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[[Category:American television networks]]
[[Category:American television networks]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1984]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1984]]
[[Category:English-language television stations in the United States]]
[[Category:English SAP television stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Cablevision]]
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[[Category:Orphan initialisms]]
[[Category:Orphan initialisms]]

Revision as of 19:54, 23 October 2010

AMC
HeadquartersBethpage, New York, USA
Ownership
OwnerRainbow Media

AMC is a cable television channel that primarily airs movies. The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics. However, since 2003, the full name has been deemphasized as a result of a major shift in programming.[1][2] AMC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC [3], a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, and signed on October 1, 1984.

History

1980s

AMC was originally a premium cable channel that aired classic movies during the afternoons and early evenings, largely pre-1950s, in a commercial-free, generally unedited, uncut, and uncolorized format.[4] It was not uncommon for the channel to host a Marx Brothers marathon, or show such classics such as the original Phantom of the Opera. In 1987, the channel first became available on basic cable television systems.[4][5] By 1989, the channel had 39 million subscribers in the United States.[5]

1990s

Beginning in 1993, AMC presented an annual Film Preservation Festival to raise awareness of and funding for film preservation. Coordinated with The Film Foundation, an industry group founded by Martin Scorsese, the festival as originally conceived was a multi-day marathon presenting rare and previously lost films, many for the first time on television, along with behind-the-scenes reports on the technical and monetary issues faced by those engaged in archival restoration. Portions of the festival were often dedicated to all-day single artist marathons. During its fifth anniversary year, Scorsese credited the Festival for creating "not only a greater awareness, but (...) more of an expectation now to see restored films."[6] In 1996, curator of the Museum of Modern Art Mary Lee Bandy called the Festival "the most important public event in support of film preservation."[7] By its tenth anniversary, the Festival had raised $2 million from the general public, which The Film Foundation divided among its five member archives.[8]

From 1996 to 1998, AMC aired its first original series, Remember WENN, a half-hour show about a radio station during the peak of radio's influence in the 1930s. Around this time, NBC owned a stake in AMC (which it divested in the early 2000s). The show was well received by both critics and its enthusiastic fans, but was abruptly cancelled after its fourth season when a change of management took over (WENN's replacement was The Lot, and lasted for only 16 episodes). Despite a well publicized write-in campaign to save the series, the show was not renewed for its originally scheduled fifth season.

In 1997, AMC started Monsterfest, a week long marathon of scary movies that airs in late October. The final edition of this popular week long theme was aired in 2007, ending without fanfare or mention from AMC until Fall 2008 with the announcement of the new Fearfest. AMC's website has started a Monsterfest blog[9], chronicling the latest horror news in movies and on television. In addition, late at night every Friday AMC presents Fear Friday, a horror movie double feature. One popular AMC program was American Pop! (originally intended as a preview of a new 24 hour cable channel),[10] which ran from 1998 to 2002 and featured 50s and 60s movies aimed at baby boomers, such as Beach Blanket Bingo and Ski Party. Of particular interest to movie completists were the segments AMC played to fill out the time slot (Saturday nights from 10pm to midnight): classic movie trailers, drive-in movie ads and snipes (bits extolling viewers to visit the snack bar, etc.), plus music videos cribbed from musical movies from the period.

The majority of films presented on AMC during the 1990s had originally been released by Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios. There were occasional showings of silent film classics. The regular hosts of the telecasts were Bob Dorian and Nick Clooney as well as New York Radio Personality Gene Klavan from WNEW 1130am. Another WNEW-AM alum, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, provided his voice for the interstitials "Jazzbo's Swingin' Soundies."

2000s

Format change

For most of its first 18 years, AMC provided films without commercial interruption. Its revenue came from the cable providers that offered the channel to subscribers. However, AMC then gradually began to put ads between, and then also within, movies.[11]

On September 30, 2002, AMC changed its format from a classic movie channel to a more general movie channel, airing movies from all eras, with the majority of pre-1970 movies airing in late nights, mornings, and early afternoons.[12] Kate McEnroe, then president of AMC Networks, cited lack of cable-operator subsidies as the reason for the addition of advertising, and cited ad agencies who insist on programming relevant to their products' consumers as the reason for the shift to recent movies instead of classics.[13]

At the time of the format switchover, the company also attempted a spin-off digital cable channel, AMC's Hollywood Classics, which would have required viewers to pay extra to receive the channel. This commercial-free digital cable channel would have aired the black-and-white classics of the 30s, 40s, and 50s that American Movie Classics had been airing up until its format changeover, but the new channel did not come to fruition.[13][14]

On the AMC site, the channel claims to air fewer commercials per hour than most other basic cable channels.[15] As it is now an advertiser-supported channel, the network television version of a movie is aired whenever possible.[16][17] In 2004 AMC aired their first reality show, titled "Film Fakers." In this show out of work actors were auditioned believing they were getting their big break with a major part in a real movie, and then after a week told it was a prank and there was no movie. A New York Times article on the show said, "'Film Fakers' may go down as one of the meanest reality series yet." [18]

Expansion of the new AMC

On September 1, 2006, AMC officially became available in Canada for customers of Shaw Communications (both the cable service and the Shaw Direct satellite system), marking the first time the channel was made available outside of the United States. Other cable companies, including Rogers Cable, have followed by adding AMC to their lineup as well.

