Starz!
Encyclopedia
Starz is an American
premium subscription channel that features mainly first-run motion pictures, along with some original programming. The channel is the flagship service of Liberty Starz
, which also owns its sister channel Encore, which was launched three years before Starz's February 1, 1994 debut; despite this, Starz is considered by the company as the flagship of the Starz Entertainment channels.
The headquarters of Starz and its sister channels Encore and MoviePlex are located on the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorado
. As of October 2011, Starz's programming is available to 19 million subscribers in the United States.
, primarily on TCI cable systems (both it and Liberty Media
were controlled by John Malone); the first movie ever aired on the channel was the 1992 drama Scent of a Woman
, starring Al Pacino
. Starz! originally carried the "Encore 8" moniker, as it was launched as part of the Encore thematic multiplex, the multiplex was to have been only six channels prior to a deal in 1993 in which Encore acquired the pay cable rights to telecast recent feature films released by Universal Pictures
after 1993.
While at launch, its cable coverage was mainly limited to TCI systems, Starz's carriage later expanded to more than 90% of all American cable systems in the United States by the beginning years of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The channel focused more on recent hit movies than sister channel Encore, which originally aired movies made primarily in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s before adding recent fare as well in July 1999. Besides rights to Universal Pictures films, Starz also initially had rights to films released by Carolco Pictures
, Fine Line Features
and its sibling New Line Cinema
, and Disney-owned Miramax, Touchstone Pictures
and Hollywood Pictures
(although films from those studios did not begin to be carried on Starz! until 1997, after the studio's output deal with Showtime ended). Films that contained graphic sexual or violent content would also be scheduled in the late evening and overnight hours.
Within two years of the channel's launch, Starz began being separated from the Encore brand (though the "Encore 8" moniker remained in use until 2002) and Starz began launching its own multiplex channels: Starz! 2 (launched 1996, renamed Starz! Theater in 1999 and Starz Edge in 2005), BET Movies: Starz! 3 (launched 1997, renamed Black Starz! in 2001 after BET came under common ownership with Showtime, and renamed Starz inBlack in 2005), Starz! Cinema (launched 1999), Starz! Family (launched in 2000), and Starz! Kids (launched 2004). Starz! Family and Starz! Kids later merged into Starz Kids & Family in 2005, with Starz Comedy taking Starz! Kids's channel space at the same time. A high-definition simulcast feed was launched in 2004. It was not until September 1995, that Starz! signed its first affiliation agreement with a major multiple system operator other than TCI, when it signed a deal with Continental Cablevision. By 1996, Starz! had an estimated total of 2.8 million subscribers, only one million of which subscribers to another cable provider or satellite.
By 1997, Starz! had lost $150 million in revenue and was predicted to lose an additional estimated $300 million in revenue before its cash flow broke even. On June 2, 1997, TCI announced a deal in which it would transfer majority ownership of Starz to sister company Liberty Media, with TCI retaining a minority 20% ownership; the corporate entity behind Starz and Encore was renamed Encore Media Group (which was renamed the Starz Encore Media Group in 2000, and then to Starz Entertainment in 2005), which operated the seven Encore multiplex networks. By May 1998, Starz! increased its subscriber base to 7.6 million homes.
In 2003, Starz Encore Group eliminated 100 jobs at its regional offices and closed four of the nine regional offices it operated, as part of a restructuring plan for the company. On November 19, 2009 Liberty Media spun off Starz and Encore into a new company named Liberty Starz
. On January 1, 2010, former HBO President Chris Albrecht
joined Starz, LLC as its President and CEO. He will oversee all of the Starz entities, including Starz Entertainment, Overture Films, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman.
While sister channel Encore is separate from Starz, cable providers usually offer the Encore services on a separate digital cable tier from Starz and some cable systems do not sell and bundle Encore separately from Starz. Starz and Encore were the first major premium channel competitors since The Movie Channel
and Cinemax
launched in 1979 and 1980, respectively; as other premium channels that existed before the launch of the Starz and Encore channels including Home Theater Network
and Spotlight were unable to compete against HBO and Showtime, and their aforementioned respective sister premium channels. Unlike HBO and Showtime, the Starz channels neither have international premium channels nor have international cable channels that license the Starz or Encore brands.
channels, a high-definition simulcast of all six channels, and a video-on-demand service. Starz packages the Eastern/Central and Pacific/Mountain feeds of the main Starz service together, allowing viewers a second chance to watch the same movie/program three hours earlier or later depending on their geographic location.
In 1994, Encore launched the industry's first "themed" extension - seven additional channels that each focused on a specific genre. Initially, this was to be six channels, but Encore decided to launch its own competitor to HBO and Showtime, dubbed Starz!
, acquiring the rights to first-run Universal Studios
films.
