all set to Indiana Jones-style adventure music.
The logo was changed again in 1997, with a new logo and the tagline "100% Pure Movies, 100% Pure Fun"; its logo featured a 3D computer-animated green ball with an acronym of the channel's name (at a tilted angle, and in lowercase), usually shown either to the side of the channel's full name also in lowercase letters or above the name. During this time, TMC adopted a very slick on-air look. The channel's slogan became "100% Pure Movies, 100% Pure Fun", and more predominantly used CGI graphics. The channel's announcer since then, Jeff Bottoms, offers bold, brash, and entertaining voice-overs. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Movie Channel started running a wide variety of promos from a general movie trailer-type promo to including behind-the-scenes facts on the film. The channel still uses this technique today, although often in a more hybrid way. The channel also began using a unique way of telling viewers what movies were about to play next. It featured the announcer reading off that evening's main feature set to somewhat sophisticated graphics and the time it would be on while the information was displayed and music was played, this simple concept would be revised and rerevised many times over. This continues to be changed and updated.
A similar logo was used when the channel rebranded itself in 2001, featuring a one-dimensional circle with a lowercase "tmc" on it, surrounded with two lines on the corners "framing" the circle and the word "Movie" was rendered in bold type; used with the slogan "The Stuff Movies Are Made Of". In 2006, TMC introduced a new logo featuring three green/blue crescent-like slivers on the top and bottom sides of the channel's name, with the channel's name rendered in the Helvetica Extended type used in the 1988-1997 logo and the rendering of the word "MOVIE" in bold type as in the previous logo. The channel began using simpler state-of-the-art graphics by 2001 and by 2006, they became similar in form to Nick at Nite's 2002 to 2006 graphics package.
On April 1, 2010, The Movie Channel and The Movie Channel Xtra began branding its programming with digital on-screen graphic logos of the respective channels; the bug is an alternate version of the channel's logo with each segment of the channel's name stacked on top of each other, the only difference being the addition of the word "Xtra" when shown on TMC Xtra.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premium channel owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of 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...
, which shows mostly movies, as well as special behind-the-scenes features, softcore adult erotica and movie trivia.
Although the majority of cable systems typically sell The Movie Channel as a package with sister premium channel Showtime, Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish 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...
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. ...
do alternately sell The Movie Channel to non-Showtime subscribers (it is one of only two premium channels to be offered in this manner, the other being Encore).
Early history (1973–1979)
The Movie Channel began in 1973 as Star Channel, a pay movie service of Gridtronics, delivering movies to cable systems via videotapeVideotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
delivered to the cable companies. Sometimes cable companies would have technical problems with the delivered tapes, especially when the tapes jammed on playback to viewers. Later in the decade, it was acquired by Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
, and eventually brought into the 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...
joint venture. The network was initially offered on Warner Cable systems, and later on Warner-Amex's experimental QUBE
QUBE
QUBE was a cable television system that played a pivotal role in the history of American cable television. Launched in Columbus, Ohio in December 1977, QUBE introduced viewers, and the international press, to several concepts that became central to the future development of cable television:...
interactive service.
National expansion as The Movie Channel and transfer to Viacom (1979–2005)
In January 1979, Star Channel was uplinked to satellite, and became a national service. On December 1, 1979, the network relaunched as The Movie Channel; the first feature film to be broadcast was Roman HolidayRoman Holiday
Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him...
. In 1983, Warner-Amex merged The Movie Channel with Viacom's Showtime to form Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. (which would become Showtime Networks, Inc. in 1988). In 1985, Viacom acquired Warner's share of Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc., making them the sole owner of both networks. Ironically, Warner would acquire rivals HBO and Cinemax a few years later, when it merged with Time Inc.
Time Inc.
Time Inc. is a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 merger of the original Time Inc. and Warner Communications. It publishes 130 magazines, most notably its namesake, Time...
