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Showtime

Showtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States United States

The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., a... 

.

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Encyclopedia

Showtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States United States

The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., a... 

.

History


United States

The U.S. Showtime primarily shows motion picture Film

Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general.... 

s as well as some original programming and occasional boxing Boxing

Boxing, also called Western Boxing, prizefighting or the sweet science , is a sport [i] ... 

 matches. Showtime, originally a service of Viacom Viacom

Viacom is an American [i] media conglomerate [i] with various worldwide interests in cable [i]... 

, went on the air on July 1, 1976, on a local cable system in Dublin, California Dublin, California

Dublin is a city in Alameda County [i], California [i], USA [i]. ... 

. On March 7,1978, it expanded to the national market via satellite, competing with HBO HBO

network_name = HBO
| network_logo = | headquarters = New York, NY [i]
... 

. In 1979, Viacom sold 50% of Showtime to TelePrompTer.

In 1982, Westinghouse, who had acquired TelePrompTer the previous year, sold its share of Showtime back to Viacom. In 1983, Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment

Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company was a joint venture [i] owned and operated by Warner Communications [i] ... 

 merged Showtime and The Movie Channel The Movie Channel

History
The Movie Channel began in 1973 [i] as Star Channel, a pay movie service of Gridtronics [i], deliverin... 

 to form Showtime Networks, Inc.. 1984 saw the premiere of Showtime's first original movie, The Ratings Game, both starring, and directed by, Danny DeVito. In 1985, Viacom acquired Warner-Amex's cable properties, including their share of Showtime Networks.

In 1990, Showtime ventured into acquiring and premiering independent films directly for the channel, originally as part of its 30-Minute Movie anthology series of short films. One of its first premieres, , was nominated for an Academy Award Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film [i] awards in the United States [i] ... 

. In the years that followed, Showtime expanded its acquisitions into the realm of feature-length fare, including the critically acclaimed remake of Lolita Lolita

Lolita is a novel [i] by Vladimir Nabokov [i], first published in 1955 [i]. ... 

, directed by Adrian Lyne.

In the early 2000s 2000s

The 2000s [i] decade [i] refers to the years from 2000 [i] to 2009 [i], inclusive. ... 

, Showtime launched several additional multiplex channels including including Showtime Too , Showtime Showcase , Showtime Beyond, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Family Zone , Showtime Next , Showtime Women

Showtime Networks also owns the channels The Movie Channel The Movie Channel

History
The Movie Channel began in 1973 [i] as Star Channel, a pay movie service of Gridtronics [i], deliverin... 

, The Movie Channel Xtra The Movie Channel

History
The Movie Channel began in 1973 [i] as Star Channel, a pay movie service of Gridtronics [i], deliverin... 

 and Flix. In addition, it manages Sundance Channel Sundance Channel

Sundance Channel is a cable television [i] network [i] devoted to airing independent film [i] ... 

, which is a joint venture of CBS Corporation CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation is an American [i] media conglomerate [i] focused on broadcasting [i], publishing [i]... 

, Robert Redford Robert Redford

Robert Redford is an award-winning American [i] motion picture [i] actor [i], director [i]... 

 and NBC Universal NBC Universal

NBC Universal is a media [i] and entertainment [i] conglomerate [i] formed in Ma ... 

. Each multiplex channel offers movies and programs fitting each channel's particular theme. Premiers of popular movies are usually made on the primary channel.

In 2000, Showtime launched the "Showtime Interactive 24.7" channel—providing DVD-like interaction opportunities to its entertainment offerings.

In the 2000s 2000s

The 2000s [i] decade [i] refers to the years from 2000 [i] to 2009 [i], inclusive. ... 

, Showtime began test marketing a subscription-video-on-demand SVOD system. Now there is a Showtime subscription-video-on-demand channel called Showtime On Demand, which users are able to see episodes of Showtime original series, movies, and specials like boxing and porn. This channel is only available on digital cable in the US.

