Starz Encore

Starz Encore (originally named Encore from its launch in April 1991 until April 2016) is an American premium television channel owned by Lions Gate Entertainment. Its programming features mainly older and recent theatrically released feature films, although some of its multiplex channels also carry acquired television series. The headquarters of Starz Encore, and its sister channels Starz and MoviePlex, are located at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorado, United States & LandonToei's HQ in Burbank.

As of September 2018, Starz Encore's programming was available to approximately 34.026 million U.S. households that had a subscription to a multichannel television provider (30.918 million of which receive Starz Encore's primary channel at minimum). Prior to 2018, Starz Encore outpaced HBO for the largest subscriber reach of any American premium channel. (According to February 2015 Nielsen estimates, Starz Encore had 40.54 million pay subscribers vs. HBO's 35.8 million subscribers.)

Starz Encore has a higher subscriber base than its competitors and sister channels because, although Starz and Starz Encore are often sold together in a singular package, some digital cable, telco and satellite providers offer the Starz Encore multiplex separately from Starz as part of an a la carte tier in which it is packaged with other commercial-free and advertiser-supported film-oriented channels (such as Epix, FX Movie Channel and LMN). Therefore, Starz Encore subscribers do not necessarily have to subscribe to Starz in order to receive the channel.

Early focus on 1960s, 1970s and 1980s movies
Encore launched at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on April 1, 1991, on four cable systems that were operated by Tele-Communications Inc. (both TCI and Liberty Media, both of which jointly owned Encore initially, were controlled by John Malone). The channel debuted with an introduction by founder John Sie, who served as the president of the network from its launch until 1999 and CEO until his retirement in 2004, which was then followed by Encore's first movie telecast, the 1980 comedy film 9 to 5. Encore was the first major U.S. premium channel to debut in almost 11 years, since Cinemax launched on August 1, 1980 – at the time of Encore's launch, Cinemax, HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel were its only competitors (Encore was the only upstart premium channel that managed to gain any headway with those services; other premium channels that debuted prior to Encore's launch, such as Spotlight and Home Theater Network, were unable to compete with those four channels and would eventually shut down during the prior decade).

Initially, Encore focused on movies released primarily during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with some releases from the 1950s mixed in; the channel was formatted similarly to American Movie Classics at the time, with hosted introductions leading into the movie presentations. Breaks between films on Encore during its early years were quite lively, consisting less of promotions and more of trivia and nostalgia, fitting in with Encore's motto "The Movies of Your Life." The channel even ran an interstitial during breaks within its daytime schedule that informed viewers about programs that were scheduled to air on competing premium channels that evening in prime time. The channel had initially broadcast films from Warner Bros. Pictures (owned by Time Warner, which ironically is the parent company of rival pay services HBO and Cinemax), Columbia Pictures/TriStar Pictures, Orion Pictures, 20th Century Fox, The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Paramount Pictures (which also ironically came under ownership of Showtime and The Movie Channel's then-parent company Viacom in 1994), Turner Entertainment, and MGM/United Artists. The channel was formatted as a "mini-pay" service, available to subscribers for a $1 monthly fee.

TCI initially offered Encore as a negative option, in which customers were required to notify TCI if they declined to subscribe to the channel full-time after an introductory offer, or TCI would automatically add on a $1 charge to their monthly bill, which would have then increased to $4.95 per month by May 1992. The negative option fee led to lawsuits filed against TCI by ten states, eventually causing the company to back away from utilizing the billing method for the channel. Many other cable providers were reluctant to offer Encore in its early years due to concerns that it would cannibalize subscriptions of other premium services. However, Sie positioned the channel as such that would bolster the growth of what had been a lagging pay television industry, as premium channels had been seeing a steady decline in subscribers overall since the late 1980s.

