Showtime is America's premium cable and satellite television network serving as the main service branch of Showtime Networks from CBS Corporation, which also has the sister service of The Movie Channel and Flix. The show's program mainly includes theatrically released films and the original television series, along with boxing and mixed martial arts games, occasional stand-up comedy shows and movies made for TV.
The Showtime brand is used by a number of channels and platforms worldwide, but mainly refers to a group of eight multiplex channels in the United States. Available time for 29.7 million US households. The channel and its associated network are headquartered at Paramount Plaza at the northern end of New York City's Broadway district.
Video Showtime (TV network)
History
Early history (1976-1982)
Showtime was launched on July 1, 1976 on the Times-Mirror Cable system in Escondido, Long Beach and Palos Verdes, California through the conversion of 10,000 customers from the previous Channel One franchise. The following week on July 8th, Showtime was launched on the Viacom Cablevision system in Dublin, California; this channel was originally owned by Viacom. The first program and special television broadcast on Showtime is Celebration, a special concert featuring performances by Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and ABBA. At the end of the first year in the air, Showtime has a total of 55,000 subscribers nationwide. On March 7, 1978, Showtime became a nationally distributed service after being uplinked to satellites, converting it into a competitor with HBO and other pay-cable networks.
In 1979, Viacom sold a 50% stake in Showtime to TelePrompTer Corporation. On July 4, 1981, Showtime adopted a 24-hour programming schedule (rival HBO will eventually follow it in December of that year). In 1982, Group W Cable, a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (which had acquired TelePrompTer the previous year), sold 50% of its shares in Showtime back to Viacom for $ 75 million; the sale of Group W shares in the channel occurred because the company has established a partnership with Walt Disney Productions (now The Walt Disney Company) to develop a premium service that competes, The Disney Channel (Group W exit from the joint venture in September, due to differences of opinion over creative control and financial obligations). 1982 saw the premiere of the first film made for Falcon's Gold TV and its original series and children's first program Faerie Tale Theater .
Establishment of Network and ownership of Showtime by Viacom (1982-2005)
In August 1982, MCA Inc. (owner of Universal Pictures), Gulf Western (owner of Paramount Pictures) and Warner Communications reached an agreement to jointly acquire The Movie Channel (TMC), where the three companies will join. acquired a 75% stake in the service (with each holding a 25% shareholding) from Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment. These proposals are motivated by studios who want to increase their share of income for their movie license rights for premium television services, as well as concerns that the market's HBO dominance and pre-purchasing wire rights for film rights before their theatrical release will result in services that have negotiating powers that do not it should be for television broadcasting rights, resulting in a lower license fee than appropriate, studios will be paid for individual films. The three companies formally announced their agreement in principle to acquire interests in the TMC on November 11, 1982. Subsequently, at the end of December that year, the US Department of Justice (which had blocked similar efforts by MCA, West Bay, 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures to create a competitive payment service, Premiere, in antitrust case ruling two years earlier in January 1981) launched a routine early inquiry into the proposed partnership.
On January 7, 1983, Viacom International added itself as a partner and drafted an amendment to the proposal to consolidate The Movie Channel with Showtime. Under the revised proposal, the four studios will each own a 22.58% stake in two networks, with American Express having 9.68% minority interest. In addition, the consortium will appoint a separate management team of those employed by two channels - which will continue to operate as a separate service - to operate the joint venture. However, the deal has become a regulatory barrier since Warner, Universal and Paramount receive 50% of their respective revenue from movie releases and license fees from premium services; Furthermore, Showtime and TMC combined will control about 30% of the cable payment market, creating oligopoly with HBO (which, together with Cinemax, holds 60% of the market).