Showtime also became one of the first cable TV Cable television

Cable television or Community Antenna Television is a system of providing television [i], FM radio [i] ... 

 networks to broadcast an HDTV High-definition television

High-definition television is a television [i] broadcasting [i] system with a significantly higher than... 

 version of its channel, along with Dolby Digital Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression [i] ... 

 sound.

Showtime's official website is unusual in that it can only be accessed from computers located within the United States. . It is one of if not the only broadcaster with such a website restriction.

In 2005, Showtime became a subsidiary of the newly renamed CBS Corporation CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation is an American [i] media conglomerate [i] focused on broadcasting [i], publishing [i]... 

, after the CBS/Viacom split of that year.

Channels


Showtime operates eight multiplex Multiplexing

Multiplexing is a term used in electrical engineering [i] to refer to a process [i] where multiple source [i]... 

 channels and a high definition channel.

Original programming

  • 30-Minute Movie Series
  • American Candidate
  • Beggars and Choosers
  • Brotherhood
  • Brothers
  • The Chris Isaak Show
  • Dead Like Me Dead Like Me

    Dead Like Me is a Showtime [i] television [i] comedy-drama [i] created by Bryan Fuller [i]... 

  • Dexter
  • Family Business Family Business

    Family Business, although played with a set of specialized cards, is more like a board game in the way i... 

  • Fat Actress Fat Actress

    Fat Actress was an American sitcom [i] television series [i]. ... 

  • Free For All - Animated
  • Freshman Diaries
  • Going To California
  • Huff
  • It's Garry Shandling's Show
  • Jarhead
  • Jeremiah Jeremiah

    Jeremiah, was one of the "greater prophets" of the Old Testament [i], and the son of Hilkiah [i], a prie ... 

  • The Leap Years
  • The L Word The L Word

    The L Word is a television [i] drama [i] series originally aired on Showtime [i] in the United State ... 

  • Masters of Horror Masters of Horror

    Masters of Horror is an American [i] television [i] series created by director Mick Garris [i] ... 

  • Odyssey 5
  • The Outer Limits The Outer Limits

    The Outer Limits is an American [i] television series [i]. ... 

  • Out of Order
  • Poltergeist- The Legacy
  • Queer as Folk
  • Queer Duck
  • Red Shoe Diaries Red Shoe Diaries

    Red Shoe Diaries is a dramatic series [i] that aired on the American [i] ... 

  • Resurrection Blvd.
  • Rude Awakening
  • Sexual Healing
  • Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre
  • Sherman Oaks
  • Sleeper Cell
  • Soul Food Soul food

    Soul food is an American cuisine [i], food [i] typically associated with African American [i]s of the Southern [i] ... 

  • Stargate SG-1 Stargate SG-1

    Stargate SG-1 is an American [i] television series [i] based upon the 1994 [i] science fiction [i] ... 

  • Steven Banks Home Entertainment Center Steven Banks

    Steven Banks is an American musician [i], comedian [i], actor [i], and writer [i] of television cartoons ... 

  • Street Time
  • Underground
  • Washingtoon
  • Weeds

Branding

Showtime's launch logo made in 1976 featured the channel's name in the all caps in a italic Franklin Gothic Bold. For a few years, the logo was accompanied with a circle made to look like a TV screen. The circle was dropped in the early 1990s. The current Showtime logo consisting of the network's name still in all caps with the 'SHO' imprinted on a circle was implemented when the network rebranded itself in 1997. The logo which is slightly similar to Cinemax's current logo introduced the same year, is shown most of the time with just the circle 'SHO'.

Following in the footsteps of Starz, the main Showtime networks brand many of its films with transparent logos of each respective network, to the chagrin of many who would rather see clean screenings of movies with no commercial branding whatsoever. Cinemax also brands films and series with logos, which usually only appear for a few minutes before being removed and reappear later on.

