Former American TV network
Television channel
Chiller
(stylized as
chiller
) was an American
cable
and
satellite
television network
that was owned by
NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group
subsidiary of
NBCUniversal
, all owned by
Comcast
. It later opened its own film
production company
as well. Chiller specialized in
horror
,
thriller
and
suspense
programming, mainly films.
As of February 2015, 38,820,000 American households (33.4% of households with television) received Chiller, though this declined with later removals by several cable services as carriage agreements expired.
[1]
The channel ceased operations on December 31, 2017.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
History
[
edit
]
On January 12, 2007,
NBCUniversal
announced its intent to launch Chiller on March 1, dedicated to films and television shows related to the
horror
genre. The company also stated that, aside from their own content, Chiller would feature content from competing
film studios
, including
Lionsgate
,
Sony
,
Warner Bros.
, and
20th Century Fox
.
[6]
In February 2007,
The 101
, channel 101 on
DirecTV
, aired a "preview" of Chiller, featuring the
pilot episodes
of
Twin Peaks
and
American Gothic
, as well as various
horror movies
and programs.
Sleuth
, NBC/Universal's mystery-themed network later known as Cloo, aired a fourteen-hour movie marathon entitled "Chiller On Sleuth" to promote the launch of Chiller. The channel officially launched at 6:00 am Eastern/5:00 am Central on March 1. After a brief introduction to the channel, Chiller aired its first program,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
.
On July 30, 2014, its carriage was merged with that of its former competitor
Fearnet
, a network launched by Comcast in 2006 as a
video on demand
service 6 years before their purchase of NBCUniversal.
Carriage decline and end of operations
[
edit
]
The termination of
Cloo
on February 1, 2017, along with
Esquire Network
on June 28, and Universal HD (another NBCUniversal network rebranding as the
Olympic Channel
) on July 14, as non-prime networks in NBCU's cable portfolio, portended Chiller's fate at the end of 2017.
On February 1, 2017 (the same day sister network Cloo ended all operations),
Dish
removed the channel from their lineup, which cited that most of the network's rerun-centric programming was duplicative of that available on other networks and streaming services, with
Charter Communications
(
Spectrum
,
Time Warner Cable
and
Bright House Networks
subsidiaries) dropping it and
Esquire Network
on April 25 for the same reason.
[7]
Five months later on October 2, 2017, it was discontinued by
Verizon FiOS
, while
Mediacom
quietly removed the channel from their lineup on October 23.
[8]
Cox
effectively ended the network's life on November 8, 2017, when it refused to continue their carriage of Chiller within their new carriage agreements with NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, removing the network from several Cox regional outlets.
[9]
On November 16, 2017, NBCUniversal Cable Networks confirmed that the channel would end all operations on December 31.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Google Fiber
stopped carrying Chiller on December 20,
[10]
which left
DirecTV
and
AT&T U-Verse
as two of the last providers to carry Chiller until its demise. A year-end ratings recap showed Chiller as ranked 127 out of 136 networks, averaging 36,000 viewers a night.
[11]
The network officially left the air around 11:59 p.m. ET on December 31 after an airing of
The Babadook
with a simple message of "
Thank you for watching Chiller. Good night!
". Its website was redirected to that of
Syfy
a few hours before.
Programming
[
edit
]
Originals
[
edit
]
| This section needs to be
updated
.
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
(
March 2016
)
|
On December 17, 2010, Chiller premiered Chiller 13: The Decade's Scariest Movie Moments. The countdown special featured a diverse group of pop culture mavens and horror movie experts looking back on the top 13 scary movie moments between 2000 and 2010. Show participants include renowned special makeup effects supervisor
Greg Nicotero
(
The Walking Dead
), comedians Dan Gurewitch & David Young (
CollegeHumor
), actress
Betsy Russell
(the
Saw
films), writer
Steve Niles
,
Tony Todd
and horror film director
Lucky McKee
among others. In October 2011, Chiller continued the franchise with Chiller 13: Horror's Creepiest Kids.
In December 2011, Chiller premiered its first original movie entitled
Steve Niles' Remains
, based on the
IDW Publishing
comic book
by
Steve Niles
and
Kieron Dwyer
.
[12]
On March 4, 2016, Chiller premiered its only original television series entitled
Slasher
.
[13]
[14]
Netflix
acquired the licensing rights to the series after the first season.
[15]
[16]
[17]
Acquired programs
[
edit
]
Chiller's acquired slate included genre films, international series (
Afterlife
,
Apparitions
), non-scripted programs (
Fear Factor
), and anthology shows (
Masters of Horror
).
