Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Showtime (TV network)
Showtime (also known as Paramount+ with Showtime) is an American premium television network and the flagship property of Showtime Networks, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance Corporation. Launched on July 1, 1976, Showtime's programming includes original television series produced exclusively for the linear network and developed for the co-owned Paramount+ streaming service, theatrically released and independent motion pictures, documentaries, and occasional stand-up comedy specials, made-for-TV movies, and softcore adult programming.[citation needed]
Headquartered at Paramount Plaza in the northern part of New York City's Broadway district, Showtime operates eight 24-hour, linear multiplex channels and formerly a standalone traditional subscription video on demand service; the channel's programming catalog and livestreams of its primary linear East and West Coast feeds are also available via an ad-free subscription tier of Paramount+ of the same name, which is also sold a la carte through Apple TV Channels, Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel and YouTube Primetime Channels. (Subscribers of Paramount+'s Prime Video add-on also receive access to the East Coast feeds of Showtime's seven multiplex channels.) It is a sister premium television network to The Movie Channel and Flix.
In addition, the Showtime brand has been licensed for use by a number of channels and platforms worldwide including Showtime Arabia (it has been merged into OSN) in the Middle East and North Africa, and the now defunct Showtime Movie Channels in Australia. As of September 2018[update], Showtime's programming was available to approximately 28.567 million American households which subscribed to a multichannel television provider (28.318 million of which receive Showtime's primary channel at a minimum).
Showtime was launched on July 1, 1976, on Times-Mirror Cable systems in Escondido, Long Beach, and Palos Verdes, California through the conversion of 10,000 subscribers of the previous Channel One franchise. Exactly a week later Showtime launched on Viacom Cablevision's system in Dublin, California; the channel was originally owned by Viacom. The first program 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 55,000 subscribers nationwide. On March 7, 1978, Showtime became a nationally distributed service when it was uplinked to satellite, becoming a competitor with Time Inc.'s HBO and other pay cable networks.
In 1979, Viacom sold 50% of Showtime to the TelePrompTer Corporation. On July 4, 1981, Showtime began a 24-hour programming schedule (rival HBO followed suit in December of the same year). In 1982, Group W Cable, a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (which acquired TelePrompTer the previous year), sold its 50% stake in Showtime back to Viacom for $75 million. The sale of Group W's stake in the channel happened shortly after the company began a partnership with Walt Disney Productions (now The Walt Disney Company) to develop a competing premium service, The Disney Channel. Group W left the joint venture in September, due to disagreements over creative control and financial obligations. In 1982 Showtime broadcast its first made-for-cable movie Falcon's Gold and its first original series and children's program Faerie Tale Theatre.
In August 1982, MCA Inc. (then the owner of Universal Pictures), Gulf+Western (then the owner of Paramount Pictures) and Warner Communications agreed to acquire The Movie Channel (TMC). The three companies combined acquired a controlling 75% interest in the service (with each holding a 25% ownership stake) from Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment. The deal was spurred 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 announced an agreement in to acquire interests in TMC on November 11, 1982. In late December of the same year, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a routine preliminary inquiry into the proposed partnership. The Department of Justice had blocked a similar attempt by MCA, Gulf+Western, 20th Century Fox, and Columbia Pictures to create a competing pay service, Premiere, in an antitrust case ruling two years earlier in January 1981.
On January 7, 1983, Viacom International (adding itself as a partner) drafted an amendment to the proposal to consolidate The Movie Channel with Showtime. Under the revised proposal, the four studios would each own a 22.58% stake in the two networks, with American Express owning a 9.68% minority interest. In addition, the consortium would appoint a management team separate from those employed by the two channels–which continued to operate as separate services–to operate the joint venture. However the deal ran into regulatory hurdles because Warner, Universal, and Paramount received 50% of their respective total revenue from film releases and licensing fees from premium services. Also Showtime and TMC combined would control about 30% of the pay cable marketplace, creating an oligopoly with HBO (which in conjunction with Cinemax controlled 60% of the market).
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 10, 1983, the Department asked Warner and American Express to restructure the deal during hearings for the case. 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.