Movies

The quality and selection available on Showtime and The Movie Channel has fallen off considerably in recent years. This is attributable to a few factors. After its launch, Starz signed exclusive first-run agreements with several movie studios. After being acquired by Viacom Viacom

Viacom is an American [i] media conglomerate [i] with various worldwide interests in cable [i]... 

 in 1994, Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American [i] motion picture [i] production [i] ... 

 began an output deal with Showtime , effective after 1997. In addition to Paramount, Showtime has agreements with MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

company_name = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.... 

, Lions Gate Films Lions Gate Entertainment

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian [i] entert ... 

, IFC Films , ThinkFilms among others.

Though not owning the broadcasting rights to show first-run movies from 20th Century Fox 20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is one of the major American [i] film studio [i]s, ... 

, Showtime has been able to show independent films the studio owns the home video rights to, even if they didn't release them theatrically. Most notably being Mel Gibson Mel Gibson

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson is an Academy Award [i] winning American [i] actor [i], director [i] ... 

's controversial 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ is a film [i] about the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ [i] ... 

. Others include Party Monster Party Monster

Party Monster is a drama [i]/dark comedy [i] that details the rise and fall... 

, , Woman Thou Art Loosed and, recently, Donnie Darko Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a 2001 [i] feature [i] film [i], the first by writer [i] ... 

.

As of 2006, Showtime has a partial deal with Rogue Pictures, allowing them to broadcast particular films put out by the studio, including and Dave Chappelle's Block Party Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is a documentary film [i] hosted and written by comedian [i] Dave Chappelle [i] ... 

.

The window between a film's inital release in theatres and its inital screening on Showtime is much larger then on HBO and Starz.

Showtime also plays a lot of classic movies from United Artists United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American [i] film studio [i] and a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [i] ... 

, Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American [i] film [i] and television [i] production company [i] ... 

, and some early/mid 90's movies from Miramax Films Miramax Films

Miramax Films was a Big Ten [i] film motion picture distribution and production compa ... 

 and Warner Bros. Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. or simply Warner Bros., is one of the world's largest producers o... 

.

Usually films which Showtime has pay-cable rights will also run on The Movie Channel during its time of license.

Other countries


Australia

Showtime Australia is a group of movie channels in Australia that began in 1995. The channels are basically the same as the U.S. United States

The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., a... 

  Their owner, Premium Movie Partnership is owned equally by Sony Sony

is a Japanese [i] multinational corporation [i] and one of the world's largest media conglomerate [i]s.... 

, NBC Universal NBC Universal

NBC Universal is a media [i] and entertainment [i] conglomerate [i] formed in Ma ... 

, CBS Corporation CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation is an American [i] media conglomerate [i] focused on broadcasting [i], publishing [i]... 

, News Corporation News Corporation

News Corporation is one of the world's largest media conglomerate [i]s. ... 

 and Liberty Media. This means CBS has only a small stake in the service.

This group includes:

  • Showtime - recent mainstream movies
  • Showtime 2 - the Showtime channel on 2 hour delay
  • Showtime Greats  - older mainstream and classic movies


This group is available on all three major pay-TV platforms in Australia.

Middle East

Showtime Arabia

Showtime or Showtime Arabia Showtime Arabia

Showtime or Showtime Arabia as it's called to distinguish itself from its U.S.... 

as it's called to distinguish itself from its U.S. counterpart, is the dominant subscription television Television

Television is a telecommunication [i] system for
... 

 service in the Middle East Middle East

The Middle East is a subcontinent [i] for the historical [i] and cultural [i] ... 

, North Africa North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost [i] region [i] of the Africa [i]n continent [i] ... 

, and the Levant Levant

Levant or in Arabic [i] ?????, Ash-Sham is an imprecise geographical term [i] ... 

 territories. It is a joint venture between KIPCO  and CBS Corporation CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation is an American [i] media conglomerate [i] focused on broadcasting [i], publishing [i]... 