After a four-month investigation resulted in the Department of Justice filing a civil antitrust lawsuit against five parties to block the Showtime-TMC merger on June 10, 1983, the Department requested Warner and American Express to restructure the deal during the trial for the case. Department Decisions cited concerns, including some disclosed by HBO management, that combining Showtime and TMC assets will hamper competition in the sale of their programs and other cable services to cable providers - despite the fact that, under the original Proposal, MCA, Gulf Western and Warner each agreed to continue the film licenses released by their respective movie studios to compete for pay-TV networks. The partners involved in the merger will also set a standard price for the films acquired to be broadcast on The Movie Channel and Showtime, whether produced by a studio partner or by an unrelated movie studio. To address the Department of Justice's concerns over the agreement, the four partners submitted a revised proposal for consideration on July 19, which included a behavior guarantee that agreed that Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. would not receive higher residual license payments for the films acquired by Showtime and The Movie Channel rather than paid by other studios, and that the four partners will not allow two channels in an attempt to pay lower fees for movies produced by three studio partners than those paid by smaller pay-TV services for the same movie.
After the revised proposal was rejected on July 28, Warner Communications and American Express restructured the purchase to include only Viacom as a partner, bending the West Bay and MCA out of the partnership. Changes - recognized by Ministry of Justice officials will "prevent anti-competitive effects from arising" after the merger, by allowing other premium services to enter the market if the company significantly raises the cost of licensing fees for the film - leading the Justice Department to drop challenging the merger agreement on August 12; The Department formally approved the agreement the next day on 13 August. When the deal was completed on September 6, 1983, The Movie Channel and Showtime operations folded into the new parent company, Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc., majority owned by Viacom (controlling 50% of the company's common shares and investing $ 40 million in cash), with Warner Communications (which owns 31%) and Warner-Amex (which owns the remaining 19% interest) as a minority partner.
Due to the consolidation of its operations with The Movie Channel in progress, in 1983, Showtime increased its national distribution to cable providers while competing with premium services, Spotlight ceased operations, effectively absorbing the channel's customer base.
On August 10, 1985, after Time Inc. and cable provider Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) jointly bid to buy the company for $ 900 million and assuming $ 500 million in debt and an earlier bid by American Express, the previous month to buy Warner's shares from the company (under a clause in the agreement allowing the company to buy shares their partner at Warner-Amex), Warner Communications exercises an option to acquire 50% of American Express shares from Warner. -Amex Cable Communications for $ 450 million. Among the options, the restriction that he chose to sell Viacom a 50% interest in the company for $ 450 million, a deal originally issued Warner-Amex 19% interest in Showtime-The Movie Channel, Inc.; the interest will be returned to Warner, which is intended to operate Warner-Amex as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Two weeks later on August 26, Viacom acquired Warner Communications and Warner-Amex merged a 50% stake in Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. and full ownership of Warner-Amex and the public shareholders' interest at MTV Networks for $ 671.7 million, gave Viacom exclusive ownership of both networks and once again made it the sole owner of Showtime through a $ 500 million cash payment and the acquisition of 1,625 million shares of Warner for The last 31% of shares in Showtime/The Movie Channel and 19% of Warner-Amex interest rates in the unit and 60% of the shares in MTV Networks (Viacom owned Showtime itself or together with another company - TelePrompTer Corporation, and then briefly, the successor of Group W Cable - since its July 1976 launch). The purchase, part of the option provided by Warner in the purchase of American Express interest on MTV, was made partly to finance most of Showtime/The Movie Channel purchases without borrowing money (ironically, Warner Communications will eventually gain HBO and Cinemax rivals when the company joins Time Inc. in 1989 to form Time Warner). This subsidiary was renamed Showtime Networks, Inc. in 1988.
Also in 1988, the company formed Showtime Event Television (now Showtime PPV) as a special pay-per-view event distributor. In 1990, Showtime took the liberty to acquire and present independent films exclusively for the channel as part of the short-lived 30-Minute Movie anthology series. One of her inaugural performances, 12:01 PM , was nominated for an Academy Award, while 1992 Session Man won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. In the following years, Showtime expanded its acquisition into a feature-long realm, including the 1997 Adeal Lyne remake of Lolita .