The Movie Channel was the first premium channel to show R-rated films during the day. Parent network Showtime also airs R-rated films during the day, as do Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
, Epix, Encore and Starz. HBO does not air any R-rated films on its primary channel until after 8 p.m. ET
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. In 1981, The Movie Channel also became one of the first television channels to broadcast movies in stereo. As the standard for television broadcasts in stereo was a few years away, cable operators simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
the stereo as an FM radio
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
signal. During promo breaks in-between films from 1988 to 1997, The Movie Channel featured trailers for feature films to be released theatrically, and also included "The Movie Channel News", a daily segment featuring film-related entertainment news.
In 1997, The Movie Channel began an extensive rebranding effort. For a brief period, The Movie Channel experimented with premiering its own original movies (which were produced through Showtime). The channel also began airing TMC Movie Marathons, which featured three or four movies selected by the channel set around a specific theme. As part of these marathons, TMC would also air Double Vision Weekend, a marathon of movies airing for one weekend each month with two movies featuring the same actor. In addition, TMC also started running TMC Fun Facts (later known as TMC Reel Stuff) featuring behind-the-scenes facts about movies as well as celebrity trivia. TMC also inserted fun facts about movies the channel promoted that were scheduled to air on the channel. In October of that year, The Movie Channel launched a multiplex service, The Movie Channel 2 (which was renamed The Movie Channel Xtra in 2001).
The Movie Channel was originally a separate channel from the remainder of the Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks, Inc. 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 merged their premium channels, Showtime and The Movie Channel respectively, into one...
family. Before cable systems dropped The Movie Channel (along with Showtime and rivals Cinemax, Encore and Starz) from their basic packages, relegating it to their digital cable packages, The Movie Channel had a high basic cable coverage rate. However, there were several cable providers in areas with smaller populations that did not offer TMC as an add-on to their basic service. In most of these cases, TMC was never carried as a pay service on said cable and satellite providers, though Showtime was.
Around the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, Showtime began offering all of its channels as part of the Showtime Unlimited package and many cable systems, with the exception of 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...
, along with satellite providers 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. ...
and Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish 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...
stopped advertising The Movie Channel as a separate network from Showtime and since Showtime Networks are only available on digital cable, many cable systems will not offer The Movie Channel to non-Showtime subscribers. However, The Movie Channel and The Movie Channel Xtra are both offered either as a separate channel and as part of the Showtime Unlimited package on Dish Network and DirecTV. TMC has the least multiplex services of any of the major premium channels, which is a probable reason as to why the channel is not part of a separate package from Showtime.
In 2001, The Movie Channel began showing TMC First Run Movies -- movies premiering on the channel that never were released theatrically or on home video or DVD. TMC also began to air softcore erotica late at night like parent network Showtime and their competitor Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
, which started the trend on U.S. pay cable networks as a way to better compete against other premium channels. The channel also started running a two-minute sketch segment titled The Pitch which starred Sean Smith, a character actor who has appeared in several TV series and movies, as a movie exec who listens as people try to pitch him movie ideas. The movies pitched are famous movies such as Cliffhanger, The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
, etc. Feature presentation bumpers on the channel also had to deal with the behind the scenes goings on in movies. All movie openings airing on The Movie Channel from 2001 to 2006, featured a faux scene from a movie being made. As the camera zoomed out, the "crew" comes into the scene.
Under CBS Corporation ownership (2005–present)
In 2005, ViacomViacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
and 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...
announced its intention to split up only six years after Viacom bought the network and its television assets. Viacom was renamed 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...
got the broadcasting elements, Paramount Television's production operations (renamed CBS Paramount Television
CBS Paramount Television
CBS Television Studios is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions...
), Viacom Outdoor advertising (renamed CBS 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...
), Showtime Networks (including The Movie Channel), Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
and Paramount Parks
Paramount Parks
Paramount Parks was an operator of theme parks and attractions, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. Viacom had assumed control of the company as part of its acquisition of Paramount Pictures in 1994....