Each was given its own number to identify itself as an Encore channel (see Encore
article for more information). Starz was the notable exception as it continued to use the "Encore 8" branding in its main idents and movie openers until 2002, even as it was separated entirely from the Encore brand and in the late 1990s, given its own family of channels. The first of which was Starz! 2 in 1996, then in 1997, a multiplex channel that served as a joint venture with BET called BET Movies: Starz! 3 debuted, which later became Black Starz! after BET
was opted out of the venture and was acquired by Viacom
(then owner of Starz's rival Showtime) in 2001. In May 1999, two additional multiplex channels were added; the first was a family movie channel (possibly launched in response to the earlier launch of HBO's own family service, HBO Family) called Starz! Family, which aired only family movies, and the other service was Starz Cinema, a movie channel featuring thought-provoking independent films and movies outside of mainstream cinema. Starz! 2 was also reformatted as Starz! Theater, offering four different movies programmed movie-theater style throughout the week.
In 2004, Starz! Kids was launched, aimed at children ages 2- to 11-years-old, and carried a similar format to that of Starz! Family. Unlike the rest of the Starz multiplex, Starz Kids was launched on individual cable systems instead of nationwide, similar to HBO2 and MoreMax (then Cinemax 2) when they were launched in 1991.
On March 28, 2005, Starz and Encore both underwent major rebrands. While Encore's rebrand involved a slightly modified logo and the addition of the Encore name to all of its channels, Starz's makeover was more dramatic, opting for a completely redesigned logo and cohesive graphics package across all channels. Several channels formats were changed completely. Starz Theater, a channel that showed four Starz films at fixed times all week, changed its name and format, respectively, to Starz Edge, a movie channel for young men (also known as "The New Generation"). Starz Kids and Starz Family were merged into one channel (Starz Kids and Family) to make room for a new channel called Starz Comedy. And to fit in with the new look, Black Starz was renamed Starz InBlack. Starz Cinema was the only Starz channel other than the main channel to keep its original name.
The Starz Multiplex has been given several names over the years, including "Starz Super Pak." The multiplex now has no "official" name, and viewers are simply told they are watching "one of the six Starz channels." An unofficial name for the Starz and Encore channels on Dish Network is the 'Starz Moviepack,' while other providers who bundle all of the channels still use the "Starz Super Pak" moniker.
Effective February 1, 2011, in celebration of Dish Network's 15th anniversary, every Dish customer, whether or not they subscribe to the premium channels, will get all seven channels of Starz and the East Coast feed of Encore for free
until February 1, 2012.
high definition simulcast of all six of the Starz channels. When it launched in December 2003, the simulcast originally covered only the main Starz channel (east and west coast feeds); an enhanced definition simulcast feed and a separate 1080i HD channel called Sharper Movies HD, that would be similar to sister channel Encore's MoviePlex
, were also planned; but plans for the latter service were later scrapped due to a lack of interest from providers to charge a premium fee for the network. HD feeds of Starz Kids and Family, Starz Comedy and Starz Edge, followed in 2007.
The remaining Starz multiplex channels, Starz Cinema and Starz In Black, launched their HD simulcast feeds on June 23, 2010, with DirecTV becoming the first provider to offer all six channels (including both coastal feeds of the primary Starz channel) in HD. It is currently carried nationally by satellite providers DirecTV
and Dish Network
and regionally by Verizon FiOS
, AT&T U-Verse, Comcast
, Time Warner Cable
, Cox Communications
, Cablevision and Charter Communications
, among others.
features Starz content on their "Watch Instantly" streaming service under the branding StarzPlay, which also features most of the network's original series programming. StarzPlay was created in late 2008, after Netflix made a deal with Starz Entertainment and smaller studios the Starz channel has output deals with, in lieu of buying digital rights, which can be expensive for newer film titles, allowing Netflix to sub-license the channel's film rights for online streaming as Netflix was merely a "content aggregator". However because Netflix chose to sub-license streaming rights through Starz rather than purchasing them outright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group threatened not to renew its output deal with Starz (which expires in 2012) unless it either ends its deal with Netflix or pays Disney a licensing fee to obtain digital streaming rights to its films. The service was first made available to Verizon FiOS
subscribers, who subscribe to the Starz service. On September 1, 2011, Starz announced that it would not renew its agreement with Netflix, which ends on February 28, 2012; as a result, all Starz film and original programming content will be removed from Netflix on March 1, 2012.
