Starz Encore: Американдық телеарналар тобы

American pay television network

Starz Encore is an American premium television channel owned by Starz Inc. a subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment and headquartered at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorado, United States. Launched as Encore on 1 April 1991, its programming features mainly older and recent theatrically released feature films, although some of its multiplex channels also carry acquired television series. It is the sister channel of Starz and MoviePlex. as of September 2018, Starz Encore's programming was available to approximately 34.026 million U. S. households that had a subscription to a multichannel television provider (30.918 million of which receive Starz Encore's primary channel at minimum). Prior to 2018, Starz Encore outpaced HBO for the largest subscriber reach of any American premium channel. (According to February 2015 Nielsen estimates, Starz Encore had 40.54 million pay subscribers vs. HBO's 35.8 million subscribers.) Starz Encore has a higher subscriber base than its competitors and sister channels because, although Starz and Starz Encore are often sold together in a singular package, some digital cable, telco and satellite providers offer the Starz Encore multiplex separately from Starz as part of an a la carte tier in which it is packaged with other commercial free and advertiser supported film oriented channels (such as Epix, FX Movie Channel and LMN). Therefore, Starz Encore subscribers do not necessarily have to subscribe to Starz in order to receive the channel.

Encore launched at 9:00 p. m. Eastern Time on April 1, 1991, on four cable systems that were operated by Tele Communications Inc. (both TCI and Liberty Media, both of which jointly owned Encore initially, 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 movie telecast, the 1980 comedy film 9 to 5. Encore was the first major U. S. premium channel to debut in almost 11 years, since Cinemax launched on August 1, 1980 – at the time of Encore's launch, Cinemax, HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel were its only competitors (Encore was the only upstart premium channel that managed to gain any headway with those services; other premium channels that debuted prior to Encore's launch, such as Spotlight and Home Theater Network, were unable to compete with those four channels and would eventually shut down during the prior decade). Initially, Encore focused on movies released primarily during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with some releases from the 1950s mixed in; the channel was formatted similarly to American Movie Classics at the time, with hosted introductions leading into the movie presentations. Breaks between films on Encore during its early years were quite lively, consisting less of promotions and more of trivia and nostalgia, fitting in with Encore's motto "The Movies of Your Life." The channel even ran an interstitial during breaks within its daytime schedule that informed viewers about programs that were scheduled to air on competing premium channels that evening in prime time. The channel had initially broadcast films from Warner Bros. Pictures (owned by Time Warner, which ironically is the parent company of rival pay services HBO and Cinemax), Columbia Pictures/TriStar Pictures, Orion Pictures, 20th Century Fox, The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Paramount Pictures (which also ironically came under ownership of Showtime and The Movie Channel's then parent company Viacom in 1994), Turner Entertainment, and MGM/United Artists. The channel was formatted as a "mini pay" service, available to subscribers for a $1 monthly fee. TCI initially offered Encore as a negative option, in which customers were required to notify TCI if they declined to subscribe to the channel full time after an introductory offer, or TCI would automatically add on a $1 charge to their monthly bill, which would have then increased to $4.95 per month by May 1992. The negative option fee led to lawsuits filed against TCI by ten states, eventually causing the company to back away from utilizing the billing method for the channel. Many other cable providers were reluctant to offer Encore in its early years due to concerns that it would cannibalize subscriptions of other premium services. However, Sie positioned the channel as such that would bolster the growth of what had been a lagging pay television industry, as premium channels had been seeing a steady decline in subscribers overall since the late 1980s. In a 1991 interview with Multichannel News, John Sie said that TCI brought up the Encore network concept as a way to revitalize Showtime, either by launching a new tertiary pay service from scratch, or overhauling the format of Showtime sister network The Movie Channel. Incidentally, TCI made a failed bid to acquire a 50% ownership stake in Showtime in 1989. Encore had increased its subscriber base to an estimated 7 million subscribers nationwide by 1996. On January 1, 1997, Encore launched a new pay service called MoviePlex (originally named "Encore Plex" for its first few months on the air) which replaced a Liberty Media owned network called INTRO Television, that ran blocks of programming from other cable channels. Until it adopted a separate film schedule on August 1, 2011, MoviePlex originally carried programming blocks from Encore's multiplex channels (which differed from that day's actual schedules for each channel to exclude R rated movies) on a rotating day to day schedule. 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, due in part to the significant profit losses incurred by Starz following that channel's launch – TCI retained a minority 20% ownership interest until its 1999 merger with AT&T Corporation, when Liberty Media assumed full ownership of the Encore Media Group. By May 1998, Encore had a subscriber base of 11.4 million homes with cable or satellite television.