, which the company later sold, while the new Viacom kept Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, 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...
, BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
, and, until 2007, Famous Music
Famous Music
Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump...
. National Amusements
National Amusements
National Amusements, Inc. is a privately owned theatre company based in Dedham, Massachusetts, USA. The company was founded in 1936 as the Northeast Theatre Corporation by Michael Redstone....
retains ownership of both companies to this day.
On May 3, 2006, The Movie Channel rebranded itself once again, adopting a new logo and new slogan, Movies For Movie Lovers.
The feature presentation opens were dropped entirely, going straight from a channel promo to the ratings bumper, as is the case with Showtime since that time period. Up until the 2006 revamp, The Movie Channel's official website was unusual in it was one of only a few (if not the only) cable networks whose website had no special features whatsoever. The channel's website consisted mainly of a programming schedule of films to air on the channel a month in advance. This changed with the channel rebrand, when special features were added to the site such as an online store, a video player and previews of films airing on the channel. The Movie Channel continues to occasionally feature movie trivia segments during promo breaks, as well as on its video-on-demand service, though viewers are redirected to the channel's website to find the answers to the trivia questions.
Channels
The Movie Channel operates two multiplexMultiplexing
The multiplexed signal is transmitted over a communication channel, which may be a physical transmission medium. The multiplexing divides the capacity of the low-level communication channel into several higher-level logical channels, one for each message signal or data stream to be transferred...
channels and an On Demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service. The Movie Channel also packages the Eastern
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
and Pacific
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
feeds of the main channel and its multiplex services together, giving viewers a second chance to watch the same movie/program three hours earlier or later — depending on their geographic location:
- The Movie Channel: The "flagship" channel; blockbuster and smaller first-run films, independent films and late-night erotica; broadcasts a featured movie around 8 p.m. ET each night and features a horror movie double feature on Saturday nights at 10 p.m. ET as part of "Splatterday on Saturday".
- The Movie Channel Xtra: Secondary channel providing more movie choice for viewers, counterprogrammed with The Movie Channel. Features a nightly feature movie around 9 p.m. ET, and rebroadcasts TMC's "Splatterday" block from the previous week on Friday nights at 10 p.m. ET; formerly known as The Movie Channel 2 from its 1997 launch until 2001.
The Movie Channel HD
The Movie Channel provides simulcast feeds of both channels that broadcasts a moderate-to-large schedule of programming in 1080i1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
, which is carried by most of the major American television providers, including Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
, Cox Communications
Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
, Xfinity by 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...
, Cablevision, AT&T U-verse, 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. ...
, Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish 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...
and Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
.
The Movie Channel On Demand
The Movie Channel On Demand is a VODVideo on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
counterpart to The Movie Channel. The Movie Channel On Demand was launched in 2003 with a subscriber base of two million homes.
Movies are divided into the following categories: Action, Drama, Comedy, "Midnight Movies" (softcore pornographic films), and "Movie Stuff" (film trivia and behind-the-scenes features).
Movie library
The Movie Channel (through Showtime) holds first-run premium cable rights to films from Summit EntertainmentSummit Entertainment
Summit Entertainment LLC is an independent film studio headquartered in Santa Monica, California with international offices in London.-History:...
, The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
, Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
(also including rights to Dimension Films
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
releases), DreamWorks Pictures (live-action releases through Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
only), CBS Films
CBS Films
CBS Films is an American film production company founded in 2007, a feature film division of CBS Corporation. CBS Films is located on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.-Company history:...
, First Look Pictures, IFC Films
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....
(rights are shared with Starz), THINKFilm
THINKFilm
THINKFilm is a privately held production and distribution company founded in September 2001. It has been a division of David Bergstein’s Capitol Films since 2006. Bergstein also serves as the company’s chairman...
and Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
. Showtime holds sub-run rights to films from MGM
MGM Holdings
MGM Holdings Inc. is a Delaware-registered pure holding company and the parent company of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Through this holding company, the entertainment & investment consortium owned the Hollywood studio. Its headquarters are in the MGM Tower in Century City, Los...
, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Many lesser-known film titles released by independent film studios, that have either not been released theatrically or have been released on DVD or home video are also commonly broadcast on The Movie Channel's schedule. The window between a film's initial release in theatres and its initial screening on Showtime and The Movie Channel is much larger than on HBO and Starz. Usually films for which Showtime has rights will also run on The Movie Channel during its time of license.
Current
- Splatterday: Following the 2006 rebrand, The Movie Channel introduced a weekly block called "Splatterday on Saturday" (also known as simply "Splatterday"). The block, which airs on Saturday nights beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET, consists of a horror movie double feature (however until late 2008, the now-defunct Showtime series Masters of HorrorMasters of HorrorMasters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...
aired as part of the "Splatterday" block; it was the only television series to ever air on TMC). The two films airing in the initial block re-air on TMC following the conclusion of the second film and the entire block encores on The Movie Channel Xtra the Friday night before the next "Splatterday" double feature on The Movie Channel, airing on TMC Xtra also at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Former
- Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater: Airing on Saturday nights from 1986 to 1997, this feature was hosted by Joe Bob BriggsJoe Bob BriggsJohn Irving Bloom , who uses the pseudonym Joe Bob Briggs, is a syndicated American film critic, writer and comic performer.-Early years:...
(played by actor and film critic John Irving Bloom). Joe Bob was known for wearing cowboy attire and his signature ten-gallon hat and having a unique way of introducing movies (including referencing exactly how much violence and nudity each movie had). In addition to Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, Bloom also portrayed his Joe Bob character during the 1980s as host of the Moonlight Madness features on the channel. In 1997, following a major rebrand of The Movie Channel, the channel removed all remaining hosted features, including Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater; at that time, premium channels began to stray from featuring hosts for its film presentations. After The Movie Channel dropped Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, Bloom took the Joe Bob Briggs character with him, becoming the host of MonsterVision, a weekly horror film presentation airing on TNTTurner Network TelevisionTurner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
until 2000. - TMC Top Attraction: From 1988 until 1997, The Movie Channel carried the "TMC Top Attraction", in which the channel broadcast a featured movie on Friday nights at 11 p.m. ET, with rebroadcasts on Saturday and Sunday evenings that are each broadcast two hours earlier from the prior primetime airing.
- The Movie Channel Challenge: Also from 1990 until 1997, The Movie Channel ran "The Movie Channel Challenge", in which the channel would air about 400 movies in the course of a month without repeat airings during the month. This was made to set itself apart from its normal schedule and the schedules of other pay-TV channels in which only certain films would not be repeated during the month, but most were encored as much as eight times in a monthly period. Some days during The Movie Channel Challenge, movies pertaining to a certain actor or film genre would be aired.
- Salute to the Academy Awards: Similar to Turner Classic MoviesTurner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
' 31 Days of Oscar31 Days of Oscar31 Days of Oscar is a programming franchise aired each Oscar season by the U.S. and Asian Turner Classic Movies cable networks during the month of the Academy Awards...
, The Movie Channel aired the "Salute to the Academy Awards" from 1984 until 1997. The month-long block aired in the month proceeding the Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
featured Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning films, with one Oscar winning or nominated film airing each night during the evening. - VCR Theater / TMC Overnight: Around the same time, The Movie Channel sought that much of its subscriber base owned VCRs as the device became more and more common during the 1980s. TMC began adding a weekly feature called "The Movie Channel's VCR Theater", which would air on early Wednesday mornings at 3:00 a.m. ET. These films were movies the channel figured were worth recording so that their subscribers could watch them whenever they liked. By the late 1990s, TMC created a reworked version of "VCR Theater" called "TMC Overnight", which ended in 2004.
