Encore (Premium TV)
Encyclopedia
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, Colorado
.
As of October 2011, Encore's programming is available to 32.9 million subscribers in the United States, which is larger than HBO's subscriber base of 28.2 million subscribers, due to Encore's penetration via subscribers of Starz and digital cable and satellite providers that offer Encore and its multiplex channels under a separate package from Starz. As such, satellite and some cable providers will sell Encore to non-Starz subscribers, though the two channels are typically sold as a package.
cable systems (both it and Liberty Media
were controlled by John Malone); the channel debuted with an introduction by founder John Sie, who served as the president of the network from its launch until 1999 and CEO until his retirement in 2004, which was then followed by Encore's first film telecast, the 1980 film 9 to 5
, starring Jane Fonda
, Dolly Parton
and Lily Tomlin
. Initially, the channel's focus was on movies made primarily in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and was formatted similarly to American Movie Classics, with hosted introductions to the movies.
Breaks between films on Encore in its early days were quite lively, consisting less of promotions and more trivia and nostalgia, fitting in with Encore's motto "The Movies of Your Life." There was even a segment that informing viewers about the movies and other programming that were scheduled to air on other premium channels in prime time. The channel had initially broadcast films from Warner Bros. Pictures (owned by Time Warner
, the parent company of rival pay service HBO), Columbia Pictures
, Orion Pictures
, 20th Century Fox
, The Samuel Goldwyn Company
, TriStar Pictures
, Paramount Pictures
, Turner Entertainment Co. and MGM/UA. The channel was formatted as a "mini-pay" service, available to subscribers for a $1 monthly fee, with TCI initially offering the channel as a "negative option", in which customers must notify TCI that they do not wish to have the channel after an introductory offer, or the company would automatically add on a $1 monthly charge to their cable bill, which would have then increased to $4.95 a month by May 1992; the negative option fee led to lawsuits filed against TCI by ten states, eventually causing TCI not to use the negative option plan for the channel.
Many cable providers outside of TCI, however, were reluctant to offer Encore on their systems in its early years due to the fear that it would cannibalize subscriptions of other premium channel services. However John Sie positioned the channel as such that would bolster the growth of what had been a lagging pay TV industry, as premium channels overall had been seeing a steady decline in subscribers since the late 1980s.
Around the time of its launch, there was some debate as to whether Viacom
or TCI originally conceived the idea for Encore; with Viacom executives insisting TCI lifted part of the plan from Viacom-owned Showtime Networks. Then-Encore president John Sie said in an 1991 interview with Multichannel News
that TCI brought up the concept of the Encore network as a way to revitalize Showtime, either by launching a new service from scratch or overhauling the format of Showtime sister network The Movie Channel
. Incidentally, TCI made a failed attempt to acquired a 50 percent stake in Showtime in 1989. Showtime Networks would launch a mini-pay service formatted similar to Encore, called Flix in 1992. Encore had increased its subscriber base to an estimated 7 million subscribers nationwide by 1996.
On June 2, 1997, TCI announced a deal in which it would transfer majority ownership of its Encore Media Group subsidiary to sister company Liberty Media, with TCI retaining a minority 20% ownership. By May 1998, Encore had a subscriber base of 11.4 million cable homes. As the channel aged, it adopted a more conventional presentation style: first in 1998, the channel began to incorporate two first-run feature film exclusives each month, and on May 24, 1999 as part of a major rebrand of the channel, Encore shifted its focus to hit movies, primarily recent ones but with notable classics mixed in as well. Encore used to identify itself as guaranteeing to air a great movie every night, even setting up a special 1-800-number in which Encore would give a $2.50 refund to unsatisfied subscribers. Encore eventually began to be sold as either premium channel or a digital basic network, retaining the uncut/commercial-free nature of its programming, and by September 2005, was available in 25 million homes nationwide. On November 19, 2009, Liberty Media spun off Starz and Encore into a new company called Liberty Starz
.
channels, an additional channel carrying programming from the Encore multiplex channels, a video-on-demand service, and a high definition simulcast channel:
On February 1, 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. Starz was the first of the multiplex channels to be launched, having debuted on February 1, 1994. The first of Encore's other multiplex channels, Love Stories, Mystery and Westerns, launched on July 1, 1994, having being chosen to launch earlier than the True Stories & Drama, Action and WAM! channels; while True Stories & Drama (later shortened to True Stories), Action and WAM!: America's Kidz Network did not launch until September 12 of that year. Each multiplex channel also used a numbering system: Love Stories was designated as "Encore 2", Westerns was "Encore 3", Mystery was "Encore 4", Action was "Encore 5", True Stories was "Encore 6", WAM! was "Encore 7" and Starz! was designated "Encore 8".
