Foxtel Movies

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Foxtel Movies
CountryAustralia
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerFoxtel Networks

Foxtel Movies is a suite of eight pay television film channels in Australia which began broadcasting on 1 January 2013. Owned by Foxtel, the channels replaced the now-defunct Movie Network and Showtime suites.

History

In June 2012, speculation arose that Foxtel would be looking at taking movies in-house at the end of 2012 when their contracts with Showtime and Movie Network expired.[1] This would allow Foxtel to make cost savings of a predicted 40% by making movie deals directly with the Hollywood studios.[2]

On 11 October 2012, it was announced that Foxtel had acquired "certain assets" from the Premium Movie Partnership (PMP) shareholders, taking over managing and producing the Showtime channels from 31 October 2012.[3]

Foxtel were in negotiations with Movie Network to acquire it, but it was believed that two of the Movie Network shareholders (Warner Bros. & Village Roadshow) broke ranks and began negotiations with Foxtel for their movie rights.[4] On 6 December 2012, it was announced that Movie Network would fold on 1 January 2013, being not permitted to sell the company to Foxtel or renew their contract.[5]

On 9 December 2012, Foxtel announced they would launch a new line up of channels branded Foxtel Movies.[6] The channels would offer films from four major film companies – 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, & NBCUniversal (rights acquired from Foxtel's acquisition of Showtime).

On 20 December 2012, Foxtel announced a movie deal with Village Roadshow.[7] On 21 December 2012, Foxtel announced a movie deal with Warner Bros..[8]

Over 600 posts were made on Foxtel's Facebook page within 3 days after Foxtel Movies' launch, all criticising Foxtel's changes in that the total amount of channels was reduced from 15 to 11 yet the price remained the same.[9] On 17 January 2013, in response to the outrage by subscribers, Foxtel launched an additional 2 timeshift channels (Family + 2 and Action/Adventure + 2).[10]

On 21 February 2013, Foxtel announced they had finalised agreements with The Walt Disney Company and MGM, resulting in Foxtel having agreements with all the major studios and distributors.[11]

On 15 October 2013, it was announced that Foxtel had reached distribution agreements with StudioCanal, Hopscotch Entertainment One, Icon, and Transmission Films – four of Australia's key independent movie distributors.[12]

On 1 January 2014, Action/Adventure, Drama/Romance and Thriller/Crime were renamed Action, Romance and Thriller respectively.[13] Despite these changes, the programming of each channel remained constant.[14] In addition to the name change of three channels, all channels launched new logos and themes.

On 10 April 2014, Foxtel Movies launched Foxtel Movies Disney, a channel dedicated to Disney films.[15]

On 28 March 2015, a timeshift channel for Foxtel Movies Disney launched, coinciding with its first birthday.[16]

On 1 July 2016, Foxtel Movies launched Foxtel Movies More, a channel which features a mixture of films which air as themed events, as well as encompassing Foxtel Movies' pop-up channels.[17]

Channels

Foxtel Movies consists of 9 channels, all with a HD simulcast, and 4 channels with a 2-hour SD timeshift channel:[6]

  • More: Channel consists of themed movie screenings and is the home of Foxtel Movies pop-up channels.
  • Premiere: Main channel of the suite, featuring mainly newer Hollywood films and some domestic content.
  • Action: Channel consists mainly of action-adventure, and science fiction films.
  • Comedy: Channel consists mainly of comedy films.
  • Romance: Channel consists of drama and romantic films, and romantic comedies films.
  • Thriller: Channel consists of thriller, crime and horror films.
  • Family: The suite's 'all-ages' channel, mainly featuring family and children's films.
  • Masterpiece: Channel consists of acclaimed independent films, Australian films or films featuring known Australian actors, and older commercial movies with award acclaim.
  • Disney: The channel will feature a range of classic titles and contemporary movies including recent releases, its timeless live-action and animated library films, as well as Disney-Pixar box office hits. In promotion, Foxtel uses the slogan The Home Of Disney.

Pop-up channels

In the Summer of 2015/16, Foxtel Movies offered two pop-up channels:[18]

  • Best of 2015: available 19-31 December 2015, the channel featured the best movies of 2015.
  • Heroes: available 1-10 January 2016, the channel featured hero and action themed films. The face of the channel was actor Chris Hemsworth.

In February 2016, Foxtel Director of Television Brian Walsh announced the two Summer channels were ratings successes and as a result more pop-up channels would launch in the future.[19]

Over the 2016 Easter long weekend, Foxtel Movies launched a Harry Potter themed pop-up channel, airing the series of 8 movies back-to-back.[20]

From 8 July until 11 July 2016, Foxtel Movies launched a The Fast and the Furious themed pop-up channel, airing all seven films back-to-back.[21]

References

  1. ^ Knox, David (4 June 2012). "Foxtel to renegotiate movie deals TV Tonight". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  2. ^ Groves, Don (24 October 2012). "Foxtel Seeking To Cut License Fees With Majors And Indies By 40%". Deadline. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  3. ^ Knox, David (11 October 2012). "Foxtel to acquire Showtime channels TV Tonight". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  4. ^ Groves, Don (5 December 2012). "Warner Bros, Disney, Roadshow & MGM Dissolve Aussie Pay TV Movie Partnership - Deadline.com". Deadline. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  5. ^ Knox, David (7 December 2012). "Movie Networks channels to fold TV Tonight". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  6. ^ a b Knox, David (9 December 2012). "New movie channels for Foxtel TV Tonight". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  7. ^ Mark@ (20 December 2012). "Roadshow Films Joins Foxtel Movies – Knowfirst". Knowfirst. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  8. ^ Mark@ (21 December 2012). "Blockbuster lineup of movies on Foxtel – Knowfirst". Knowfirst. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  9. ^ "Foxtel movie madness". The Age. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  10. ^ Foxtel (14 January 2013). "Hi Everyone! Thanks..." Facebook. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  11. ^ "Foxtel Completes Hollywood Studio Line Up – Foxtel Insider – What's On – FOXTEL". Foxtel. 21 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  12. ^ Knox, David (15 October 2013). "Foxtel signs new movie deal with Studiocanal". TV Tonight. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  13. ^ "Summer Channel Changes". Foxtel. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  14. ^ "Twitter / FOXTEL_Help". Twitter. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  15. ^ http://www.foxtel.com.au/whats-on/foxtel-insider/new-disney-channels-227159.htm
  16. ^ Knox, David (28 March 2015). "Foxtel Movies Disney +2 channel added". TV Tonight. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Foxtel Movies More Launches Today!". MultiChannelNetwork. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  18. ^ Knox, David (8 December 2015). "Foxtel pop-up movies channel for summer". TV Tonight. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  19. ^ Knox, David (8 February 2016). "Programmer's Wrap 2016: Foxtel". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  20. ^ Knox, David (8 March 2016). "Pop-up Harry Potter channel". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  21. ^ Knox, David (24 June 2016). "Fast & Furious pop-up channel". TV Tonight. Retrieved 7 July 2016.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Foxtel_Movies&oldid=728713792"