History
Formed in late 1994 through a joint partnership between Australis Media, Columbia TriStar, MCA, Viacom and Tele-Communications Inc., Showtime started broadcasting in 1995 as part of the basic package on the now-defunct Galaxy service, showing first-run films. At the same time its sister channel named Encore was launched, showing older 'classic' movies. Until their launch in March 1995, trailers and previews were broadcast in their channel slots. Both channels were originally programmed in Burbank, California, until local operations commenced in October 1995. It later became available as part of the Austar and Foxtel services when they were launched. In December 2002, the Showtime channels also became available on Optus Television. Encore was renamed Showtime Greats on 1 March 2004, with a move to more contemporary films.
In September 2007 it was announced that a premium channel called showcase would be launched on 1 December 2007 as part of the suite of Showtime channels, ahead of changes that would allow Movie Network to compete directly with Showtime for subscribers.
showcase screens movies (mainly independent, arthouse and documentary features),some comedy programs as well as a number of television series.
On 15 November 2009, Showtime Greats was replaced by showtime action, showtime comedy and showtime drama. In addition, Showtime was renamed showtime premiere.
On 11 October 2012, Foxtel announced they would acquire certain assets of the Premium Movie Partnership, which would result in Foxtel managing and producing the Showtime channels as of 31 October 2012. It is currently unknown what percentage Foxtel owns of Showtime and what percentage is still owned by the original owners.
Read more about this topic: Showtime Movie Channels
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