Hub AI
Showtime (TV network) AI simulator
(@Showtime (TV network)_simulator)
Showtime (TV network)
Showtime (also known as Paramount+ with Showtime) is an American premium television network and the flagship property of Showtime Networks, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance Corporation. Launched on July 1, 1976, Showtime's programming includes original television series produced exclusively for the linear network and developed for the co-owned Paramount+ streaming service, theatrically released and independent motion pictures, documentaries, and occasional stand-up comedy specials, made-for-TV movies, and softcore adult programming.[citation needed]
Headquartered at Paramount Plaza in the northern part of New York City's Broadway district, Showtime operates eight 24-hour, linear multiplex channels and formerly a standalone traditional subscription video on demand service; the channel's programming catalog and livestreams of its primary linear East and West Coast feeds are also available via an ad-free subscription tier of Paramount+ of the same name, which is also sold a la carte through Apple TV Channels, Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel and YouTube Primetime Channels. (Subscribers of Paramount+'s Prime Video add-on also receive access to the East Coast feeds of Showtime's seven multiplex channels.) It is a sister premium television network to The Movie Channel and Flix.
In addition, the Showtime brand has been licensed for use by a number of channels and platforms worldwide including Showtime Arabia (it has been merged into OSN) in the Middle East and North Africa, and the now defunct Showtime Movie Channels in Australia. As of September 2018[update], Showtime's programming was available to approximately 28.567 million American households which subscribed to a multichannel television provider (28.318 million of which receive Showtime's primary channel at a minimum).
Showtime was launched on July 1, 1976, on Times-Mirror Cable systems in Escondido, Long Beach, and Palos Verdes, California through the conversion of 10,000 subscribers of the previous Channel One franchise. Exactly a week later Showtime launched on Viacom Cablevision's system in Dublin, California; the channel was originally owned by Viacom. The first program 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 55,000 subscribers nationwide. On March 7, 1978, Showtime became a nationally distributed service when it was uplinked to satellite, becoming a competitor with Time Inc.'s HBO and other pay cable networks.
In 1979, Viacom sold 50% of Showtime to the TelePrompTer Corporation. On July 4, 1981, Showtime began a 24-hour programming schedule (rival HBO followed suit in December of the same year). In 1982, Group W Cable, a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (which acquired TelePrompTer the previous year), sold its 50% stake in Showtime back to Viacom for $75 million. The sale of Group W's stake in the channel happened shortly after the company began a partnership with Walt Disney Productions (now The Walt Disney Company) to develop a competing premium service, The Disney Channel. Group W left the joint venture in September, due to disagreements over creative control and financial obligations. In 1982 Showtime broadcast its first made-for-cable movie Falcon's Gold and its first original series and children's program Faerie Tale Theatre.
In August 1982, MCA Inc. (then the owner of Universal Pictures), Gulf+Western (then the owner of Paramount Pictures) and Warner Communications agreed to acquire The Movie Channel (TMC). The three companies combined acquired a controlling 75% interest in the service (with each holding a 25% ownership stake) from Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment. The deal was spurred 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 announced an agreement in to acquire interests in TMC on November 11, 1982. In late December of the same year, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a routine preliminary inquiry into the proposed partnership. The Department of Justice had blocked a similar attempt by MCA, Gulf+Western, 20th Century Fox, and Columbia Pictures to create a competing pay service, Premiere, in an antitrust case ruling two years earlier in January 1981.
On January 7, 1983, Viacom International (adding itself as a partner) drafted an amendment to the proposal to consolidate The Movie Channel with Showtime. Under the revised proposal, the four studios would each own a 22.58% stake in the two networks, with American Express owning a 9.68% minority interest. In addition, the consortium would appoint a management team separate from those employed by the two channels–which continued to operate as separate services–to operate the joint venture. However the deal ran into regulatory hurdles because Warner, Universal, and Paramount received 50% of their respective total revenue from film releases and licensing fees from premium services. Also Showtime and TMC combined would control about 30% of the pay cable marketplace, creating an oligopoly with HBO (which in conjunction with Cinemax controlled 60% of the market).
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 10, 1983, the Department asked Warner and American Express to restructure the deal during hearings for the case. 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.