| Spotlight | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1978 |
| Closed | 1983 |
| Owned by | Times-Mirror |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Broadcast area | Nationwide (primarily on Dimension Cable Television systems) |
Spotlight was an American premium movie channel launched in 1978 by Times Mirror Cable Television,[1] with the only non-movie programming being monthly previews of films airing on the channel.
Contents |
In 1980, Spotlight expanded its programming to a 24 hour a day, seven day per week daily schedule. (Cinemax broadcast 24 hours from its August 1980 sign-on, while Showtime and The Movie Channel went to a 24-hour schedule earlier and HBO went to a 24-hour schedule in 1981, initially on weekends and then on weekdays as well).[2] Tele-Communications, Inc., Cox Broadcasting and Storer Broadcasting served as investors in the channel.[3]
Spotlight featured Robert Goulet as their initial spokesperson. He hosted the rollout of the channel. Spotlight initially featured a flip-flop movie schedule. The channel would broadcast a movie at 7 p.m. and another around 9 p.m. and then the next night, the channel would show the same two films in a "flip-flop" schedule, with the late movie from the other night shown first.
Spotlight also featured a big band type theme and when the credits would go into the "O" of Spotlight, it would feature a sort of whistling sound. Their tag line was "Spotlight, shining bright, day and night, we light up the stars for you!"
A few factors led to the channel's original demise in 1983. The channel aired many of the same films as Showtime (although Spotlight, Showtime and HBO shared the same films usually featuring the same duplication in the same month with each other) and it was assumed that Spotlight was a sister network to Showtime before The Movie Channel was sold with Showtime to Viacom in 1985. Spotlight was owned by Times-Mirror's "Dimension Cable Television" unit[4] and was available primarily on its own cable systems. When Spotlight went dark, Times Mirror replaced it on most systems with Showtime, which was mostly unavailable on their systems prior to Spotlight's demise, and its subscriber base was turned over to Showtime and The Movie Channel.[3]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||