| Showtime | |
|---|---|
| Launched | July 1, 1976 |
| Owned by | Showtime Networks, Inc. (CBS Corporation) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Slogan | Brace Yourself |
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Sister channel(s) | The Movie Channel Smithsonian Channel Flix |
| Website | http://www.sho.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | 545 Showtime (east) (SD/HD) 546 Showtime (west) (SD/HD) 547 Showtime 2 (SD/HD) 548 Showcase (SD/HD) 549 Showtime Extreme (SD/HD) 550 Showtime Beyond (HD) 551 Showtime Next (HD) 552 Showtime Women (HD) 1545 Showtime On Demand |
| Dish Network | 318 Showtime (east) (SD/HD) 319 Showtime (west) (SD/HD) 320 Showtime 2 (SD/HD) 321 Showcase (SD/HD) 322 Showtime Extreme 323 Showtime Beyond |
| Cable | |
| Available on most cable systems | Check local listings for channels |
| IPTV | |
| Verizon FiOS | 365-380 |
| AT&T U-verse | See AT&T U-verse channel lineup |
Showtime is an American premium cable television service featuring programming that consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures, along with original series, made-for-cable movies, and occasional boxing and mixed martial arts matches. The channel is owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation.
As of April 2011, Showtime's programming reaches 20 million subscribers in the United States.[1] The Showtime brand is used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to the group of channels in the United States.
Contents |
Showtime, originally a service of Viacom, went on the air on July 1, 1976, first shown on a local cable system in Dublin, California.[2] Its first program was Celebration, a concert special featuring Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and ABBA.[3]
On March 7, 1978, Showtime expanded to the national market via satellite, competing with HBO and other pay cable networks.
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 merged Showtime and The Movie Channel to form Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. (later 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's share of Showtime/TMC, making them the sole owner of Showtime once again.
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, 12:01 PM, was nominated for an Academy Award. In the years that followed, Showtime expanded its acquisitions into the realm of feature-length fare, including the 1997 remake of Lolita, directed by Adrian Lyne.
In the early 2000s, Showtime launched several additional multiplex channels including Showtime Too (a pun on its current name, Showtime 2), Showcase (formerly Showtime 3), Showtime Beyond and Showtime Extreme. Showtime had also launched several channels exclusively for digital cable: Showtime Family Zone, Showtime Next, and Showtime Women.
Showtime Networks also owns the channels The Movie Channel, The Movie Channel Xtra and Flix. Each multiplex channel offers movies and programs fitting each channel's particular theme. Premieres 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, Showtime began test marketing a subscription-video-on-demand SVOD system; the subscription-video-on-demand channel called Showtime On Demand, which users are able to see episodes of Showtime original series, movies, adult programming and boxing, was launched officially in 2002.[4] Showtime also became one of the first cable TV networks to broadcast an HDTV version of its channel, along with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.[5][6]
In 2005, Viacom and CBS announced its intention to split up only six years after Viacom bought the network and its television assets. The original Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation and got the broadcasting elements, Paramount Television's production operations (renamed CBS Paramount Television, now two separate arms, CBS Television Studios for production and CBS Television Distribution for syndicated program distribution), Viacom Outdoor advertising (renamed CBS Outdoor), Showtime Networks, Simon & Schuster and Paramount Parks, which the company later sold, while the new Viacom kept Paramount Pictures, MTV Networks, BET Networks, and (until it was sold off in 2007), Famous Music. National Amusements retains ownership of both companies to this day.
In May 2010, it was reported that Showtime plans to launch a service to stream episodes of original series to subscribers.[7]
Showtime operates eight multiplex channels and a video on demand service (Showtime On Demand): Showtime also packages the Eastern and Pacific feeds of the main channel and its multiplex services together, giving viewers a second chance to watch the same movie/program three hours earlier or later — depending on their geographic location. However, certain cable systems only offer the main channel in this manner.
Note: the abbreviation in parenthesis is used as an on-screen identifier and in programming guides
Showtime provides 1080i high definition simulcast feeds of all of its channels except Showtime Family Zone, which are carried by most of the major American television providers.
Showtime On Demand is the Video on Demand counterpart to Showtime and is available to subscribers of Showtime on most providers.
On October 27, 2010, Showtime launched Showtime Anytime to customers of Comcast's Xfinity TV service who are subscribers to Showtime. Showtime Anytime comprises a web site which distributes around 400 hours of program content available for streaming in standard or high definition. Content includes Showtime original programming, feature films, comedy specials, documentaries and sports programming.[11]
Showtime has several original programs airing on the network. The most popular shows are Dexter, starring Michael C. Hall as a police department blood-spatter analyst who maintains a secret life as a vigilante serial killer, and Weeds, starring Mary-Louise Parker as a widow from an upper-middle class suburb of Los Angeles who turns to dealing marijuana to support her family after her husband dies.