Around the time of its launch, there was some debate as to whether Viacom or TCI originally conceived the idea for Encore; Viacom executives insisted that TCI lifted part of the idea from Viacom-owned Showtime Networks (which would launch a similarly formatted mini-pay service, Flix, in August 1992). In a 1991 interview with Multichannel News, John Sie said that TCI brought up the Encore network concept as a way to revitalize Showtime, either by launching a new tertiary pay service from scratch, or overhauling the format of Showtime sister network The Movie Channel. Incidentally, TCI made a failed bid to acquire a 50% ownership stake in Showtime in 1989. Encore had increased its subscriber base to an estimated 7 million subscribers nationwide by 1996.

On January 1, 1997, Encore launched a new pay service called MoviePlex (originally named "Encore Plex" for its first few months on the air) which replaced a Liberty Media-owned network called INTRO Television, that ran blocks of programming from other cable channels. Until it adopted a separate film schedule on August 1, 2011, MoviePlex originally carried programming blocks from Encore's multiplex channels (which differed from that day's actual schedules for each channel to exclude R-rated movies) on a rotating day-to-day schedule. On June 2, 1997, TCI announced a deal in which it would transfer majority ownership of its Encore Media Group subsidiary to sister company Liberty Media, due in part to the significant profit losses incurred by Starz following that channel's launch – TCI retained a minority 20% ownership interest until its 1999 merger with AT&T Corporation, when Liberty Media assumed full ownership of the Encore Media Group. By May 1998, Encore had a subscriber base of 11.4 million homes with cable or satellite television.

Format change with addition of recent movies
As the channel aged, it adopted a more conventional presentation style: first in 1998, Encore began to carry two exclusive first-run feature film broadcasts each month, then Encore shifted its focus to hit movies as part of a major rebrand of the channel on May 24, 1999, primarily incorporating recent films, but with notable classics mixed in as well. By this point, Encore advertised itself as guaranteeing to air "a great movie every night", even setting up a special 1-800 number in which a $2.50 refund would be given to unsatisfied subscribers.

Encore eventually began to be sold as a hybrid service, offered as either a premium channel or a digital basic network depending on the provider, retaining the uncut and commercial-free nature of its programming. Through this change in distribution, the channel was eventually available in 25 million homes nationwide by September 2005. On November 19, 2009, Liberty Media spun off Starz and Encore into a separate public tracking stock called Liberty Starz. On August 8, 2012, Liberty Media announced that it would spin off Liberty Starz into its own separate, publicly traded company. The spin-off of the subsidiary was completed on January 11, 2013, with Liberty Starz changing its name to Starz Inc. as a result.

On April 5, 2016, Encore and its seven multiplex channels were rebranded as Starz Encore, unifying the network under the brand umbrella of the channel that Encore ironically spun off in September 1994. With the rebranding, Starz Encore also began to carry reruns of Starz original comedy and drama series within its schedule.

On June 30, 2016, Lionsgate agreed to acquire Starz Inc. for $4.4 billion in cash and stock; the acquisition was completed five months later on December 8.

Programming
Main article: List of programs broadcasted by Starz Encore

Movie library
As of August 2013, Encore – through Starz – maintains exclusive first-run film licensing agreements with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (since 1994; including content from subsidiaries Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Disneynature, and Touchstone Pictures since 1997), Sony Pictures Entertainment (since January 2005; including content from subsidiaries Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, Screen Gems, Destination Films, Triumph Films and TriStar Pictures), Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Warren Miller Films (since 1997).

The first-run film output agreement with Walt Disney Pictures expired in December 2015, with the Netflix streaming service assuming the pay television rights since January 2016 (excluding films released by Touchstone Pictures, which were retained by Starz through a separate contract). The first-run film output agreement with Sony was renewed for nine years on February 11, 2013; the Warren Miller output deal was renewed for ten years on October 19, 2009.