- Daily marathons: In 1997, following TMC's makeover, the channel began airing daily movie marathons, three (sometimes four) movies that were tied to a specific subject (such as "Ouch" for crime dramas or "Omar Goodness" for films that starred Omar EppsOmar EppsOmar Hashim Epps is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His film roles include Major League II, Juice, Higher Learning, Scream 2, The Wood, In Too Deep, and Love and Basketball. Epps' television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis Gant on the US medical drama series ER,...
). - TMC Double Vision Weekends: In turn, the channel also launched "TMC Double Vision Weekends", which aired bi-monthly, that featured three different movies that star the same actor with each marathon changing after the previous one ended. "Double Vision Weekends" typically lasted for a longer portion of the day than a typical movie marathon (a typical TMC movie marathon lasts only during the afternoon/evening or from late afternoon to mid-evening). Both "Double Vision Weekends" and "TMC Overnight" were dropped in 2006.
Branding
As did former sister network Nick at NiteNick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
, The Movie Channel has used a myriad of unusual and sometimes bizarre logos and promotions. TMC's launch logo featured strips of film made to resemble a star with folded sides and another star inside it, in a fitting reference to its previous identity as Star Channel. In 1981, a text was added to include an uppercase "The Movie Channel" (with a slightly enlarged letter "M"). From early 1983 to the summer of 1985, the network also used a script logo, sometimes more often than its "star" logo; one slogan the channel used during this time was "The Heart of Hollywood." In the late 1980s, TMC began airing somewhat clever graphics for their time such as a "tour of Hollywood" movie open which closed with a shot of Hollywood with a faintly visible heart in the middle of the sky.
In November 1988, The Movie Channel changed its logo to feature a profile of a person's face with a pair of eyes and bridge of a nose visible (with various designs used), in a rectangle with the network's name in a Helvetica Extended
Helvetica
Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann.-Visual distinctive characteristics:Characteristics of this typeface are:lower case:square dot over the letter i....
font on two tilted lines on either side; many viewers have referenced on online blogs and video websites that this logo, due to the eyes being prominently displayed, had frightened them as young children. Ironically, this logo would be replicated somewhat in May 2008, when WGN America introduced a new logo featuring a set of female eyes rimmed with green mascara
Mascara
Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the eyes. It may darken, thicken, lengthen, and/or define the eyelashes. Normally in one of three forms—liquid, cake, or cream—the modern mascara product has various formulas; however, all contain the same basic components of pigments, oils, waxes, and...
(this logo was replaced in the spring of 2009 with a more retro-styled logo). The channel was then guided towards creating a series of internal campaigns to emphasize the seeming paradox of a contemporary network setting that programmed recent and classic movies. The channel began running a few different computer animated 10 second feature presentation opens/network identifications. One of them was of a the logo at the time, a rectangle with a face visible with the channel's name above and below it, changing facial expressions at the open of a curtain set to calliope-type music. Another open featured the logo rotating to the front profile in front of a gray background with the face also colored gray accompanied by a steady drumbeat; the logo would then "wink." In a longer open, set in a family living room, someone strikes a match about to set fire to a newspaper with the logo on it. Noticing it is in danger, the logo shoots lasers from its eyes and escapes experiencing numerous calamities and seeing unusual sights from the logo's point-of-view such as a close-up of dog's face, the logo almost getting run over by a toy train, etc. until it reaches the safety of a television screen, all set to Indiana Jones-style adventure music.