Other shows include Dead Like Me, Californication, Nurse Jackie, The Tudors, Shameless, Soul Food, Queer as Folk, The L Word, The Big C and United States of Tara.
Another Showtime series, Brotherhood, about the intertwining lives of the Irish-American Caffee brothers from Providence, Rhode Island: Tommy, a local politician and Michael, a professional criminal, was quite popular critically with some even comparing the show to The Wire and The Sopranos. It was even said by one critic to be "the jewel Showtime has sought for years." However, it was not popular with viewers and was not renewed after its third season.
Showtime 2 carries one original program exclusive to the network, a late night program called Big Brother After Dark as a companion series to the American Big Brother series airing on sister broadcast network CBS.
Showtime has long employed a late night block of programming called "Showtime After Hours", a block consisting of programming aimed at adults, airing after 12 a.m. ET; the programming featured within the block, which has existed since the early 1980s, includes smaller feature films and occasionally stand-up comedy specials. Softcore erotica programming typically does not air within the block and adult films have been absent from the main Showtime channel since the mid-2000s (though a limited amount of original erotica series have resurfaced on the main channel in 2010 such as Beach Heat: Miami, after having been absent for most of the previous decade), although the network's multiplex channels Showtime 2 and Showcase do occasionally feature adult films on their overnight schedules.
As of 2011, Showtime holds first-run premium cable rights to films from Summit Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films (also including rights to Dimension Films releases), DreamWorks Pictures (live-action releases through Touchstone Pictures only), CBS Films, First Look Pictures, IFC Films (rights are shared with Starz), THINKFilm and Anchor Bay Entertainment. Showtime holds sub-run rights to films from MGM, Sony Pictures, Paramount and Disney.
After its launch, Showtime signed exclusive first-run agreements with several movie studios. The first exclusive deal between the channel and a movie studio was done in 1977, when United Artists (then a subsidiary of Transamerica) agreed with Showtime for an exclusive first-run deal for the next five years. United Artists was merged with MGM in 1981. The deal expired in 1982. After being merged with WASEC's The Movie Channel, Paramount Pictures (then owned by Gulf + Western) signed an exclusive deal with the newly formed Showtime/The Movie Channel for 75 films for the next five years. In 1986, Showtime/TMC signed deals with Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group and Orion Pictures. They lost the rights for new Paramount films in 1989 after HBO signed a deal with the studio two years earlier for features released from May 1988. By 1989, Showtime had already exclusive deals with Carolco Pictures, Atlantic Entertainment Group, Cannon Films, Buena Vista, Universal Studios, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, Imagine Entertainment and Weintraub. They lost out the rights for new Disney releases to Liberty's Starz in 1997. On April 13, 1990, Showtime signed an exclusive first-run deal with New Line Cinema. The deal expired in 1995, when the first-run rights were moved to Starz. On November 22, 1993, Showtime signed exclusive first-run premium cable rights with MGM and United Artists which lasted 15 years.
After being acquired by Viacom in 1994, Paramount Pictures began an output deal with Showtime (then also owned by Viacom), effective after 1997, which lasted 10 years. After the old Viacom was split in two corporations, the output deal with Paramount was not renewed after 2007, thus the pay-cable rights transferred in 2009 to Viacom's Epix premium venture. Showtime has also agreements with IFC Films (which it shares broadcasting rights with Starz), ThinkFilm, certain films put out by The Weinstein Company (those that are distributed theatrically in conjunction with MGM Studios), and the newly re-formed United Artists (still a subsidiary of MGM). In 2008, the channel signed a deal with First Look Pictures to air their films.
The future of the channel was put into question when it was announced that three of its major suppliers of films Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lions Gate Entertainment, as well as their respected subsidiaries (Paramount Vantage and United Artists), would be teaming up together to form a new premium movie channel. Called Epix, it launched in May 2009 as a broadband Internet service, and arrived on television on October 31 of that year.[12] This is primary due to the company split-up of parent company Viacom into two separate entities, Viacom and CBS Corporation, the latter owning Showtime (though both companies are still controlled by National Amusements). Paramount's contract with the channel expired January 2008. This includes such films as Cloverfield and Iron Man being available to the new channel upon its initial run. MGM and Lions Gate's contracts expired at the end of 2008.[13]
On July 15, 2008, it was announced that Showtime had signed a seven-year deal with The Weinstein Company to exclusively air their films during their initial premium-channel broadcasts, starting with their 2009 film slate. This includes films such as Nine, All Good Things and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The deal also includes films from the studio's subsidiary Dimension Films.[14] On December 4, 2008, Showtime entered into an exclusive 4-year output deal with Summit Entertainment to air 42 of their films during their initial premium cable run. The deal includes all the films in the Twilight franchise, as well as the films Push, Knowing with Nicolas Cage, and the horror remake Sorority Row.[15]
Though not owning the broadcasting rights to show first-run movies from 20th Century Fox, 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's 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ. Others include Party Monster, Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, Woman Thou Art Loosed and Donnie Darko. As of 2006, Showtime has a partial deal with Rogue Pictures, allowing them to broadcast particular films put out by the studio (especially those originally produced for video), including Carlito's Way: Rise to Power and Dave Chappelle's Block Party.