StarzPlay is the third online streaming service operated by Starz: from 2004 to 2006, Starz operated Starz Ticket, a subscription streaming and download movie service that was a joint venture between Starz and RealNetworks
. From 2006 until it discontinued the service on September 30, 2008, Starz offered the online movie service, Vongo
to its subscribers.
system. The service has a unique characteristic of offering early premieres of feature films that are scheduled to premiere on Starz, up to one month prior to their pay cable debut on the primary linear channel. Incidentally, the Starz On Demand name was also used for an online broadband streaming movie service operated by Starz and RealNetworks from 2003 to 2004. In March 2011, Starz On Demand launched a third VOD service (in addition to its standard definition and high definition VOD services), offering movies presented in 3D to customers of Comcast
and Verizon FiOS
at no additional charge.
, Touchstone Pictures
, and Hollywood Pictures
), Sony Pictures Entertainment
(including Columbia Pictures
, Sony Pictures Classics
, Screen Gems
, TriStar Pictures
), Overture Films
(also owned by Starz' parent, Liberty Media), Anchor Bay Entertainment
, Yari Film Group
, and Warren Miller Films, among other leading distributors.
Starz also airs older titles from Time Warner
subsidiaries Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema
and Turner Entertainment
, as well as from 20th Century Fox
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, Miramax Films
, Paramount Pictures
and Universal Studios
.
Starz commonly premieres recent theatrically released hit movies on most Saturday nights at 9 p.m. ET as part of a weekly feature film block, called the "Starz Saturday Premiere". Usually films which Starz has pay-cable rights will also run on Encore and MoviePlex during its time of license. From 1995 to 2002, Starz broadcast occasional original made-for-pay cable movies produced by the in-house company Starz! Pictures.
and Head Case
, used unconventional time lengths, running under 15 minutes in length; eventually half-hour and hour-long series were incorporated. Starz has announced it will double its original programming in 2011.
In addition to original programming on the primary Starz channel, Starz Kids & Family also features some series programming, which are aimed at young children and pre-teens. Starz Kids & Family runs a Monday-Saturday morning block called "Building Blocks", featuring both original and acquired animated series (such as Dragon Hunters
, Eloise and The New Adventures of Nanoboy); and a weekday afternoon block called "Camp Block" (the title is a parody of the Disney Channel made-for-cable film Camp Rock
), consisting of imported series from Canada
and Australia
, similar to those seen on sister channel Encore Wam prior to 2009, targeted at pre-teens and young teenagers (such as Baxter
, Connor Undercover
and Mortified
).
The original on-air graphics were styled like a movie theater. The main network ID featured seats opening (by themselves), various theater imagery, and even images resembling the Caduceus
. The word "STARZ!" in the network logo was styled after 1930's-era movie poster typography. Starz! also heavily included its designation of "Encore 8" in their graphics, even after the numbering system was abandoned for "an encore network" (a branding Starz! also used, though sparingly) in 1997. The Feature Presentation bumpers also heavily used the movie theater themes (here spotlights and film canisters) and the "Encore 8" name. This look was ultimately abandoned in May 2002.
In 2002, Starz! introduced the InfoBar, a bar that appears on the bottom of the screen during breaks and at the end of movies. The original purpose was to promote upcoming programming. In the same year, Starz! underwent a major on-air branding revamp, changing from the "theater" look that had been used since the day the network signed on to a look based around natural themes (particularly water). The new look did not carry over to any of the spin-off channels, despite that, Starz! introduced a 7-note fanfare as a musical motif. All of the 2002 branding (excluding the fanfare, which was remixed) was dropped in 2005. In 2005, Starz began branding its feature film content with a semi-transparent version of logo appearing in the lower-right corner of the screen. This practice was discontinued after the April 2008 revamp; instead, a bright white logo (all channels) and a bright orange (Starz Kids & Family HD only) logo, respectively, are in use as of July 2011.
Former Starz president Tom Southwick explained his channel's apparent identity crisis: "Our research found that a large number of our viewers did not know which channel they were watching when they tuned in, particularly if they were channel surfing and came in after the start of the film. We do not use the bug continuously or on all our films. But we need to get attribution for the films we run, and for which we pay hefty fees to the studios. The situation has grown worse as additional premium channels have launched in the past few years and many viewers subscribe to more than one package." Another part of the relaunch is a revamped InfoBar, whose purpose was expanded to tell viewers they were watching "one of the six Starz channels", promote events on the other networks, (example: the InfoBar on Starz promotes "Stand Up or Shut Up" on Starz Comedy) and display entertainment headlines from The Daily Variety
' s website. Encore has also adapted a similar version of the InfoBar for its networks, and is still in use today. After the channel's April 2008 rebrand, the InfoBar began to once again only serve to promote programming on the main Starz channel, while on its multiplex networks, the InfoBar only serves as a network ID.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premium subscription channel that features mainly first-run motion pictures, along with some original programming. The channel is the flagship service of Liberty Starz
Liberty Starz
Liberty Starz is a wholly owned television programming subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.The company is headquartered at Meridian, Colorado, though the postal designation of nearby Englewood is commonly listed as the company's location in corporate filings and news accounts...
