Australian television movie service
Television channel
Movie Network Channels
|
Country
| Australia
|
---|
|
Language(s)
| English
|
---|
Picture format
| PAL
HDTV
1080i
[1]
|
---|
Timeshift
service
| Movie Two
,
Starpics 2
|
---|
|
Owner
| Movie Network Channels Pty Ltd (
Warner Bros.
/
HBO
,
Disney
,
MGM Holdings
&
Village Roadshow
)
|
---|
Sister channels
| Movie One
FMC Family
Starpics 1
Movie Extra
Movie Greats
|
---|
|
Launched
| 20 September 1995
[2]
|
---|
Closed
| 31 December 2012
|
---|
Former names
| The Movie Network (1995?1997)
|
---|
|
|
|
Foxtel Download
| Movie Action
Movie Comedy
Movie Drama
|
---|
|
Movie Network Channels
was an Australian
premium television
movie service that consisted of five original channels (
Movie One
,
Movie Extra
,
Movie Greats
,
Family Movie Channel
,
Starpics 1
), two SD timeshifts (
Movie Two
,
Starpics 2
) and three HD simulcasts (
Movie One HD
,
Starpics 1 HD
,
Starpics 2 HD
). Its main competitor was
Showtime
. Movie Network channels were originally only available through
Optus TV
, who produced and part-owned the channels prior to 1 January 2000.
[2]
[4]
Through content sharing agreements, Movie Network Channels became available through
Austar
in January 1999 and
Foxtel
in December 2002.
[5]
Movie Network is also available on
Neighbourhood Cable
,
SelecTV
and
TransACT
.
[6]
The channels were owned, operated and programmed by
Warner Bros.
,
Disney
,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
and
Village Roadshow
. In addition to films from these studios, the network also had access to films from
DreamWorks
[7]
and Australian distributor Hopscotch Films.
On 15 November 2009, the network expanded with three additional (including 1 timeshift) channels and 3 HD simulcasts (including 1 timeshift).
[8]
In addition, a new website was launched and a unified slogan for the overall network - "All Together Better!".
From 2009 until 2012,
Movie Extra
was the naming rights sponsor for the
Tropfest
short film festival.
[9]
On 6 December 2012, an announcement was made that Movie Network would cease broadcasting from 31 December 2012.
[10]
This came in the wake of
Foxtel
purchasing the
Showtime Movie Channels
from the Premium Movie Partnership to take movies in-house to save on costs.
[11]
Negotiations were taking place between Foxtel and Movie Network, but it is believed that one or more of the Movie Network owners began negotiations with Foxtel for their movie rights, causing the acquisition of Movie Network to fall through.
[12]
On 9 December 2012, it was announced that Movie Network and Showtime (with the exception of
Showcase
) would be replaced with a new line-up of Foxtel branded movie channels to be named
Foxtel Movies
[13]
Channels
[
edit
]
Movies were typically shown for a year, and made appearances on at least one or more of the network's channels during their run.
Movie One
[
edit
]
Movie One
was the network's premiere channel for blockbusters from studios such as
Warner Bros.
,
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
,
MGM
,
Becker Entertainment
,
Village Roadshow
and Steven Spielberg's
DreamWorks
plus an array of independent studios and launched 20 September 1995. Prior to 7 September 1997 this channel was named The Movie Network. Movie One (along with timeshift service, Movie Two) also offers a free interactive movie service called Redspace. Every month Redspace allows digital viewers to play a quiz, read facts about the movie or watch video packages such as behind-the-scenes, interviews and other features. Movies that air on this channel are released 2005-onwards. An HD simulcast launched on 15 November 2009.
Movie Two
[
edit
]
Movie Two
was the timeshift service of Movie One where it broadcasts Movie One with a two-hour delay and launched 2004.
Movie Extra
launched on 7 September 1997.
The channel showed a mix of international and Australian films along with premieres of edgier films and documentaries. More recently the channel had started screening American or British television series such as:
Five Days
,
Dirt
,
The L Word
and
Mad Men
. Movies that aired on this channel were mainly from the late 90s and early 2000s.
The Movie Extra Webfest was an annual trailer-making event.
The winners of the inaugural 2011 Webfest were
Henry and Aaron
with their series
Henry & Aaron’s 7 Steps to Superstardom
.