In 2000, Showtime launched "Showtime Interactive 24.7", a service that provides DVD-style interaction from its entertainment offerings. The following year in 2001, Showtime became one of the first cable networks to launch a high definition simulation feed (with Star Trek: Insurrection being the first film on a network broadcast in HD); Showtime also started providing Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound on certain programs.
Under the ownership of CBS Corporation (2005-present)
On June 14, 2005, Viacom decided to split off into two companies (just six years after the acquisition of the company from CBS), both of which will be controlled by Viacom parent National Amusements, amidst the stagnation of the company's stock price. When the disunity was completed on December 31, 2005, the original Viacom was restructured as CBS Corporation and acquired Showtime Networks along with CBS broadcasting assets (including CBS television network, UPN and broadcasting group, which became CBS Television Station), Paramount Television (now a separate arm of CBS Television Studios for network and cable production, and CBS Television Distribution for the production of the first syndicated program and serial distribution outside the network), Viacom Outdoor advertising company (called CBS Outdoor), Simon & Schuster, and Paramount Parks (later sold to Cedar Fair, L.P. on June 30, 2006). A new company that assumes the name Viacom stores Paramount Pictures, MTV Networks and BET Networks cable networks, and Famous Music (most recently sold to Sony-ATV Music Publishing in May 2007).
Maps Showtime (TV network)
Channels
Channel list
Depending on the service provider, Showtime provides up to fifteen multiplex channels - eight 24-hour multiplex channels, seven of which are simulcast in standard and high definition (with the exception of Showtime Family Zone, which is broadcast only in standard definition) - as well as video-on services -demand subscription (Showtime On Demand). Showtime broadcast its main channel and multiplex on the Eastern and Pacific Time Zone schedule. The coastal feed of each channel is usually packaged together (although most cable providers only offer east and west coast feeds from the main Showtime channel), so the local time difference between movies and programs between two geographic locations becomes the top three hours.
Customers to separate premium movie service The Movie Channel, which is also owned by CBS Corporation, does not have to subscribe to Showtime to receive TMC; Both The Movie Channel and fellow Flix movie co-workers are usually sold together in a package (though in the case of Flix, this depends on whether the channel is performed on a particular television provider), although DirecTV and Dish Network alternately sell TMCs through separate film layers; This package was known in the late 1990s and early 2000s as Showtime Unlimited (and sometimes including SundanceTV when it was the Sundance Channel, since Showtime held shares in it during that era).
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In 1991, after HBO and Cinemax debuted the first premium multiplex television service in the United States, Showtime was followed by testing its own secondary service - Showtime 2 - on October 1 of that year on two systems operated by TeleCable (one of these systems, TeleCable's Racine , Wisconsin operations, have also participated in multiplexing tests for HBO and Cinemax). In April 1994, Showtime announced the creation of a new themed multiplexed service, consisting of five channels: the Spanish language service Showtime En Espanol; Family family oriented Showtime family; action-oriented service Showtime Action Television; a service featuring comedy movies and a series called Showtime Comedy Television; and all the movie channels called Showtime Film Festival. This planned extension to the multiplex did not work - although the third multiplex service, Showtime 3, will debut in 1996.
The multiplex will eventually evolve over time with the launch of the Showtime Extreme action movie channel on March 10, 1998, followed by the debut of science fictional Showtime Beyond in September 1999; the Showtime Unlimited name for the Showtime, TMC, and Flix multiplex started to be used around this time. Three additional themed channels debuted in March 2001: Showtime Family Zone (which carries films intended for family audiences), Showtime Next (channel featuring movies and series that appeal to adults between the ages of 18 and 34) and Showtime Women (channel featuring original Showtime movies and programs that appeal to a female audience). The programming format of Showtime 3 was overhauled five months later on July 1, 2001 to focus on cinema movie releases and original films made for Showtime cable, which is under the new name Showcase.