, which also owns its sister channel Encore, which was launched three years before Starz's February 1, 1994 debut; despite this, Starz is considered by the company as the flagship of the Starz Entertainment channels.
The headquarters of Starz and its sister channels Encore and MoviePlex are located on the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorado
Meridian, Colorado
Meridian is a census-designated place in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 184 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Meridian is located at ....
. As of October 2011, Starz's programming is available to 19 million subscribers in the United States.
History
Starz! was launched on February 1, 1994 at 8 p.m. ETEastern 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...
, primarily on TCI cable systems (both it and Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....
were controlled by John Malone); the first movie ever aired on the channel was the 1992 drama Scent of a Woman
Scent of a Woman
This article is about the American film. For the Korean drama, see Scent of a Woman .Scent of a Woman is a 1992 drama film directed by Martin Brest that tells the story of a preparatory school student who takes a job as an assistant to an irascible, blind, medically retired Army officer...
, starring Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
. Starz! originally carried the "Encore 8" moniker, as it was launched as part of the Encore thematic multiplex, the multiplex was to have been only six channels prior to a deal in 1993 in which Encore acquired the pay cable rights to telecast recent feature films released by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
after 1993.
While at launch, its cable coverage was mainly limited to TCI systems, Starz's carriage later expanded to more than 90% of all American cable systems in the United States by the beginning years of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The channel focused more on recent hit movies than sister channel Encore, which originally aired movies made primarily in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s before adding recent fare as well in July 1999. Besides rights to Universal Pictures films, Starz also initially had rights to films released by Carolco Pictures
Carolco Pictures
Carolco Pictures, Inc., Carolco International N.V., or Anabasis Investments was an American independent film production company that, within a decade, went from producing such blockbuster successes as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the first three movies of the Rambo series to being bankrupted by...
, Fine Line Features
Fine Line Features
Fine Line Features was the speciality films division of New Line Cinema. It produced, purchased, distributed and marketed films of a more "indie" flavor than its parent company...
and its sibling New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, and Disney-owned Miramax, 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...
and Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
(although films from those studios did not begin to be carried on Starz! until 1997, after the studio's output deal with Showtime ended). Films that contained graphic sexual or violent content would also be scheduled in the late evening and overnight hours.
Within two years of the channel's launch, Starz began being separated from the Encore brand (though the "Encore 8" moniker remained in use until 2002) and Starz began launching its own multiplex channels: Starz! 2 (launched 1996, renamed Starz! Theater in 1999 and Starz Edge in 2005), BET Movies: Starz! 3 (launched 1997, renamed Black Starz! in 2001 after BET came under common ownership with Showtime, and renamed Starz inBlack in 2005), Starz! Cinema (launched 1999), Starz! Family (launched in 2000), and Starz! Kids (launched 2004). Starz! Family and Starz! Kids later merged into Starz Kids & Family in 2005, with Starz Comedy taking Starz! Kids's channel space at the same time. A high-definition simulcast feed was launched in 2004. It was not until September 1995, that Starz! signed its first affiliation agreement with a major multiple system operator other than TCI, when it signed a deal with Continental Cablevision. By 1996, Starz! had an estimated total of 2.8 million subscribers, only one million of which subscribers to another cable provider or satellite.
By 1997, Starz! had lost $150 million in revenue and was predicted to lose an additional estimated $300 million in revenue before its cash flow broke even. On June 2, 1997, TCI announced a deal in which it would transfer majority ownership of Starz to sister company Liberty Media, with TCI retaining a minority 20% ownership; the corporate entity behind Starz and Encore was renamed Encore Media Group (which was renamed the Starz Encore Media Group in 2000, and then to Starz Entertainment in 2005), which operated the seven Encore multiplex networks. By May 1998, Starz! increased its subscriber base to 7.6 million homes.
In 2003, Starz Encore Group eliminated 100 jobs at its regional offices and closed four of the nine regional offices it operated, as part of a restructuring plan for the company. On November 19, 2009 Liberty Media spun off Starz and Encore into a new company named Liberty Starz
Liberty Starz
Liberty Starz is a wholly owned television programming subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.The company is headquartered at Meridian, Colorado, though the postal designation of nearby Englewood is commonly listed as the company's location in corporate filings and news accounts...
. On January 1, 2010, former HBO President Chris Albrecht
Chris Albrecht
Chris Albrecht is an American media executive. Albrecht is currently the President and CEO of Starz, LLC, Liberty Media Corp.'s pay cable and movie unit. Albrecht is the former Chairman and CEO of HBO. He founded Foresee Entertainment, an independent content creation, development and distribution...
joined Starz, LLC as its President and CEO. He will oversee all of the Starz entities, including Starz Entertainment, Overture Films, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman.