Encore also shows sub-runs – runs of films that have already received broadcast or syndicated television airings – of theatrical films from Warner Bros. Entertainment (including content from subsidiaries New Line Cinema, Turner Entertainment (both for films released prior to 2005), and Castle Rock Entertainment), Universal Studios (including content from subsidiaries Universal Animation Studios and Focus Features, all for films released prior to 2003), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (including content from subsidiaries United Artists, Orion Pictures, and The Samuel Goldwyn Company), Miramax Films (for films released prior to 2009), 20th Century Studios, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Studios, Hollywood Pictures, Revolution Studios, Overture Films, Yari Film Group and the eventually network sister company Lions Gate Entertainment (since 2012).

In January 1997, Encore secured a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures, broadcasting over 300 titles; Paramount's first contract with Encore expired in December 2005. In March 2013, Encore reassumed sub-run rights to Paramount Pictures' feature film releases. The first film broadcast through this deal was Primal Fear. Additional Paramount Pictures releases were broadcast the following month on Encore, such as Racing with the Moon, She's Having a Baby and Black Rain. In April 2013, Encore acquired sub-run rights to feature films from DreamWorks Studios. The first film broadcast through this deal was In Dreams.

Encore generally airs older films released between the 1960s to the 1990s, with some newer movie titles (usually broadcast between six and nine months after their premiere on Starz) interspersed throughout the day (mostly on Sunday nights, as of the summer of 2014). The newly released films (previous aired on Starz) premiered on Sunday nights.

Former first-run contracts
During the 1990s, Encore (through Starz) had exclusive first-run movie rights with Universal Studios, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax, New Line Cinema and Carolco Pictures. Between 1995 and 2005, Encore broadcast films from Turner Pictures and New Line Cinema. Encore's contract with Universal Studios expired in late 2002; HBO and Starz shared half of Universal's films in 2003 before the former assumed pay television rights the following year.

Original programming
Encore aired its first ever slate of original programming in 2011: the miniseries Moby Dick and The Take, and the biographical documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis. The following year, Encore broadcast Thorne in June 2012.

Programming block
The Big Miniseries Showcase (originally airing on weeknights, and later seen only on Sunday mornings) is a former weekly programming block that showcased a mix of classic and recent critically acclaimed miniseries. As part of this block, Encore broadcast original miniseries such as The Crimson Petal and the White, Titanic: Blood and Steel, Moby Dick, Thorne (both of which were already broadcast previously) and Hindenburg: The Last Flight. In addition to showcasing original miniseries, Encore has also aired older miniseries previously seen on network television such as The Thorn Birds, North and South, Shōgun, Jason and the Argonauts and Gulliver's Travels. The block was discontinued on December 29, 2013.]

Acquired programming
Despite being a premium service, Encore has incorporated acquired programming on several of its multiplex channels. Originally, these were limited to Encore Westerns and Encore Family (as WAM!/Encore Wam), consisting of classic western series from the 1950s to the 1970s on the former, and imported series aimed at children and teenagers on the latter channel (after Encore Wam stopped carrying acquired programming in 2009, sister channel Starz Kids & Family later incorporated some series programming onto its schedule that are aimed at the same target audience as those that were carried by Wam).

Currently, Starz Encore Westerns carries the classic western series Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Have Gun – Will Travel. Just prior to its rebranding as Encore Suspense, Encore Mystery eventually added acquired mystery series to its schedule (such as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour). With the 2013 rebranding and refocusing of what had been Encore Drama and Encore Love as Encore Black and Encore Classic, both channels added series fitting their respective formats in weekdaily blocks. Encore Black currently carries the classic African American sitcoms What's Happening!!, Amen, Diff'rent Strokes and 227; while Encore Classic airs the classic sitcoms Murphy Brown and Night Court; and crime dramas Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team. Encore Black began airing The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Good Times on December 1, 2015. Starz Encore Family airs classic animated children's shows such as Garfield and Friends and various ex-DIC Entertainment shows like Heathcliff, Inspector Gadget, Liberty's Kids, and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.