In 1996, Encore abandoned the numbering system for most of its channels, using the tagline "an encore network" instead until the early 2000s; the notable exception was Starz!, which continued to use "Encore 8" branding in its main idents and movie openers until 2002, even as Starz! was long-since separated entirely from the Encore brand and by that time, given its own family of channels. On March 28, 2005, the entire Multiplex was revamped to bring the individual channels back in line with the overall Encore brand, due to focus tests that revealed that viewers did not know the themed channels were part of the Encore channel. Three Encore channels changed their names as well: True Stories became Encore Drama, Love Stories became Encore Love, and WAM!: America's Kidz Network became simply Encore Wam. Additional changes to the Encore multiplex came on August 1, 2011 with launch of Encore Español, a Spanish-language simulcast of the main Encore channel, and the rebrand and refocus of Encore Mystery and the teen-targeted Encore Wam into Encore Suspense and Encore Family, leaving Encore Westerns and Encore Action as the only Encore multiplex channels to contain the titles in use since the original 1994 launch of the Encore themed multiplex (though as mentioned, the "Encore" name was not included in the multiplexes' titles until 2005).
The Multiplex has been given several names over the years, including "Encore Multiplex", "Encore Movie Networks", "Starz Encore Super Pak", and "Starz Super Pak". It now has no "official" name, and viewers are simply told they are watching "one of the seven Encore channels", though some affiliates brand it the "Encore Movie Pak".
An unofficial name for the entire collection of Starz and Encore channels is the Starz Moviepack, a name used for the package by Dish Network
and "Starz Super Pak" still remains in use by some others including DirecTV
.
high definition. The main Encore channel was originally launched in HD on March 22, 2003 but was shut down after the channel's 2006 rebrand, and was relaunched in 2008. The main Encore HD channel is currently carried nationally by DirecTV
and Dish Network
and regionally by Verizon FiOS
, AT&T U-Verse, Comcast
, Time Warner Cable
, Cablevision and Insight Communications
. Encore Action and Encore Drama began broadcasting in high definition on August 1, 2011, becoming the first Encore multiplex channels to launch their own HD simulcast feeds. It is unknown when the others will follow suit.
, Touchstone Pictures
, and Hollywood Pictures
), Sony Pictures Entertainment
(including Columbia Pictures
, Sony Pictures Classics
, Screen Gems
, TriStar
), Overture Films
(also owned by Starz' parent, Liberty Media), Anchor Bay Entertainment
, Yari Film Group
, and Warren Miller Films, among other leading distributors.
Encore also airs older titles from Time Warner
subsidiaries (Warner Bros.
, New Line Cinema
, Turner Entertainment
), 20th Century Fox
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, Miramax Films
, Paramount Pictures
and Universal Studios
.
Generally, Encore will air older titles, primarily film titles from the 1960s to the 1990s, with some newer titles (usually broadcast about 6–12 months after premiering on the Starz networks) interspersed throughout the day.
: Moby Dick
, The Take and Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis.
Fred Harrison, who announced for USA Network
from 1996 to 2003, is the lead announcer for the Encore channels. Other announcers include Jim Brennan and Shannon Hill. The current Feature Presentation bumpers for the Encore channels have an announcer. Rarely, these bumpers are announcerless, just like the Starz channels.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premium television channel
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
featuring mainly older and recent blockbuster motion pictures. It is owned by 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...
. The headquarters of Encore and its sister channels Starz 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, Encore's programming is available to 32.9 million subscribers in the United States, which is larger than HBO's subscriber base of 28.2 million subscribers, due to Encore's penetration via subscribers of Starz and digital cable and satellite providers that offer Encore and its multiplex channels under a separate package from Starz. As such, satellite and some cable providers will sell Encore to non-Starz subscribers, though the two channels are typically sold as a package.
History
Encore launched on April 1, 1991 at 9 p.m. ET on four TCITele-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....
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 channel debuted with an introduction by founder John Sie, who served as the president of the network from its launch until 1999 and CEO until his retirement in 2004, which was then followed by Encore's first film telecast, the 1980 film 9 to 5
Nine to Five
9 to 5 is a 1980 American comedy film starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman. The film concerns three working women living out their fantasy of getting even with, and their successful overthrow of, the company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical...
, starring Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
. Initially, the channel's focus was on movies made primarily in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and was formatted similarly to American Movie Classics, with hosted introductions to the movies.
Breaks between films on Encore in its early days were quite lively, consisting less of promotions and more trivia and nostalgia, fitting in with Encore's motto "The Movies of Your Life." There was even a segment that informing viewers about the movies and other programming that were scheduled to air on other premium channels in prime time. The channel had initially broadcast films from Warner Bros. Pictures (owned by 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...