Showtime Family Zone, Showtime Next and Showtime Women do not have distribution by most pay TV providers as wide as other Showtime multiplex channels. The availability of one of the three channels on the cable provider varies depending on the market; Dish Network does not bring any of the three, and DirecTV brings Showtime Next and Showtime Women, but not Showtime Family Zone.
Other services
Show Show HD
Show Show HD is a high-performance broadcast simulation feed from Showtime that is broadcast in 1080i resolution format. In addition to the main channel, Showtime also operates a high definition simulcast feed from six of its seven multiplek channels (Showtime Family Zone remains the only Showtime multiplex channel that continues to be broadcast exclusively in standard definition), although some providers offer one multiplex channel in HD and some just bring a high definition feed from the main Showtime channel. Showtime HD is currently available nationwide through satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network; and regionally by Time Warner Cable, Comcast Xfinity, Cablevision, Verizon FiOS, AT & amp; T U-verse, Cox Communications and Charter Communications, among other providers. Movies displayed on the Showtime HD simulation feed are broadcast in their original aspect ratio if they are provided by the studio that retains the rights of the pay-TV distribution with the channel.
Showtime on Demand
Showtime operates a subscription-subscription video-on-demand service called Showtime on Demand , which is available at no additional cost to Showtime customers. Showtime on Demand offers feature films, original Showtime episodes, adult programming, and sporting events. Showtime on Demand's rotating program selection incorporates new titles added every Friday, in addition to existing program titles held from previous to two weeks. This service began to be marketed in 2001 and officially launched in July 2002.
Showtime Period Anytime
On October 27, 2010, Showtime launches Showtime Anytime , a website featuring approximately 400 hours of streaming program content available in standard or high definition accessible to Showtime television service customers. The content available on the service includes original Showtime programming, feature films, comedy specials, documentaries, and sports programs. Currently available nationwide to Showtime customers from AT & T DirecTV satellite providers, and regionally by Comcast Xfinity; Time Warner Cable; Charter Communications; Cablevision; Sunny Home Network; Cox Communication; Medieval Prism; Grande Communications; Mediacom; AT & amp; T U-verse; and Verizon FIOS. The Showtime Anytime app (offered as a free download) was originally released on the iOS App Store for iPad and iPhone on October 3, 2011. On October 1, 2012, the Android app is available through the Google Play platform for Android devices.
In September 2017, it was found that the Anytime Daily Show website runs a code that mines Cryptocurrency Monero using the viewer CPU, potentially leading to degraded performance for websites and other apps. After that, Showtime deletes the mining code; has not been confirmed whether this is a deliberate change or a hacking incident.
Run time (streaming service)
On June 3, 2015, Showtime CBS Corporation's parents announced that they will launch over-the-top subscription videos on demand services that will be distributed as self-contained offerings without the existing television subscription terms to be used (by way of OTT offerings of HBO competitors, HBO Now ). The service, which uses the same brand as a linear television channel, officially launched on July 7, 2015 (coinciding with the season premiere of Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex on July 12). This service is initially available for purchase through Apple Inc. (to Apple TV and iOS devices), Hulu, Roku, PlayStation Vue and Amazon Prime as well as through the Showtime (SHO.com) website.
The Showtime streaming service is identical to Showtime Anytime; it offers a back catalog of episodes from the original series of original and past Showtime series (with new episodes from the original Showtime series made available for streaming on the same day as their original broadcast on Showtime main channel), widescreen and documentary films, and sports events and analysis programs. Subscriptions are also available on Amazon Prime and Hulu as add-ons, and these costs are slightly lower than direct subscriptions. Unlike HBO Now, Showtime also provides live streaming of East and West Coast television channels from the linear Showtime channel (live stream from Showtime multiplex service, and The Movie Channel sister network, The Movie Channel Xtra, and Flix are currently not available on the service; a live stream of Showtime multiplex channels is available for Amazon Prime users as part of the Showtime add-on subscription).
