Showtime (TV network) - Wikipedia. Showtime is an Americanpremiumcable and satellite televisionnetwork that serves as the flagship service of the Showtime Networks, Inc. CBS Corporation, which also owns sister services The Movie Channel and Flix.

Showtime's programming primarily includes theatrically released motion pictures and original television series, along with boxing and mixed martial arts matches, occasional stand- up comedyspecials and made- for- TV movies. The Showtime brand is used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to the group of eight multiplex channels in the United States. Showtime is available to 2. America.[2] The channel and its corresponding networks are headquartered at Paramount Plaza on the northern end of New York City's Broadway district. History[edit]Early history (1. Showtime launched on July 1, 1. Times- Mirror Cable systems in Escondido, Long Beach and Palos Verdes, California through the conversion of 1.

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Channel One franchise. The following week on July 8, Showtime launched on Viacom Cablevision's system in Dublin, California; [3] the channel was originally owned by Viacom.[4] The first program and television special to be broadcast on Showtime was Celebration, a concert special featuring performances by Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and ABBA. By the end of its first year on the air, Showtime had a total of 5. On March 7, 1. 97.

Showtime became a nationally distributed service after it was uplinked to satellite, turning it into a competitor with HBO and other pay cable networks.[5]In 1. Viacom sold a 5. 0% ownership interest in Showtime to the Tele.

Promp. Ter Corporation.[3] On July 4, 1. Showtime adopted a 2. HBO would eventually follow suit in December of that year).[6] In 1. Group W Cable, a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (which had acquired Tele. Promp. Ter the previous year), sold its 5.

Showtime back to Viacom for $7. Group W's stake in the channel occurred as the company had entered into a partnership with Walt Disney Productions (now The Walt Disney Company) to develop a competing premium service, The Disney Channel (Group W dropped out of the joint venture that September, due to disagreements over creative control and financial obligations). Showtime's first made- for- cable movie. Falcon's Gold and its first original series and children's program Faerie Tale Theatre. Formation of Showtime Networks and ownership by Viacom (1. In August 1. 98. 2, MCA Inc. Universal Pictures), Gulf+Western (then- owner of Paramount Pictures) and Warner Communications reached an agreement to jointly acquire The Movie Channel (TMC), in which the three companies combined would acquire a controlling 7.

Warner- Amex Satellite Entertainment.[8] The proposal was motivated by the studios wanting to increase their share of revenue for licensing rights to their films to premium television services, as well as concerns that HBO's dominance of that market and its pre- buying of pay cable rights to films prior to their theatrical release would result in that service holding undue negotiating power for the television rights, resulting in a lower than suitable licensing fee rate the studios would be paid for individual films. The three companies officially announced their agreement in principle to acquire interests in TMC on November 1. Subsequently, in late December of that year, the U. S. Department of Justice (which had blocked a similar attempt by MCA, Gulf+Western, 2.

Century Fox and Columbia Pictures to create a competing pay service, Premiere, in an antitrust case ruling two years earlier in January 1. On January 7, 1. 98. Viacom International added itself as a partner and drafted an amendment to the proposal to consolidate The Movie Channel with Showtime. Under the revised proposal, the four studios would each own a 2.

American Express owning a 9. In addition, the consortium would appoint a management team separate from those employed by the two channels – which would continue to operate as separate services – to operate the joint venture. However, the deal ran into regulatory hurdles since Warner, Universal and Paramount received 5. Showtime and TMC combined would control about 3. HBO (which, in conjunction with Cinemax, controlled 6. After a four- month investigation resulted in the Department of Justice filing a civil antitrust lawsuit against the five parties to block the Showtime- TMC merger on June 1. Department asked Warner and American Express to restructure the deal during hearings for the case.[1.

The Department's decision – citing concerns, including some expressed by HBO management, that combining the assets of Showtime and TMC would stifle competition in the sale of their programming and that of other pay cable services to cable providers – was despite the fact that, under the original proposal, MCA, Gulf+Western and Warner had each agreed to continue licensing films released by their respective movie studios to competing pay television networks.[1. The partners involved in the merger would also set standard prices for films that were acquired for broadcast on The Movie Channel and Showtime, either those produced by the studio partners or by unassociated film studios. To address the Justice Department's concerns over the deal, the four partners submitted another revised proposal for consideration on July 1. Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. Showtime and The Movie Channel than that paid by other studios, and that all four partners would not permit the two channels in the venture to pay lower fees for films produced by three studio partners than that paid by smaller pay television services for the same films.[1. After the revised proposal was rejected on July 2. Warner Communications and American Express restructured the purchase to include only Viacom as a partner, bowing Gulf+Western and MCA out from the partnership.

The changes – which Justice Department officials acknowledged would "prevent any anti- competitive effect from arising" following the merger, by allowing other premium services to enter the market should the venture significantly raise licensing fee prices for films – led the Justice Department to drop its challenge to the merger agreement on August 1. Department formally approved the deal the following day on August 1. When the deal was completed on September 6, 1. The Movie Channel and Showtime were folded into a new holding company, Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc., which was majority owned by Viacom (controlling 5. Warner Communications (which owned 3. Warner- Amex (which owned the remaining 1.

As the consolidation of its operations with The Movie Channel was ongoing, in 1. Showtime increased its national distribution on cable providers when competing premium service Spotlight ceased operations, effectively absorbing that channel's subscriber base.[3]. Showtime logo, used from 1. Watch A Walk To Remember Online Hollywoodtake.

D circle containing a TV screen (which was originally used as the channel's primary logo dating back to 1. This logo was also used on Showtime Australia until 2. On August 1. 0, 1. Time Inc. and cable provider Tele- Communications Inc.

TCI) jointly submitted a bid to buy the company for $9. American Express the previous month to buy out Warner's share of the company (under a clause in the agreement that allowed either company the option of buying out their partner's stake in Warner- Amex), Warner Communications exercised an option to acquire American Express' 5. Watch Bonded By Blood Hindi Full Movie'>Watch Bonded By Blood Hindi Full Movie. Watch Ghost Of Goodnight Lane Online Freeform. Warner- Amex Cable Communications for $4. Among the options, barring that it chose to sell Viacom a 5. Warner- Amex's 1. Showtime- The Movie Channel, Inc.; that interest would have reverted to Warner, which intended to operate Warner- Amex as a wholly owned subsidiary.[2. Two weeks later on August 2.

Viacom acquired Warner Communications and Warner- Amex's combined 5. Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc.

Warner- Amex and public shareholder interests in MTV Networks for $6. Viacom exclusive ownership of both networks and once again making it the sole owner of Showtimethrough its $5.