, the parent company of rival pay service HBO), 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...
, Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
, 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...
, The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979.-Background:...
, 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...
, 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...
, Turner Entertainment Co. and MGM/UA. The channel was formatted as a "mini-pay" service, available to subscribers for a $1 monthly fee, with TCI initially offering the channel as a "negative option", in which customers must notify TCI that they do not wish to have the channel after an introductory offer, or the company would automatically add on a $1 monthly charge to their cable bill, which would have then increased to $4.95 a month by May 1992; the negative option fee led to lawsuits filed against TCI by ten states, eventually causing TCI not to use the negative option plan for the channel.
Many cable providers outside of TCI, however, were reluctant to offer Encore on their systems in its early years due to the fear that it would cannibalize subscriptions of other premium channel services. However John Sie positioned the channel as such that would bolster the growth of what had been a lagging pay TV industry, as premium channels overall had been seeing a steady decline in subscribers since the late 1980s.
Around the time of its launch, there was some debate as to whether Viacom
Viacom (1971–2005)
Viacom , stylized as VIACOM in its current logo, was an American media conglomerate. It was the owner of CBS, Nickelodeon & MTV, among others. Effective December 31, 2005, this corporate entity changed its name to CBS Corporation...
or TCI originally conceived the idea for Encore; with Viacom executives insisting TCI lifted part of the plan from Viacom-owned Showtime Networks. Then-Encore president John Sie said in an 1991 interview with Multichannel News
Multichannel News
Multichannel News is a magazine and Web site published by NewBay Media that covers multichannel television and communications providers, such as cable operators, satellite television firms and telephone companies, as well as emerging Internet video and communication services.Multichannel News was...
that TCI brought up the concept of the Encore network as a way to revitalize Showtime, either by launching a new service from scratch or overhauling the format of Showtime sister network 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....
. Incidentally, TCI made a failed attempt to acquired a 50 percent stake in Showtime in 1989. Showtime Networks would launch a mini-pay service formatted similar to Encore, called Flix in 1992. Encore had increased its subscriber base to an estimated 7 million subscribers nationwide by 1996.
On June 2, 1997, TCI announced a deal in which it would transfer majority ownership of its Encore Media Group subsidiary to sister company Liberty Media, with TCI retaining a minority 20% ownership. By May 1998, Encore had a subscriber base of 11.4 million cable homes. As the channel aged, it adopted a more conventional presentation style: first in 1998, the channel began to incorporate two first-run feature film exclusives each month, and on May 24, 1999 as part of a major rebrand of the channel, Encore shifted its focus to hit movies, primarily recent ones but with notable classics mixed in as well. Encore used to identify itself as guaranteeing to air a great movie every night, even setting up a special 1-800-number in which Encore would give a $2.50 refund to unsatisfied subscribers. Encore eventually began to be sold as either premium channel or a digital basic network, retaining the uncut/commercial-free nature of its programming, and by September 2005, was available in 25 million homes nationwide. On November 19, 2009, Liberty Media spun off Starz and Encore into a new company called 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...
.
Encore Multiplex
Encore operates eight 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, an additional channel carrying programming from the Encore multiplex channels, a video-on-demand service, and a high definition simulcast channel:
- Encore: the main "flagship" feed; blockbuster movies, first-run films and some anime films.
- Encore Action: Action movies, martial arts films, horror movies, and anime; formerly called Action from 1994 to 2005.
- Encore Drama: Powerful stories, movies that are based on true events and historical retrospectives; originally called True Stories & Drama from 1994 to 1997, then shortened to True Stories from 1997 to 2005.
- Encore Español: a Spanish languageSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
simulcastSimulcastSimulcast, 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...
of the main Encore channel that launched on August 1, 2011. - Encore Family: Targeted at families, features films for young audiences, including family movies and family anime, only airs G, PG and select TV-14 rated films. Prior to its original launch, the channel was announced to be titled Tweens, before being changed to WAM! America's Youth Network (later called WAM! America's Kidz Network from 1997 to 2005, and then Encore Wam from 2005 to 2011), the "WAM!" name was chosen through a naming contest, with "WAM" being an acronym for "What Adults are Missing"; until 2008 as WAM!/Encore Wam, imported shows for children and teens also aired during the daytime hours.
- Encore Love: Love stories and romance flicks; formerly called Love Stories from 1994 to 2005.
- Encore Suspense: Mystery and suspense films as well as detective movies and series, film noir and neo noir; formerly called Mystery from 1994 to 2005 and later Encore Mystery from 2005 to 2011.
- Encore Westerns: Western movies and popular series from classics to contemporary favorites, the only Encore channel currently airing series programming (in this case, classic western series); formerly called Westerns from 1994 to 2005.