[14]
The winner of the 2012 Webfest competition,
Event Zero
premiered on 22 May 2012.
Event Zero
stars actors
Zoe Carides
,
Valentino Del Toro
,
Harry Pavlidis
and
Steve Davis
.
[15]
Movie Greats
[
edit
]
Movie Greats
showed films from the back catalogues of the studios. Often there were themed months, or marathons of movies. Classic movies are shown on this channel, which ranges from between the 1930s up until the mid-1990s and launched 20 September 1995. The channel adopted the slogans "Movies that move you" and "Movies for me" from 15 November 2009.
Family Movie Channel (FMC)
[
edit
]
Family Movie Channel
was dedicated to Family Movies
[8]
and was launched on 15 November 2009. The channel shows movie rated G and PG, along with "light" M rated movies.
[16]
Premieres were on Saturday evenings.
[16]
STARPICS
[
edit
]
Starpics
was dedicated to double features of movies starring the same person. It has the slogan "Movies you know, actors you love",
[8]
and launched on 15 November 2009. The channel has a timeshift channel, with both having HD simulcasts.
Download Channels for Foxtel subscribers
[
edit
]
Foxtel subscribers to Movie Network channels are able to download movies to their Windows PC from 3 download channels.
The 3 channels are
Movie Action
,
Movie Comedy
, and
Movie Drama
. Content is often changed and is exclusive to the Foxtel download service.
[
citation needed
]
MovieBox on FetchTV
[
edit
]
In June 2010, the Movie Network channels launched
MovieBox
, a subscription on-demand movie service for
Fetch TV
with movies from the Movie Network's partner studios. The service offers a new movie each day, with instant access to 30 movies at any given time and the ability to pause, re-wind, fast forward and repeat view for up to 30 days.
[17]
The movies are included as part of the FetchTV basic subscription package, and show on a customer's TV via the FetchTV set top box.
Even though Movie Network Channels ceased broadcasting their channels, MovieBox is still being updated with new movies every day.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Movie Greats channel now available in Widescreen
- ^
a
b
McCutcheon, Marion.
Is Pay TV Meeting its Promise?
(PDF)
(Report). Faculty of Arts, School of Media, Communication and Culture, Murdoch University.
- ^
"Programmers Count The Cost of Quotas".
Television Business International
. 1 April 1997. p. 79.
- ^
"Austar unifies H'wood lineups".
The Hollywood Reporter
: 6. 4 January 1999.
ISSN
0018-3660
.
- ^
"TransACT launches new Movie Network Channels on TransTV"
(Press release).
TransACT
. 4 June 2008. Archived from
the original
on 19 July 2008
. Retrieved
30 September
2009
.
- ^
"DreamWorks, Optus team up Has signed a long-term exclusive output deal with DreamWorks SKG".
The Hollywood Reporter
: 1. 20 September 1996.
ISSN
0018-3660
.
- ^
a
b
c
Movie Network.
"Meet The New Movie Network Channels"
. Archived from
the original
on 8 October 2009
. Retrieved
29 September
2009
.
- ^
Tropfest loses Sony and gains Movie Extra
Archived
20 March 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
? B&T Today, 7 August 2008
- ^
"Movie Networks channels to fold TV Tonight"
. David Knox. 7 December 2012
. Retrieved
7 December
2012
.
- ^
"Foxtel to acquire Showtime channels TV Tonight"
. David Knox. 11 October 2012
. Retrieved
3 December
2012
.
- ^
"Warner Bros, Disney, Roadshow & MGM Dissolve Aussie Pay TV Movie Partnership - Deadline.com"
. Don Groves. 5 December 2012
. Retrieved
17 December
2012
.
- ^
"New movie channels for Foxtel TV Tonight"
. David Knox. 9 December 2012
. Retrieved
17 December
2012
.
- ^
"Henry and Aaron win inaugural Webfest"
. Mumbrella.
- ^
Knox, David (22 May 2012).
"Movie Extra Webfest winner premieres"
. TV Tonight
. Retrieved
12 July
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Knox, David (2 November 2009).
"James Tobin joins StarPics"
. tvtonight.com.au
. Retrieved
2 November
2009
.
- ^
"Movie Network adds on-demand Movie Box"
. Media Spy. 26 May 2010
. Retrieved
12 July
2013
.
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