The logo was changed again in 1997, with a new logo and the tagline "100% Pure Movies, 100% Pure Fun"; its logo featured a 3D computer-animated green ball with an acronym of the channel's name (at a tilted angle, and in lowercase), usually shown either to the side of the channel's full name also in lowercase letters or above the name. During this time, TMC adopted a very slick on-air look. The channel's slogan became "100% Pure Movies, 100% Pure Fun", and more predominantly used CGI graphics. The channel's announcer since then, Jeff Bottoms, offers bold, brash, and entertaining voice-overs. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Movie Channel started running a wide variety of promos from a general movie trailer-type promo to including behind-the-scenes facts on the film. The channel still uses this technique today, although often in a more hybrid way. The channel also began using a unique way of telling viewers what movies were about to play next. It featured the announcer reading off that evening's main feature set to somewhat sophisticated graphics and the time it would be on while the information was displayed and music was played, this simple concept would be revised and rerevised many times over. This continues to be changed and updated.
A similar logo was used when the channel rebranded itself in 2001, featuring a one-dimensional circle with a lowercase "tmc" on it, surrounded with two lines on the corners "framing" the circle and the word "Movie" was rendered in bold type; used with the slogan "The Stuff Movies Are Made Of". In 2006, TMC introduced a new logo featuring three green/blue crescent-like slivers on the top and bottom sides of the channel's name, with the channel's name rendered in the Helvetica Extended type used in the 1988-1997 logo and the rendering of the word "MOVIE" in bold type as in the previous logo. The channel began using simpler state-of-the-art graphics by 2001 and by 2006, they became similar in form to Nick at Nite's 2002 to 2006 graphics package.
On April 1, 2010, The Movie Channel and The Movie Channel Xtra began branding its programming with digital on-screen graphic logos of the respective channels; the bug is an alternate version of the channel's logo with each segment of the channel's name stacked on top of each other, the only difference being the addition of the word "Xtra" when shown on TMC Xtra.
Network slogans
- 1979–1985: "We're Taking Movies to America, 24 Hours a Day"
- 1979–1988: "All Movies, 24 Hours a Day" (used as alternate slogan from 1985–1988)
- 1984–1988: "The Heart of Hollywood"
- 1988–1997: "A Movie Anytime You Want One"
- 1997–2001: "100% Pure Movies, 100% Pure Fun"
- 2001–2006: "The Stuff Movies Are Made Of"
- 2006–present: "Movies for Movie Lovers"
Carriage issues
- In May 1994, now-defunct cable provider Tele-Communications Inc.Tele-Communications Inc.Tele-Communications, Inc. or TCI was a cable television provider in the United States, for much of its history controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone....
dropped The Movie Channel from more than 30 of the provider's cable systems. This occurred as Viacom was in the middle of an antitrust lawsuit against TCI in which Viacom accused TCI of a "conspiracy to eliminate" the Showtime Networks channels, including The Movie Channel. Viacom accused TCI of using the issue of its affiliation contract, which expired in January 1993, to pressure Viacom into settling its lawsuit against them, in which Viacom stated that TCI threatened to hurt both Showtime and The Movie Channel unless Viacom agreed to acquire a stake in Encore, a channel Viacom claimed to be a concept first made by them four years earlier during failed negotiations that would have had TCI purchase a 50% stake in Showtime Networks. The local TCI systems said that the decision to remove The Movie Channel from their channel lineups were made at the local level and not a company-wide decision. - Now-defunct satellite provider PrimestarPrimeStarPrimeStar was a U.S. direct broadcast satellite broadcasting company formed in 1991 by a consortium of cable television system operators. PrimeStar was the first medium-powered DBS system in the United States but slowly declined in popularity with the arrival of DirecTV in 1994 and Dish Network in...
never carried The Movie Channel on their service; however, Primestar did plan on adding The Movie Channel to its service in January 1999, although shortly thereafter Primestar sold its assets to Hughes CommunicationsHughes CommunicationsHughes Communications is a provider of satellite-based communications services. The company operates its satellite business through its wholly owned subsidiary, HughesNet.In 2011, Hughes was acquired by EchoStar in a deal valued at US$1.3 billion....
, then-owners of DirecTVDirecTVDirecTV 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. ...
.