For a period of a month in July 2015 the channel provided selection of anime. The weekly block aired from midnight to 2:00 am on Wednesdays, but was summarily cancelled due to poor ratings. Aside from the aforementioned
Tokyo Majin
,
Devil May Cry: The Animated Series
,
Is This A Zombie?
, and
Black Blood Brothers
also found their home on the block.
[18]
[19]
Dare 2 Direct Film Festivals
[
edit
]
In October 2007, Chiller announced its "Dare 2 Direct Film Festival" which premiered on
Halloween
night. Viewers uploaded 300 short films and the winners aired on this original special.
Chiller renewed its Dare 2 Direct Film Festival in 2008, which aired on Halloween night. The channel premiered webisodes of an original film, "The Hills Are Alive" from
Tim Burton
protege
Caroline Thompson
(co-screenwriter of
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
and screenwriter of
Edward Scissorhands
) in July on chillertv.com, and aired the complete film as its first original film in October.
Chiller Films
[
edit
]
Chiller Films was a film production company based in New York that specializes in indie horror and thriller films. It was launched in 2011 to give select Chiller movies limited theatrical runs and nationwide VOD distribution, using a
simultaneous, or "day-and date" film release
strategy.
[20]
This means films are released in a limited number of small and multiplex theaters in large markets, along with release on
video on demand
through cable providers and online film retailers the same day. Most of the films are from
independent filmmakers
who then license their properties to Chiller Films. With the end of the channel it was connected to, the current status of Chiller Films is unknown.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Seidman, Robert (February 22, 2015).
"List of how many homes each cable network is in as of February 2015"
.
TV by the Numbers
. Archived from
the original
on February 23, 2015
. Retrieved
March 10,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Swann, Phillip (November 16, 2017).
"NBC to Shut Down Chiller Channel: Exclusive"
.
TV Answer Man
. Retrieved
November 16,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
O'Connell, Michael (November 16, 2017).
"NBCUniversal Turning Lights Off on Chiller Network"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
November 16,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
Littleton, Cynthia (November 16, 2017).
"NBCUniversal Cable to Shutter Chiller Channel"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
November 16,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
Pedersen, Erik (November 16, 2017).
"Chiller Going Dark As NBCUniversal Axes Horror-Centric Channel"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
November 16,
2017
.
- ^
Adalian, Josef (January 11, 2017).
"NBC Universal, DirecTV team on Chiller"
.
Variety
. Archived from
the original
on December 11, 2015
. Retrieved
January 11,
2017
.
- ^
Swann, Phillip (February 28, 2017).
"Charter to Drop Chiller Channel"
.
TV Answer Man
. Retrieved
March 7,
2017
.
- ^
Grassely, Lee (September 25, 2017).
"Subject: Channel Change (to City of Galena, Illinois)"
(PDF)
.
Mediacom
(Press release)
. Retrieved
November 16,
2017
.
- ^
Swann, Phillip (October 11, 2017).
"Cox to Drop NBC-Owned Chiller Channel"
.
TV Answer Man
. Retrieved
October 13,
2017
.
- ^
"View changes to your channel line-up"
.
Google
. Retrieved
December 23,
2017
.
- ^
Schneider, Michael (December 28, 2017).
"Highest Network Ratings of 2017: Most Watched Winners & Losers"
.
IndieWire
. Retrieved
December 28,
2017
.
- ^
"Looking at IDW's Remains"
.
Newsarama
. March 11, 2004. Archived from
the original
on May 25, 2007
. Retrieved
September 10,
2009
.
- ^
"Slasher delivers a good old-fashioned murder mystery,"
Archived
August 28, 2017, at the
Wayback Machine
from
The TV Junkies
, March 3, 2016
- ^
Hipes, Patrick (May 5, 2015).
"Chiller Unveils First Original Series 'Slasher', More New Movies"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
May 5,
2015
.
- ^
"Slasher returns for a second season"
. Playback Online. May 9, 2017
. Retrieved
May 23,
2019
.
- ^
Moore, Kasey (September 20, 2017).
"October 2017 New Netflix Releases"
.
WhatsonNetlix
. Retrieved
May 23,
2019
.
- ^
Urqyhart-White, Alaina (October 17, 2017).
"Is 'Slasher 2: Guilty Party' A True Story? The Netflix Series Honors Some Legendary Horror Classics"
.
Bustle
. Retrieved
May 23,
2019
.
- ^
"U.S. TV Channel Chiller Runs Anime Block on Wednesdays"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
July 2,
2021
.
- ^
The Failed Anime Block that Everyone Forgot About
,
archived
from the original on December 14, 2021
, retrieved
July 2,
2021
- ^
Yamato, Jen (June 19, 2013).
"Chiller Adds 'Deep In The Darkness', Drew Barrymore's 'Animal' To Original Film Slate"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
June 17,
2015
.
External links
[
edit
]