On February 1, 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. Starz was the first of the multiplex channels to be launched, having debuted on February 1, 1994. The first of Encore's other multiplex channels, Love Stories, Mystery and Westerns, launched on July 1, 1994, having being chosen to launch earlier than the True Stories & Drama, Action and WAM! channels; while True Stories & Drama (later shortened to True Stories), Action and WAM!: America's Kidz Network did not launch until September 12 of that year. Each multiplex channel also used a numbering system: Love Stories was designated as "Encore 2", Westerns was "Encore 3", Mystery was "Encore 4", Action was "Encore 5", True Stories was "Encore 6", WAM! was "Encore 7" and Starz! was designated "Encore 8".
In 1996, Encore abandoned the numbering system for most of its channels, using the tagline "an encore network" instead until the early 2000s; the notable exception was Starz!, which continued to use "Encore 8" branding in its main idents and movie openers until 2002, even as Starz! was long-since separated entirely from the Encore brand and by that time, given its own family of channels. On March 28, 2005, the entire Multiplex was revamped to bring the individual channels back in line with the overall Encore brand, due to focus tests that revealed that viewers did not know the themed channels were part of the Encore channel. Three Encore channels changed their names as well: True Stories became Encore Drama, Love Stories became Encore Love, and WAM!: America's Kidz Network became simply Encore Wam. Additional changes to the Encore multiplex came on August 1, 2011 with launch of Encore Español, a Spanish-language simulcast of the main Encore channel, and the rebrand and refocus of Encore Mystery and the teen-targeted Encore Wam into Encore Suspense and Encore Family, leaving Encore Westerns and Encore Action as the only Encore multiplex channels to contain the titles in use since the original 1994 launch of the Encore themed multiplex (though as mentioned, the "Encore" name was not included in the multiplexes' titles until 2005).
The Multiplex has been given several names over the years, including "Encore Multiplex", "Encore Movie Networks", "Starz Encore Super Pak", and "Starz Super Pak". It now has no "official" name, and viewers are simply told they are watching "one of the seven Encore channels", though some affiliates brand it the "Encore Movie Pak".
An unofficial name for the entire collection of Starz and Encore channels is the Starz Moviepack, a name used for the package by 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 "Starz Super Pak" still remains in use by some others including 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. ...
.
Encore HD
Encore, Encore Action and Encore Drama are available 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. The main Encore channel was originally launched in HD on March 22, 2003 but was shut down after the channel's 2006 rebrand, and was relaunched in 2008. The main Encore HD channel is currently carried nationally by 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...
, Cablevision and Insight Communications
Insight Communications
Insight Communications is the 13th largest multiple system operator in the United States with approximately 692,000 customers in the three contiguous states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio...
. Encore Action and Encore Drama began broadcasting in high definition on August 1, 2011, becoming the first Encore multiplex channels to launch their own HD simulcast feeds. It is unknown when the others will follow suit.
Movie library
As of 2011, Encore (through Starz) has 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
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.
Encore 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.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, 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...
, 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...
), 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
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, 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....
.
Generally, Encore will air older titles, primarily film titles from the 1960s to the 1990s, with some newer titles (usually broadcast about 6–12 months after premiering on the Starz networks) interspersed throughout the day.
Original programming
Encore has announced it will air three original programs during 2011, two of them miniseriesMiniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
: Moby Dick
Moby Dick (miniseries)
Moby Dick is a television miniseries based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name, produced by RHI Entertainment, Tele München Gruppe, and Gate Filmproduktion. Starring William Hurt as Captain Ahab, it was directed by Mike Barker with a screenplay by Nigel Williams...
, The Take and Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis.
Branding
Encore's signature logo is a starburst mark. In the original logo, the mark was contained within the "O" of the channel's name—it was then revamped into a box design for the channel's 1994 rebrand. The logo was simplified for the 1999 rebrand, removing the box design and turning the starburst into a line artwork above the "encore" text; the basic design was carried over in the 2005 revamp.Fred Harrison, who announced for USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
from 1996 to 2003, is the lead announcer for the Encore channels. Other announcers include Jim Brennan and Shannon Hill. The current Feature Presentation bumpers for the Encore channels have an announcer. Rarely, these bumpers are announcerless, just like the Starz channels.
Network slogans
- The Movies of Your Life (1991–1999)
- Hit Movies of the 60s, 70s, and 80s (1991–1994)
- The Greatest Movies of Yesterday and Today (1994–1999)
- A Great Movie Every Night, Guaranteed (1999–2004)
- The Place For Movies, 24 Hours a Day (2004–present)
- Playing Favorites (secondary slogan, 2010–present)