SHO Sync
On September 22, 2011, Showtime launches Showtime Social , a second-screen interactive app that provides interactivity with the Showtime program including participant polls and trivia questions as well as real-time aggregation of Twitter, Facebook, and blog comments about Showtime program certain; this app uses Automatic Content Introduction technology to generate interactive content regardless of whether it is being watched live, on demand or by DVR; the app also displays a hot map depicting the viewer's reaction throughout the episode's duration at the end of the program. The app - dubbed SHO Sync on September 13, 2012 - was originally released for Apple iOS devices (iPad and iPhone), with apps for Smart TV produced by LG released on August 15, 2013..
On July 9, 2015, Showtime announced it will stop SHO Sync, immediately discontinue support for iPad apps with iPhone and LG apps to stop later. However, the channel indicates that the core interactive functionality of SHO Sync can be recovered in different forms, with the possibility of being included in Showtime Anytime and Showtime streaming over-the-show service.
Programming
Since the early 1980s, Showtime has run a late adult programming block on its main channel called "Showtime After Hours" (which was briefly labeled as "Showtime Late Night" during the mid-1990s) every night after 12:00 am. Eastern time; programs featured in this block include feature films, specially produced series to be broadcast during blocking and occasional stand-up comedy specials. Until the formation of Showtime Family Zone in 2001, Showtime included many programs aimed at children and teenagers as part of the daytime schedule; in particular, the main channel runs a teen-oriented afternoon block on Sundays (such as Ready or Not , Chris Cross and Degrassi High ), as well as blocks morning events intended for younger children (such as OWL/TV and
Softcore erotica programming has previously been aired during the "After Hours" block, even though adult movies have been absent from Showtime's main channel since the mid-2000s; the network began broadcasting a small number of original erotic series (such as Beach Heat: Miami ) on its main channel in 2010, having been absent for most of the previous decade. The Showtime 2 and Showcase network multiplex channels also sometimes feature adult movies during overnight hours, though this has become less common since late 2011.
Genuine programming
Showtime has become famous in recent years for the original network television program, the most popular including the drama crime Dexter, Weeds, Ray Donovan family drama i> and Shameless and drama/thriller series Homeland . Other original series in the past and the present include Stargate SG-1 (which runs in Showtime for its first five seasons, before moving to Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) for the rest of its journey); Dead Like Me ; Californication ; Nurse Jackie ; The Tudors ; Brotherhood ; Soul Food ; Queer as Folk ; The L Word ; The Big C ; Pen & amp; Teller: Nonsense! ; and United of Tara . From 2007 to 2013, the Showtime 2 multiplex service broadcasts the exclusive original program for the channel, the late night reality series Big Brother After Dark , a companion to the sister broadcast network CBS 'American adaptation of Big Brother ; the program moved to TVGN (which since April 2013, is 50% owned by Showtime CBS Corporation's parent and has since been renamed Pop) starting with premiere June 26, 2013 Big Brother ' 15th season.
Showtime previously produced original homemade movies, originally branded as "Showtime Original Movies" until 1994 and "Showtime Original Pictures" after that until the channel stopped producing television movies in 2007. Showtime is also one of only two premium cable services ( along with the Disney Channel during its existence as a premium channel before 1997) which has produced original films intended for family audiences; these films were originally aired under a separate banner of "Showtime Original Pictures for Kids" from 1995 to 1997 and "Showtime Original Pictures for All Ages" from 1997 to 2005.
Movie library
In April 2015, Showtime - and other channels The Movie Channel and Flix - retained the first film licensing agreement run exclusively with CBS Films sister network (since 2007), DreamWorks (featuring live-action broadcasts via Touchstone Pictures, as part of the distribution agreement with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), IFC Films, Miramax Films (including films released by Dimension Films), WWE Films, Magnolia Images, First Look Studios and Anchor Bay Entertainment (owned by Starz).
Showtime previously had an agreement with The Weinstein Company (since 2009, including a release by Dimension Films). Netflix assumes rights to The Weinstein Company films beginning in 2016.