On March 12, 2010, Showtime came to an agreement with The Walt Disney Company, which had recently purchased the distribution rights to DreamWorks Pictures, to air at least 35 movies from the latter studio between 2009 and 2015 during their premium-cable run.[16] This deal also allows Showtime first-choice to renew their contract when the initial tenure lapses. The deal does not include films from DreamWorks Animation (the pay-cable rights to those films are held by HBO and Netflix starting in 2013). Showtime also inked a pay-cable output deal with CBS Films, which is also owned by the network's parent company CBS Corporation.
Usually films to which Showtime has pay-cable rights will also run on The Movie Channel and Flix during its time of license.
Showtime broadcasts a limited amount of sports programming on its schedule produced by the channel's Showtime Sports division. Beginning in March 1986, Showtime's sports programming consisted largely of boxing matches produced under the banner Showtime Championship Boxing; in 2001, the network launched ShoBox: The New Generation, focusing primarily on up-and-coming boxers. In 2004, Showtime began broadcasting all domestic fights telecast on the channel in high definition.[17] In December 2006, Showtime announced a deal to broadcast mixed martial arts matches from the then-newly formed Elite Xtreme Combat (or EliteXC), an MMA organization formed by Showtime Networks and ProElite, Inc., with all events broadcast under the banner ShoXC; the league folded two years later in 2008.[18]
In 2008, Showtime acquired Inside the NFL, the longest-running program in the history of HBO, from that network when it had cancelled the seasonal analysis and interview program in February 2008. In February 2009, Strikeforce announced a three-year broadcast agreement with Showtime, allowing it to broadcast up to 16 events per year, as well as a deal with sister network CBS for an option to produce up to four events for them.[19] In addition to broadcasting big-ticket Strikeforce events on Showtime, it also announced it would produce ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers, an event series highlighting up-and-coming fighters.[20] In 2010, Showtime debuted another original sports insider program Inside NASCAR. Showtime also operates Showtime PPV, formerly SET (Showtime Entertainment Television), which broadcasts boxing matches and other select event programming to pay-per-view subscribers. In 2011, Showtime announced they were expanding their MMA programming by televising events produced by M-1 Global,[21] the Russian PTC company of popular Strikeforce fighter Fedor Emelianenko.
Showtime's original logo was a circle with a TV screen inside (very similar to the logo used by Brazilian television network Rede Globo, though without the circle in the center), accompanied by a generic "Showtime" text in Avant Garde font.[22] From 1984 to 1990, the screen was accompanied by an italic "Showtime" text in Franklin Gothic type, with the "W" and "T" connected.[23] The TV screen was dropped in 1989, and the italic text became the network logo from that point until 1997. That year, the current logo was implemented, consisting of the network's name in all capitals with the 'SHO' prefix imprinted on a circle (as with Cinemax's highlighting of 'MAX' in their logo, the use of 'SHO' as the logo focal point comes from the channel's former TV Guide abbreviation in the magazine's local listings era).
Showtime was one of the first U.S. premium channels to brand its programming with digital on-screen graphic logos starting in 1999, this originally pertained to only the main Showtime channel and Showtime 2 and was only done during promo breaks between programs; Showtime only shows their logo bug off-and-on during programming, while Showtime 2 runs theirs during all programming. On April 1, 2010 the remaining Showtime multiplex channels, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Family Zone, Showtime Next and Showtime Women (as well as The Movie Channel, The Movie Channel Xtra and Flix) began using on-screen logo bugs during all of their programming.
Just like Starz, Showtime has recently begun to air lower-third promotions for upcoming programs during films airing during primetime slots on the main channel and during original series on the main Showtime channel, Showtime 2 and Showcase (in the case of its original series, the closing credits are typically replaced with a marginalized credit sequence similar to those used by the major U.S. broadcast networks).
Showtime has two main pay TV networks that operate using its name; Showtime Australia and Showtime Arabia. It also has several channels that are licenced to use its name; Showtime Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), Showtime Extreme (Spain), and others.
Showtime debuted on South African television for the first time as part of the new TopTV satellite provider's package on May 1, 2010.[27]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||