On September 26, 2008, AMC announced the arrival of their latest October horror-themed movie marathon called "Fearfest" (replacing the popular Monsterfest). Coinciding with this was the "Monsterfest" blog now being called the "Horror Hacker" blog. In May 2009, AMC unveiled a new slogan: "Story Matters Here"; the new slogan can be seen on the channel's website (as part of the title of the website's front page). AMC's other promotional slogans are "The Future of Classic" and "Long Live Cool." Also in 2009, AMC acquired FilmCritic.com and FilmSite.org.[19]

On November 2, 2009, Bell Canada announced that it will add both the SD and HD versions of AMC to its Bell TV lineup on November 11, 2009. [20] On January 4, 2010, AMC began airing infomercials on Monday-Saturday mornings from 6-9 a.m. ET, as such it is one of only three English-language cable movie channels in the United States to air infomercials (along with Hallmark Movie Channel and Lifetime Movie Network); others, including sister channels Sundance Channel and IFC run a 24-hour schedule of films with some series programming.

AMC HD

AMC HD is a 1080i high definition simulcast of AMC. It is available on Dish Network, Cablevision, Verizon FiOS, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Cable, Charter Cable, Suddenlink Communications, Mediacom, Brighthouse Networks, Insight Communications, Shaw Direct, and Bell TV.

Cogeco Cable now offers AMC.

AMC on the Web

AMCtv.com offers streaming video and program notes via web, but does not support the iPad via Safari, only via App.

Original programs

Series

Title Number of Seasons Number of Episodes First Broadcast Last Broadcast Emmy Wins Emmy Nods Golden Globe Wins Golden Globe Nods
Remember WENN 4 56 019961996 019981998 1 5 0 0
The Lot 2 16 019991999 020012001 0 0 0 0
Mad Men 4 46 020072007 02010Present 13 (3) 49 (3) 4 (3) 8 (3)
Breaking Bad 3 33 020082008 02010Present 6 (0) 16 (5) 0 0
Rubicon 1 13 020102010 02010Present 0 0 0 0

(*) = Number of Outstanding Drama Nominations/Wins

Upcoming series

Miniseries

Syndicated programs

See also

References

  1. ^ Gildemeister, Christopher (2006-10-16). "What Your Kids are Discovering on Discovery Channel". Parents Television Council. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  2. ^ "When TV network changes name, look close". CNN.com. Associated Press. 2003-03-03. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  3. ^ Rainbow Media.com About Rainbow Media
  4. ^ a b Gildemeister, Christopher. The Fine Arts Are Hard To Find. Parents Television Council: October 2, 2006
  5. ^ a b Gomery, Douglas. American Movie Classics. Museum of Broadcast Communications
  6. ^ King, Susan (1997-10-02), "Save That Movie! - After a slow start, AMC's Film Preservation Festival has raised $1.3 million," Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-9-20.
  7. ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence, (1996-06-30) "Restoring Films to a Former Glory", New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-9-20.
  8. ^ Elber, Lynn (2002-08-30), "Even 1970s Rock Fests Need Film Preservation", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-9-20.
  9. ^ AMC TV: Monsterfest
  10. ^ "AMC Ushering In Nostalgic American Pop" (1998-06-20), Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on 2008-9-20 via AllBusiness.com.
  11. ^ Battaglio, Stephen. It now has enough commercials to make movie watching almost as intolerable as any other commercial channel. "Old-Movie Channels Nearing Showdown." New York Daily News. June 28, 2002.
  12. ^ Why did AMC change its format? From the AMCtv.com FAQ
  13. ^ a b Dempsey, John. "AMC Unveils More Contemporary Slate, Extra Ads." Variety. May 13, 2002.
  14. ^ Battaglio, Stephen. "Old-Movie Channels Nearing Showdown." New York Daily News. June 28, 2002.
  15. ^ Why did AMC add commercials?
  16. ^ Does AMC edit movies for content?
  17. ^ Hofstede, David (2004). What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History. New York, New York: Back Stage Books. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0823084418. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ Ogunnaike, Lola (October 26, 2004). "Quiet on the Fake Set; Cue the Unsuspecting Actor". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  19. ^ Ali, Rafat (June 30, 2009). "AMC buys two movie-related websites". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  20. ^ http://www.bce.ca/en/news/releases/bev/2009/11/02/75256.html
  21. ^ The Futon Critic.com THE WALKING DEAD LIVES ON AMC
  22. ^ Deadline Hollywood It's Official:AMC Picks Up Crime Thriller The Killing
  23. ^ The AV Club AMC developing Western drama Hell on Wheels
  24. ^ AMC.TV Show Page - The Prisoner
  25. ^ AMC.TV Show Page - Broken Trails
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