Showtime also shows sub-runs - film screenings that have received broadcast or broadcasting of theatrical televisions from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (including content from subsidiaries Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and former subsidiaries and currently independently operates Miramax studios), Samuel Goldwyn Films, Summit Entertainment, Sony Pictures, Miramax Films (including content from Revolution Studio and Morgan Creek Productions), Universal Studios (including content from Focus child feature), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (including content from children the United Artists companies, Orion Pictures, Relativity Media (after Netflix's payment window for the individual release ends), and The Samuel Goldwyn Company), Paramount Pictures and Lions Gate Entertainment (the sub-run rights with the last three studios are for films released before 2008). Although it does not hold the rights of pay television to broadcast the latest 20th Century Fox movies - held by HBO, by 2015 - Showtime runs independent films in which the studio has home video rights, regardless of whether they are freed theatically > The Passion of the Christ ). In 2006, Showtime signed a partial deal with Rogue Pictures to broadcast selected films released by the studio (especially those originally produced for home video releases).
The window between the initial release of the movie in the cinema and the initial playback on Showtime channel and sister The Movie Channel and Flix is ​​more extensive than the time period that leads to the initial broadcast of movies in HBO/Cinemax, Starz/Encore, and Epix. Movies that Showtime has paid cable rights for usually will also run on The Movie Channel and Flix during the licensing period.
Future licensing agreement in future
On October 1, 2013, Showtime Networks announced that they signed a four-year film license agreement with Open Road Films to broadcast feature films released by studios between 2017 and 2020.
On January 20, 2015, Showtime announced that he signed a multi-year premium television sales agreement with STX Entertainment's film, television and multimedia studio. The deal covers all films distributed theatrically by the studio until 2019, which will be shown exclusively on Showtime Network and its multiplex channels.
Formerly first run contract
Within a few years after its launch, Showtime entered into license agreements with several movie studios. After the acquisition of Viacom's 1983 share in The Movie Channel, Paramount Pictures (then owned by Gulf Western) signed the first five year exclusive distribution agreement with Showtime and The Movie Channel to bring the studio's films up to 1989. On July 15, 1987, HBO signed a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures to broadcast 85 of their films released from May 1988 onwards; in May 1989, after signing a license agreement with HBO, Paramount filed a lawsuit against Showtime Networks, Viacom and its parent, the National Amusements on the denial of Showtime to pay a total of $ 88 million in fees for five films (performing poorly in their theatrical release) for reducing the minimum liability for a 75-movie package from the studio. After Paramount Pictures was purchased by Viacom in 1994, Showtime (also owned by Viacom at the time) signed a seven-year distribution agreement with the studio which came into effect in January 1998, following the expiration of Paramount's contract with HBO.
In 1986, Showtime signed an agreement with Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group (now Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios); his contract with Walt Disney Pictures ended after 1992, while results with Touchstone and Hollywood ended after 1996. Starz's rival fee Starz signed an agreement with Disney in 1994, bringing only Touchstone and Hollywood movies released from January 1997 onwards. In 1989, the channel has made exclusive deals with Carolco Pictures (signed in 1988), Atlantic Entertainment Group, Cannon Films (both signed in 1986), Universal Studios, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, Imagine Entertainment, and Weintraub Films.
On 13 April 1990, Showtime signed the first film production deal that was run exclusively with New Line Cinema; the deal ended in 1995. In July 1993, Encore signed a production deal with New Line Cinema, broadcasting the films released between 1996 and 2004. On November 22, 1993 Showtime signed the first exclusive premium cable rights with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer (renewing the existing pact with the studio) and the United Artists, which was renewed for an additional nine years in 2000. On March 5, 1996, Showtime announced the results of a seven-year contract with Phoenix Pictures (as part of an agreement that also includes the purchase of an equity interest of 11 %), broadcast titles from studios released between 1996 and 2002. During that time, Showtime also maintained an output offer with TriStar Pictures (between 1994 and 1999), Castle Rock Entertainment (which ended after 1999), PolyGram (which expires after year 2001), and Artisan Entertainment.