While sister channel Encore is separate from Starz, cable providers usually offer the Encore services on a separate digital cable tier from Starz and some cable systems do not sell and bundle Encore separately from Starz. Starz and Encore were the first major premium channel competitors since 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....
and 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...
launched in 1979 and 1980, respectively; as other premium channels that existed before the launch of the Starz and Encore channels including Home Theater Network
Home Theater Network
Home Theater Network or HTN was the name of a premium cable television service that existed from 1977 to 1987. The service was operated by Group W Satellite Communications.-History:...
and Spotlight were unable to compete against HBO and Showtime, and their aforementioned respective sister premium channels. Unlike HBO and Showtime, the Starz channels neither have international premium channels nor have international cable channels that license the Starz or Encore brands.
Channels
Starz operates six 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, a high-definition simulcast of all six channels, and a video-on-demand service. Starz packages the Eastern/Central and Pacific/Mountain feeds of the main Starz service together, allowing viewers a second chance to watch the same movie/program three hours earlier or later depending on their geographic location.
- Starz: The flagship channel; features hit movies and first-run films from Hollywood blockbusters to indie flicks and international pictures, along with some original series.
- Starz Cinema: The destination for movies with enduring themes, films outside the mainstream cinema, and arthouse films; launched in 1999.
- Starz Comedy: Lighthearted flicks and movies that make you laugh; took over the channel space from Starz! Kids in 2005; the channel was originally slated to launch as a separate multiplex channel in 2002, but plans were postponed for unknown reasons.
- Starz Edge: Films for the new generation, aimed at the 18 to 34-year-old demographic; launched in 1996, originally known as Starz! 2 and later Starz! Theater
- Starz In Black: Dedicated to showcasing the best in black cinema and urban entertainment; including first-run hits, classical films, Pan-African films and original productions. Launched in 1997, Starz in Black was previously known as BET Movies: Starz! (when it was co-owned with BETBlack Entertainment TelevisionBlack 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...
), then renamed Black Starz, when BET was opted out of the venture and purchased by ViacomViacomViacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
. - Starz Kids & Family: Features commercial-free family movies from action and adventure movies to comedies to family treasures, along with some animated and imported live-action children's series; includes "Building Blocks", a weekday morning block of (primarily Canadian) animated series and "Camp Block", a weekday afternoon block of imported live-action series aimed at pre-teens. This channel previously was two services: Starz! Kids (launched in 2004) and Starz! Family (launched in 2000), but both were merged into one channel in 2005. Unlike Encore Family (which replaced Encore Wam in August 2011), Starz Kids & Family will still mix some PG-13 rated films onto its schedule, along with G- and PG-rated films.
In 1994, Encore launched the industry's first "themed" extension - seven additional channels that each focused on a specific genre. Initially, this was to be six channels, but Encore decided to launch its own competitor to HBO and Showtime, dubbed Starz!
Starz!
Starz is an American premium subscription channel that features mainly first-run motion pictures, along with some original programming...
, acquiring the rights to first-run Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
films.
Each was given its own number to identify itself as an Encore channel (see Encore
Encore (Premium TV)
Encore is an American premium television channel featuring mainly older and recent blockbuster motion pictures. It is owned by Liberty Starz. The headquarters of Encore and its sister channels Starz and MoviePlex are located on the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian,...
article for more information). Starz was the notable exception as it continued to use the "Encore 8" branding in its main idents and movie openers until 2002, even as it was separated entirely from the Encore brand and in the late 1990s, given its own family of channels. The first of which was Starz! 2 in 1996, then in 1997, a multiplex channel that served as a joint venture with BET called BET Movies: Starz! 3 debuted, which later became Black Starz! after BET
Bet
Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...
was opted out of the venture and was acquired by Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
(then owner of Starz's rival Showtime) in 2001. In May 1999, two additional multiplex channels were added; the first was a family movie channel (possibly launched in response to the earlier launch of HBO's own family service, HBO Family) called Starz! Family, which aired only family movies, and the other service was Starz Cinema, a movie channel featuring thought-provoking independent films and movies outside of mainstream cinema. Starz! 2 was also reformatted as Starz! Theater, offering four different movies programmed movie-theater style throughout the week.
In 2004, Starz! Kids was launched, aimed at children ages 2- to 11-years-old, and carried a similar format to that of Starz! Family. Unlike the rest of the Starz multiplex, Starz Kids was launched on individual cable systems instead of nationwide, similar to HBO2 and MoreMax (then Cinemax 2) when they were launched in 1991.
