Starz


Starz is an American pay-TV network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched on February 1, 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, its programming consists of theatrically released motion pictures and first-run original television series. Starz operates six 24-hour, linear multiplex channels; a traditional subscription video on demand service; and a namesake over-the-top streaming platform that both acts as a TV Everywhere offering for Starz's linear television subscribers and is sold directly to streaming-only consumers.
Starz is also sold independently of traditional and over-the-top multichannel video programming distributors a la carte through Apple TV Channels and Amazon Video Channels, which feature VOD library content and live feeds of Starz's linear television services. Starz's programming has been licensed for use by a number of channels and platforms worldwide, and the brand name is licensed by Bell Media for a companion channel of the Canada-based company's Crave premium service.
Starz and its sibling networks, the aforementioned Starz Encore and MoviePlex, are headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with satellite office facilities located at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Englewood, Colorado, and at a small office located on 5th Avenue in New York City., Starz was available to approximately 28.517 million American households that had a subscription to a multichannel television provider. Starz's video on demand streaming media service had 27.92 million paid subscribers as of 2024.

History

Launch and early history

Starz was launched at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on February 1, 1994, primarily on cable systems operated by Tele-Communications Inc.; the first two movies aired on the network were dramas released in 1992: respectively, Scent of a Woman and The Crying Game. The network was operated as a joint venture between TCI and Liberty Media, with TCI owning a 50.1% controlling interest in the channel.
Starz made its debut as the first phase of a seven-channel thematic multiplex that was launched by Starz over the course of the succeeding eight months, with the remaining six channels being launched between July and September 1994. The multiplex was intended to only include six channels, but on May 31, 1993, Encore acquired the pay cable rights to broadcast recent feature films from Universal Pictures released after that year; as a result, TCI/Liberty decided to create an additional premium pay-TV service to serve as a competitor to HBO and Showtime. The network carried the moniker "Encore 8" in its on-air branding as part of a numbering system that was used by Encore's multiplex channels. Early trademark filings indicated that TCI/Liberty's proposed names including "Applause" and "Stars" for the service.
Starz focused more on recent feature films, while Starz Encore focused on films released between the 1960s and the 1980s, before adding recent film outlay itself in July 1999. It also held the television rights to releases from Carolco Pictures, New Line Cinema, and the Disney–owned studios Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films. Films from those studios were not carried on Starz until 1997, after Disney's output agreement with Showtime for its non-family-oriented films concluded. The network restricted the scheduling of films that contained graphic sexual or violent content to late evening and overnight time periods.
Starz's availability was mainly limited to TCI's systems at launch, debuting with a one-month free preview available to prospective subscribers; it would eventually sign its first major carriage agreement outside the TCI group, through a deal with Continental Cablevision in September 1995. Starz was available to an estimated 2.8 million pay television subscribers by 1996, only one million of whom had subscribed to a cable or satellite provider other than TCI. As a startup network, Starz endured major losses during its early years, with total deficits topping US$203 million and annual losses of US$150 million by 1997. It was predicted to lose an additional US$300 million in revenue before it was predicted to break even.
In June 1997, Comcast signed an agreement to carry the network on its Pennsylvania and New Jersey systems to replace Philadelphia-based PRISM after that network shut down that October following the loss of its sports programming to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. Partly in an effort to get the network's substantial losses off its books, TCI announced a deal on June 2, 1997, in which it transferred majority ownership of the corporate entity that operated Starz, Encore Media Group, to sister company Liberty Media; TCI retained a 20% minority ownership interest in Encore Media Group. Liberty Media assumed the former company's stake in the subsidiary in 1999, following TCI's merger with AT&T Corporation. By May 1998, Starz maintained a subscriber base reaching 7.6 million households with a cable or satellite television subscription.

2000s onwards

The network gained carriage deals with many other major American cable and satellite providers by the early 2000s, particularly with the adoption of digital cable, allowing for providers to add channels that they previously had limited room to carry. Encore Media Group was renamed the Starz Encore Media Group in 2000. As part of a corporate restructuring plan in 2003, Starz Encore Group eliminated 100 jobs in its nine regional offices, and closed four of the offices outright. On March 25, 2005, the Starz Encore Group corporate entity was renamed Starz Entertainment. A few days later, on March 28, 2005 at 6:30am EST, Starz introduced a new logo, and was subsequently rebranded as "starz", in all lowercase.
On November 19, 2009, Liberty Media spun off Starz into a separate public tracking stock called Liberty Starz. On January 1, 2010, Chris Albrecht joined Starz as its president and chief executive officer, then overseeing all of the Starz entities including Starz Entertainment, Overture Films, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman. On August 8, 2012, Liberty Media announced that it would spin off the Liberty Starz subsidiary into a separate publicly traded company. The spin-off of the subsidiary was completed on January 11, 2013, with Liberty Starz changing its name to Starz as a result.
On April 5, 2016, Starz was rebranded, introducing a new logo, this time stylized as "STARZ" in all uppercase. As part of the rebranding, Starz added all the Encore channels to its moniker, therefore increasing the Starz channel lineup to 14 Starz premium channels. Its main channel was rebranded Starz Encore and carries reruns of Starz Originals in addition to films. 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.
In April 2019, Starz was widely criticized in the tech press and by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for sending legal demands to Twitter in order to remove links to a news article which discussed piracy but contained neither pirated content nor links to pirated content. Starz initially responded by issuing further DMCA complaints against those criticizing them, including against a tweet from the Electronic Frontier Foundation stating that "Starz should withdraw its takedown and refrain from harassing journalists". However, they subsequently apologized, clarified that the invalid DMCA claims were sent on their behalf by a third-party contractor called The Social Element and promised that they are "working with our vendors to reinstate any such content that was inappropriately targeted for removal." Lionsgate was renamed to Starz Entertainment in 2024, 6 months after spinning off most of their businesses into a new company known as Lionsgate Studios.