On December 4, 2008, Showtime signed the first four-year exclusive distribution contract with Summit Entertainment, broadcasting 42 films released by the studio between 2009 and 2012. On May 27, 2011, the premium channel of HBO's competitors has signed an output. deal with Summit, allowing movies released between 2013 and 2017 to be broadcast on the channel.
Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, and MGM
The future of Showtime was questioned after negotiations to update the film's output offer with Paramount Pictures (which was separated from the channel after the split of Viacom and CBS in November 2005 into two separate companies, with CBS taking ownership of Showtime), MGM and Lions Gate Entertainment broke down, studios and Showtime to agree on licensing fees for movies from the three largest movie distributors on the channel. The three studios then entered into a joint venture, Studio 3 Partners, to form Epix as a competitor of Showtime, HBO and Starz; Epix made its debut in May 2009 as a broadband Internet service, with the launch of television channels on October 30 of that year.
The disappearance of new films from Paramount, MGM and Lions Gate Entertainment left Showtime unlicensed for major studio films for the first time in channel history, leaving DreamWorks's "mini-majors" and The Weinstein Company as the main movie distributor, along with an agreement with some independent studios.
Sports programming
Showtime broadcast a limited number of sports programs, produced by the Showtime Sports channel division. Showtime also operates Showtime PPV (formerly Showtime Entertainment Television or SET), which airs boxing matches and other selected event programs for pay-per-view. Beginning in March 1986, the Showtime sports program consisted mostly of boxing matches produced under the banner of Showtime Championship Boxing ; in 2001, the network launched ShoBox: The New Generation , focusing primarily on the rising boxer. In 2004, Showtime began broadcasting all domestic fights broadcast on channels in high definition.
In December 2006, Showtime announced an agreement to broadcast a mixed martial arts match of the newly formed Elite Xtreme Combat (or EliteXC), an MMA organization formed by Showtime Networks and ProElite, Inc., with all the shows aired under the banner < i> ShoXC ; league folded two years later in 2008.
In 2008, Showtime obtained In the NFL , the longest program in HBO history, from the network after canceling its seasonal analysis and interview program in February of that year; Inside the NFL moved to Showtime in September.
In February 2009, the promotion of mixed martial arts Strikeforce announced a three-year broadcasting agreement with Showtime, allowing it to broadcast up to 16 events per year, as well as an agreement with the CBS sister network for options of producing up to four events for that network; Strikeforce ended its operations at Showtime when the league was folded in January 2013. In addition to broadcasting a major Strikeforce ticket event in Showtime, the promotion also announced it would produce ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers , a series of events that highlighted the in-coming extinguisher.
In 2010, Showtime debuted another original sports insider program, Inside NASCAR , focusing on interviews and analysis of all NASCAR circuits. In 2011, Showtime expanded its MMA programming by broadcasting events produced by M-1 Global, a Russian PTC company from the popular Strikeforce fighter Fedor Emelianenko. In November 2012, Showtime debuted with sports-themed spin-off from the long-running 60 Minutes CBS news magazine, titled 60 Minutes Sports .
Showtime also broadcast a one-hour program called Jim Rome on Showtime , featuring controversial sports broadcaster Jim Rome conducting interviews with famous sports figures.
International
Outside the United States, some pay-TV networks use the name Showtime and the previous logo through license agreements with Showtime Network, such as Showtime Australia, Showtime Arabia, Showtime Scandinavia, and Showtime Extreme from Spain. Showtime launched the South African version as part of a new TopTV satellite provider package on May 1, 2010. The Chinese PPTV Streamer approved a multi-year license to stream CBS and Showtime series in the country. The agreement gives 400 million users access to select Showtime series from CBS.
References
External links
- Official website
- Impression Stream
- Showtime Anytime (streaming content is accessible only to subscribers from participating television providers)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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