On March 28, 2005, Starz and Encore both underwent major rebrands. While Encore's rebrand involved a slightly modified logo and the addition of the Encore name to all of its channels, Starz's makeover was more dramatic, opting for a completely redesigned logo and cohesive graphics package across all channels. Several channels formats were changed completely. Starz Theater, a channel that showed four Starz films at fixed times all week, changed its name and format, respectively, to Starz Edge, a movie channel for young men (also known as "The New Generation"). Starz Kids and Starz Family were merged into one channel (Starz Kids and Family) to make room for a new channel called Starz Comedy. And to fit in with the new look, Black Starz was renamed Starz InBlack. Starz Cinema was the only Starz channel other than the main channel to keep its original name.
The Starz Multiplex has been given several names over the years, including "Starz Super Pak." The multiplex now has no "official" name, and viewers are simply told they are watching "one of the six Starz channels." An unofficial name for the Starz and Encore channels on Dish Network is the 'Starz Moviepack,' while other providers who bundle all of the channels still use the "Starz Super Pak" moniker.
Effective February 1, 2011, in celebration of Dish Network's 15th anniversary, every Dish customer, whether or not they subscribe to the premium channels, will get all seven channels of Starz and the East Coast feed of Encore for free
Free preview
Free preview, sometimes referred to by the portmanteau nickname "freeview", is a term, most commonly used by cable television, referring to when cable systems offer a pay-TV service to customers for free for a short period of time.-History:...
until February 1, 2012.
Starz HD
Starz operates a 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 simulcast of all six of the Starz channels. When it launched in December 2003, the simulcast originally covered only the main Starz channel (east and west coast feeds); an enhanced definition simulcast feed and a separate 1080i HD channel called Sharper Movies HD, that would be similar to sister channel Encore's MoviePlex
MOVIEplex
MoviePlex is an American premium television network which features recent and older motion pictures. It is a spinoff of the Encore movie channel and is owned by Liberty Starz...
, were also planned; but plans for the latter service were later scrapped due to a lack of interest from providers to charge a premium fee for the network. HD feeds of Starz Kids and Family, Starz Comedy and Starz Edge, followed in 2007.
The remaining Starz multiplex channels, Starz Cinema and Starz In Black, launched their HD simulcast feeds on June 23, 2010, with DirecTV becoming the first provider to offer all six channels (including both coastal feeds of the primary Starz channel) in HD. It is currently carried nationally by 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...
and regionally by 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...
, AT&T U-Verse, 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...
, 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...
, Cablevision and Charter Communications
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
, among others.
StarzPlay from Netflix
NetflixNetflix
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...
features Starz content on their "Watch Instantly" streaming service under the branding StarzPlay, which also features most of the network's original series programming. StarzPlay was created in late 2008, after Netflix made a deal with Starz Entertainment and smaller studios the Starz channel has output deals with, in lieu of buying digital rights, which can be expensive for newer film titles, allowing Netflix to sub-license the channel's film rights for online streaming as Netflix was merely a "content aggregator". However because Netflix chose to sub-license streaming rights through Starz rather than purchasing them outright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group threatened not to renew its output deal with Starz (which expires in 2012) unless it either ends its deal with Netflix or pays Disney a licensing fee to obtain digital streaming rights to its films. The service was first made available to 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...
subscribers, who subscribe to the Starz service. On September 1, 2011, Starz announced that it would not renew its agreement with Netflix, which ends on February 28, 2012; as a result, all Starz film and original programming content will be removed from Netflix on March 1, 2012.
StarzPlay is the third online streaming service operated by Starz: from 2004 to 2006, Starz operated Starz Ticket, a subscription streaming and download movie service that was a joint venture between Starz and RealNetworks
RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...
. From 2006 until it discontinued the service on September 30, 2008, Starz offered the online movie service, Vongo
Vongo
Vongo was a video on demand service, owned by Liberty Media's Starz Entertainment, parent company of the Starz network, that allowed users to download and view movies for a fixed price per month...
to its subscribers.
Starz On Demand
Starz operates a called Starz On Demand, which is available at no additional charge to new and existing Starz subscribers. The service launched on September 19, 2001, initially debuting on Adelphia Cable's Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
system. The service has a unique characteristic of offering early premieres of feature films that are scheduled to premiere on Starz, up to one month prior to their pay cable debut on the primary linear channel. Incidentally, the Starz On Demand name was also used for an online broadband streaming movie service operated by Starz and RealNetworks from 2003 to 2004. In March 2011, Starz On Demand launched a third VOD service (in addition to its standard definition and high definition VOD services), offering movies presented in 3D to customers 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...
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...
at no additional charge.
Movie library
As of 2011, Starz, Encore and their respective multiplex movie channels have exclusive first-run premium cable rights to films from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (including Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
, 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...
, and Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
), Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
(including Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
, Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
, TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
), Overture Films
Overture Films
Overture Films, LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Liberty Media ....