As the channel aged, it adopted a more conventional presentation style: first in 1998, Encore began to carry two exclusive first run feature film broadcasts each month, then Encore shifted its focus to hit movies as part of a major rebrand of the channel on May 24, 1999, primarily incorporating recent films, but with notable classics mixed in as well. By this point, Encore advertised itself as guaranteeing to air "a great movie every night", even setting up a special 1 800 number in which a $2.50 refund would be given to unsatisfied subscribers. Encore eventually began to be sold as a hybrid service, offered as either a premium channel or a digital basic network depending on the provider, retaining the uncut and commercial free nature of its programming. Through this change in distribution, the channel was eventually available in 25 million homes nationwide by September 2005. On November 19, 2009, Liberty Media spun off Starz and Encore into a separate public tracking stock called Liberty Starz. On August 8, 2012, Liberty Media announced that it would spin off Liberty Starz into its own separate, publicly traded company. The spin off of the subsidiary was completed on January 11, 2013, with Liberty Starz changing its name to Starz Inc. as a result. On April 5, 2016, Encore and its seven multiplex channels were rebranded as Starz Encore, unifying the network under the brand umbrella of the channel that Encore ironically spun off in September 1994. With the rebranding, Starz Encore also began to carry reruns of Starz original comedy and drama series within its schedule. On June 30, 2016, Lionsgate agreed to acquire Starz Inc. for $4.4 billion in cash and stock; the acquisition was completed five months later on December 8.

From winter of 2015 to April 5, 2016, Encore's east coast linear feed along with much of its movie and TV series catalog had been offered as part of Starz's add on subscription service, through Amazon Prime The cost was $8.99 per month (after a seven day free trial) for Amazon Prime subscribers to access the Starz/Encore catalog and live feeds.

During the 1990s, Encore (through Starz) had exclusive first run movie rights with Universal Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax, New Line Cinema and Carolco Pictures. Between 1995 and 2005, Encore broadcast films from Turner Pictures and New Line Cinema. Encore's contract with Universal Pictures expired in late 2002; HBO and Starz shared half of Universal's films in 2003 before the former assumed pay television rights the following year. The first run film output agreement with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures expired after December 2015, with Netflix assuming pay television rights in January 2016 (excluding films released by Touchstone Pictures, which were retained by Starz through a separate contract). Through at least the first half of 2016, Starz provided Disney films that were released before the expiration, such as Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur, but none released after, such as Zootopia. The first run film output agreement with Sony was renewed for nine years on February 11, 2013, and expired at the end of 2021. On April 8, 2021, Sony announced that they would not be renewing the agreement with Starz in favor of a new first run agreement with Netflix. The Warren Miller output deal was renewed for 10 years on October 19, 2009.

Encore aired its first ever slate of original programming in 2011: the miniseries Moby Dick and The Take, and the biographical documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis. The following year, Encore broadcast Thorne in June 2012.

The Big Miniseries Showcase (originally airing on weeknights, and later seen only on Sunday mornings) is a former weekly programming block that showcased a mix of classic and recent critically acclaimed miniseries. As part of this block, Encore broadcast original miniseries such as The Crimson Petal and the White, Titanic: Blood and Steel, Moby Dick, Thorne (both of which were already broadcast previously) and Hindenburg: The Last Flight. In addition to showcasing original miniseries, Encore has also aired older miniseries previously seen on network television such as The Thorn Birds, North and South, Shōgun, Jason and the Argonauts and Gulliver's Travels. The block was discontinued on December 29, 2013.

Despite being a premium service, Encore has incorporated acquired programming on several of its multiplex channels. Originally, these were limited to Encore Westerns and Encore Family (as WAM!/Encore Wam), consisting of classic western series from the 1950s to the 1970s on the former, and imported series aimed at children and teenagers on the latter channel (after Encore Wam stopped carrying acquired programming in 2009, sister channel Starz Kids & Family later incorporated some series programming onto its schedule that are aimed at the same target audience as those that were carried by Wam). Currently, Starz Encore Westerns carries the classic western series Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Have Gun – Will Travel. Just prior to its rebranding as Encore Suspense, Encore Mystery eventually added acquired mystery series to its schedule (such as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour). With the 2013 rebranding and refocusing of what had been Encore Drama and Encore Love as Encore Black and Encore Classic, both channels added series fitting their respective formats in weekdaily blocks. Encore Black currently carries the classic African American sitcoms What's Happening! !, Amen, Diff'rent Strokes and 227; while Encore Classic airs the classic sitcoms Murphy Brown and Night Court; and crime dramas Magnum, P. I. and The A Team. Starz Encore Family airs classic animated children's shows such as Garfield and Friends and various ex DIC Entertainment shows like Heathcliff, Inspector Gadget, Liberty's Kids, and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog until November 30, 2020.

Throughout the network's history, Encore's logo has included a starburst mark. In the original logo used from 1991 to 1994, the starburst appeared within the "O" in the channel's name, which was rendered in uppercase and similar in design to sister network Starz's 2008 logo design – the mark was then revamped into a box design in 1994. The logo was simplified for the 1999 rebrand, removing the box design and turning the starburst into a line artwork above the "encore" logotype; the basic design was carried over in the 2005 revamp. On December 1, 2013, Encore introduced a new text only logo, dropping the starburst mark included in its branding since its launch. In accordance with the rebrand, feature presentation bumpers were dropped across the Encore channels, with programs prefaced only by a graphic informing viewers of the program airing next.