 , CBS Corp being a minor partner. The company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands are an overseas territory [i] of the United Kingdom [i] in ... 

 and has its headquarters at Dubai Media City Dubai Media City

Dubai Media City part of Dubai Holding [i] is a tax free zone within Dubai [i], United Arab Emirates [i] ... 

 in Dubai Dubai

Dubai refers to either:
... 

, United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is a Middle East [i]ern country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula [i] ... 

.

Showtime Arabia offers Hollywood movies, sitcoms, children’s programming, fashion shows and sports coverage. Showtime currently offers various Irdeto Access Irdeto Access

Irdeto provides solutions for digital content protection in digital TV [i], IPTV [i] and mobile [i] ... 

 encrypted programming packages offering more than 50 premium Western entertainment channels. It also offers premium channels that includes movie channels, sports channels, news channels, documentary channels, music channels, kids channels and general family entertainment channels. It also includes pay-per-view Home Cinema Channels and Music Choice audio channels. , which is an a-la-carte channel, is also offered in this package.

Showtime Arabia

The is available via DTH satellite Satellite

A satellite is any object that orbit [i]s another object . ... 

  101/102 located at 7.0°W.

See also

  • Showtime Arabia Showtime Arabia

    Showtime or Showtime Arabia as it's called to distinguish itself from its U.S.... 

  • Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network

Latin America

In the 1990s, Showtime had an early investment with Televisa Televisa

Televisa is the largest media [i] company in the Spanish [i]-speaking world, ... 

, News Corporation News Corporation

News Corporation is one of the world's largest media conglomerate [i]s. ... 

 and MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

company_name = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.... 

 in Cinecanal. Cinecanal was originally called "Cinecanal/Showtime".

Brazil

Showtime had also an early investment in Brazil with Globo to launch TeleCine.

Scandinavia

A Showtime channel is available in Denmark Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark is the smallest and southernmost of the Nordic countries [i].... 

, Norway Norway

Insert non-formatted text here
... 

, Sweden Sweden

The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country [i] in Scandinavia [i]. ... 

 and Finland Finland

The Republic of Finland , is one of the Nordic countries [i]. ... 

. The channel is operated by NonStop Television, which licences the name and logo from Showtime Networks Inc. and brands the channel with the Showtime logo, but does not otherwise show any Showtime programming. Programming is mostly action movies from the 1970s to today. The channel does not premiere recent Hollywood films. Availability differs, it is available for an additional cost in some basic cable TV packages, such as Canal Digital Canal Digital

Canal Digital was founded in March 1997 as a joint venture [i] between the French pay-TV company CANAL+ [i] ... 

, although for a much lower price than first-run subscription film channels. The channel is commercial-free. NonStop also operates Star! Scandinavia and Silver Silver

Silver is a chemical element [i] with the symbol Ag . ... 

.

Spain

In Spain the channel is branded as Showtime Extreme it provides three different audio layers, Spanish Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is an Iberian Romance language [i]. ... 

, English English language

English is a widely distributed language that originated in England [i] but is now the primary language ... 

 and Catalan Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language [i], the national language of Andorra [i] and co-official [i] ... 

. It is operated by Factoría de Canales which also licences the name and logo from Showtime Networks, Inc.

Turkey

In Turkey Turkey

Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasia [i]n country that stretches across the Anatolia [i] ... 

, Showtime channel is on Digiturk Digiturk

Digiturk is a Turkish [i] Satellite television [i] provider, founded in 1999, with services start ... 

, yet it does not feature any of the original programming Showtime

Showtime is a subscription television [i] brand [i] used by a number of channels and platforms ar ... 

, only the movies.

See also

  • Showtime HD Showtime HD

    Showtime HD is a cable television network owned by CBS Corporation [i] that broadcasts 24/7. ... 

  • Showtime Networks
  • Movie Tickets
  • Dish Network Channel Grid
  • List of DirecTV channels

External links