(also owned by Starz' parent, Liberty Media), 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,...
, Yari Film Group
Yari Film Group
The Yari Film Group is an independent film company founded in 2002, and headed by producer Bob Yari, which deals in financing, production, acquisition, sales and distribution of theatrical feature films....
, and Warren Miller Films, among other leading distributors.
Starz also airs older titles from 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...
subsidiaries Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
and Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
, as well as from 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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...
, 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...
, 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 Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
.
Starz commonly premieres recent theatrically released hit movies on most Saturday nights at 9 p.m. ET as part of a weekly feature film block, called the "Starz Saturday Premiere". Usually films which Starz has pay-cable rights will also run on Encore and MoviePlex during its time of license. From 1995 to 2002, Starz broadcast occasional original made-for-pay cable movies produced by the in-house company Starz! Pictures.
Original and acquired series programming
While the majority of Starz's programming consists of movies, Starz had begun to offer some original programming by the late 1990s pertaining to the behind-the-camera aspects of movies, as well as some entertainment news programs, some of which also aired on Encore. Since 2005, Starz has begun to expand its original programming, airing an increasing amount of original scripted original series to compete with rivals Showtime and HBO. Some of the initial original series, including The Bronx Bunny ShowThe Bronx Bunny Show
The Bronx Bunny Show was a ten-part series originally broadcast in 2003 on E4 in the United Kingdom. It was an adult puppet interview show which followed the premise of a semi-educational show for the good people of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan...
and Head Case
Head Case (TV series)
Head Case is a comedy starring Alexandra Wentworth as Dr. Elizabeth Goode, a therapist who treats Hollywood stars. Celebrities appear on the show as themselves. The show ran for three series, airing on the Starz TV Network, Wednesdays, at 10 p.m., EST....
, used unconventional time lengths, running under 15 minutes in length; eventually half-hour and hour-long series were incorporated. Starz has announced it will double its original programming in 2011.
In addition to original programming on the primary Starz channel, Starz Kids & Family also features some series programming, which are aimed at young children and pre-teens. Starz Kids & Family runs a Monday-Saturday morning block called "Building Blocks", featuring both original and acquired animated series (such as Dragon Hunters
Dragon Hunters
Dragon Hunters is a cartoon series created by Arthur Qwak and produced by the French company Futurikon. It follows the adventures of two hunters for hire through a medieval world of floating land masses that is terrorized by a widely varying menace of monsters known collectively as dragons. A 3-D...
, Eloise and The New Adventures of Nanoboy); and a weekday afternoon block called "Camp Block" (the title is a parody of the Disney Channel made-for-cable film Camp Rock
Camp Rock
Camp Rock is a 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie starring the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. The music is written by Julie Brown, Paul Brown, Regina Hicks and Karen Gist. The film is directed by Matthew Diamond and produced by Alan Sacks....
), consisting of imported series from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, similar to those seen on sister channel Encore Wam prior to 2009, targeted at pre-teens and young teenagers (such as Baxter
Baxter (TV series)
Baxter is a Canadian children's comedy television series. The series is produced by Shaftesbury Films, in association with Family Channel. The series ran from May 24, 2010 to January 2, 2011.- Plot :...
, Connor Undercover
Connor Undercover
Connor Undercover is a Canadian tween action-comedy television series airing on Canadian specialty channel Family. It stars Max Morrow as the titular character Connor Heath. It is co-produced by Heroic Films Company and Shaftesbury Films. In early 2010, Family renewed the series for a second...
and Mortified
Mortified
Mortified was an Australian children's television series, co-produced by the Australian Children's Television Foundation and Enjoy Entertainment for the Nine Network Australia, Disney Australia and the BBC. The series premiered on 30 June 2006 and ended on 11 April 2007 with two seasons and a total...
).
Other ventures
Starz Entertainment has expanded considerably with the presence of its Starz and Encore family of multiplex networks, as well as ventures into television and film production and home video distribution.- In 1999, Starz launched the in-house company Starz Pictures, a production company that produced made-for-cable films for the Starz channel; Starz Pictures' only major film project was the 2002 telefilm Joe and Max. Starz Pictures shut down that same year.
- In November 2006, Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett launched Overture FilmsOverture FilmsOverture Films, LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Liberty Media ....
, an independent movie studio that Liberty Media operated out of the Starz Entertainment division of the company; in October 2010, after a proposed sale of the company failed to materialize after no buyers were found, the studio was shut down with its marketing and distribution operations handed over to Relativity MediaRelativity MediaRelativity Media is an American independent motion picture production and investment company based in West Hollywood, California.- Company :...