Channels

List of channels

Depending on the service provider, Starz provides up to twelve multiplex channels – six 24-hour multiplex channels, all of which are simulcast in both standard definition and high definition – as well as a subscription video-on-demand service. Starz broadcasts its primary and multiplex channels on Eastern and Pacific Time Zone schedules. The respective coastal feeds of each channel are usually packaged together, resulting in the difference in local airtimes for a particular movie or program between two geographic locations being three hours at most.
The premium film services Encore and MoviePlex, which are also owned by Starz, Inc., operate as separate services; as such, subscribers to one of the services do not have to subscribe to any of the others. Some providers offer Encore and MoviePlex's multiplex channels on a separate digital cable tier from Starz. However, Encore and, depending on its carriage, MoviePlex are frequently sold together in a package with Starz.
ChannelDescription and programming

Starz		The flagship service; Starz features hit movies and first-run films, from Hollywood blockbusters to independent films and international cinema. The main Starz channel commonly premieres recent theatrically released hit movies – debuting on the channel within a lag of between eight months to one year on average from their initial theatrical release – on most Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, as part of a weekly feature film block called the "Starz Friday Night Feature Premiere". The channel also airs some original series, with newer episodes airing primarily on Saturday nights.

Starz Edge		Starz Edge features films aimed at young adults in the 18–34 age demographic. It was launched in March 1996 as Starz! 2, and was rebranded as Starz! Theater from July 1999 until March 25, 2005; in its previous incarnations, the channel's format incorporated a limited selection of films scheduled in a format mirroring the showtime scheduling used by movie theaters.

Starz In Black		Starz In Black focuses on AfrAm cinema and urban entertainment, carrying a mix of first-run hits, vintage and Pan-African films, along original productions. Launched in 1997 as a joint venture with BET, Starz In Black was known as BET Movies: Starz! until 2001, when BET opted out of the venture during its purchase by Viacom. It was then named Black Starz! from 2001 to 2005.

Starz Cinema		Starz Cinema carries films outside the mainstream cinema, incorporating critically acclaimed studio and independent releases, and arthouse films; Starz Cinema was launched in May 1999.

Starz Comedy		Starz Comedy focuses on lighthearted films of varying comedic genres including slapstick, romantic comedies and dramedies. It was launched in 2005.

Starz Kids & Family		Launched on March 25, 2005, out of the consolidation of the once separate services Starz! Family and Starz! Kids, Starz Kids & Family features commercial-free family movies – including action and adventure movies, dramas and comedies. The channel featured two program blocks: "Building Blocks", a weekday morning block of animated series and "Six Block", a weekday afternoon block of imported live-action series aimed at a youth audience. Unlike Starz Encore Family, Starz Kids & Family features some PG-13 rated films within its schedule, in addition to G- and PG-rated films. Due to its family-targeted format, the network broadcasts without R nor NC-17 rated movies and TV-14 nor TV-MA rated programming, only showing programs that are rated G, PG or PG-13.
Despite being a premium service, cable providers have occasionally used Starz Kids & Family to temporarily replace television stations dropped due to carriage disputes such as during Journal Broadcast Group's 2013 dispute with Time Warner Cable. This dispute resulted in TWC's systems in certain markets substituting other stations with the channel. A January 2000 dispute between Cox Communications and Fox Television Stations resulted in Starz! Family replacing Fox owned-and-operated stations in six markets.
In September 2016, the channel brought back children's programming on a weekday morning block. The block provided programming from Nelvana, WIldBrain and The Jim Henson Company. Programs included Angela Anaconda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Liberty's Kids, Muppet Babies, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, etc. Other WildBrain programs aired on Starz Encore Family, and all the others appeared on the Starz streaming mobile app. This block was removed for reruns of another show Starz acquired, Pit Pony, in December 2020, though reruns of Little Charmers stayed until December 2022.