, Overture's small library of less than 20 films will continue to be distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment for DVD release and by Starz for television broadcast. - In 2007, Starz Entertainment purchased IDT Corporation and was renamed Starz MediaStarz MediaStarz Media is the motion picture, animation, television, and home video subsidiary of Liberty Media.-Subsidiaries:Starz Media's subsidiaries include:*Anchor Bay Entertainment - distribution division for DVDs and videos....
. As a result of the purchase, Starz acquired IDT subsidiaries Anchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor 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,...
, Digital Production Solutions (DPS), and New Arc Entertainment. The Weinstein CompanyThe Weinstein CompanyThe 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...
, a film studio run by former Miramax heads BobBob WeinsteinRobert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...
and Harvey WeinsteinHarvey WeinsteinHarvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
, purchased a 25% stake in the company on January 4, 2011, with Anchor Bay entering into a multi-year domestic distribution agreement of theatrical feature films released by The Weinstein Company and its Dimension FilmsDimension FilmsDimension 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...
subsidiary. - As part of IDT Corporation's purchase by Starz, Starz Entertainment also acquired two animation studios: Toronto-based IDT animation studio (formerly DKP Studios), which was renamed Starz AnimationStarz AnimationArc Productions, formerly known as Starz Animation Toronto, is a Canadian animation and visual effects studio based in Toronto, Ontario. It is majority owned by a Canadian investor group, with former owner Starz Media as a minority stakeholder...
, and Manga EntertainmentManga EntertainmentManga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
, an international distributor of Japanese animation. A third animation studio that was also acquired due to the IDT purchase, Film RomanFilm RomanFilm Roman is an animation studio founded by Phil Roman, best known for producing the animation for The Simpsons, King of the Hill for 20th Century Fox, as well as the Garfield and Peanuts animated TV specials....
, was sold in October 2010 to a production company owned by a group of investors led by former Film Roman studio president Scott Greenberg called Bento Box Entertainment.
Branding
Just as Encore's is a starburst, Starz's signature logo is a star. In the 1994 launch design, the star was composed of two stars, one large one and one smaller one a silhouette inside the first star. In the 2005 relaunch, this version of the Starz logo was abandoned for a hand-drawn star shooting upwards. In April 2008, the logo was redone with a starburst inserted in-between the "a" and "r" in a lowercase Starz logo. This change was also applied for all of Starz's multiplex logos.
The original on-air graphics were styled like a movie theater. The main network ID featured seats opening (by themselves), various theater imagery, and even images resembling the Caduceus
Caduceus
The caduceus is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology. The same staff was also borne by heralds in general, for example by Iris, the messenger of Hera. It is a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings...
. The word "STARZ!" in the network logo was styled after 1930's-era movie poster typography. Starz! also heavily included its designation of "Encore 8" in their graphics, even after the numbering system was abandoned for "an encore network" (a branding Starz! also used, though sparingly) in 1997. The Feature Presentation bumpers also heavily used the movie theater themes (here spotlights and film canisters) and the "Encore 8" name. This look was ultimately abandoned in May 2002.
In 2002, Starz! introduced the InfoBar, a bar that appears on the bottom of the screen during breaks and at the end of movies. The original purpose was to promote upcoming programming. In the same year, Starz! underwent a major on-air branding revamp, changing from the "theater" look that had been used since the day the network signed on to a look based around natural themes (particularly water). The new look did not carry over to any of the spin-off channels, despite that, Starz! introduced a 7-note fanfare as a musical motif. All of the 2002 branding (excluding the fanfare, which was remixed) was dropped in 2005. In 2005, Starz began branding its feature film content with a semi-transparent version of logo appearing in the lower-right corner of the screen. This practice was discontinued after the April 2008 revamp; instead, a bright white logo (all channels) and a bright orange (Starz Kids & Family HD only) logo, respectively, are in use as of July 2011.
Former Starz president Tom Southwick explained his channel's apparent identity crisis: "Our research found that a large number of our viewers did not know which channel they were watching when they tuned in, particularly if they were channel surfing and came in after the start of the film. We do not use the bug continuously or on all our films. But we need to get attribution for the films we run, and for which we pay hefty fees to the studios. The situation has grown worse as additional premium channels have launched in the past few years and many viewers subscribe to more than one package." Another part of the relaunch is a revamped InfoBar, whose purpose was expanded to tell viewers they were watching "one of the six Starz channels", promote events on the other networks, (example: the InfoBar on Starz promotes "Stand Up or Shut Up" on Starz Comedy) and display entertainment headlines from The Daily Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
Network slogans
- Only on Starz and No Other Movie Channel (1994–1995)
- Starz! - Big Movies and More (1995-1998)
- 100% Movies (1998–2000)
- #1 in New Hit Movies (2000–2004)
- An Influx Of Movies - Only on Starz (2004–2008)
- Are You Ready? (2008–present)