Launched 1 January 2013 Country Australia Replaced Movie Network
Showtime | Owned by Foxtel Networks Language English | |
Picture format 576i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV) | ||
Foxtel Movies is a suite of nine 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.
Contents
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. This would allow Foxtel to make cost savings of a predicted 40% by making movie deals directly with the Hollywood studios.
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.
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. 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.
On 9 December 2012, Foxtel announced they would launch a new line up of channels branded Foxtel Movies. 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. On 21 December 2012, Foxtel announced a movie deal with Warner Bros..
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. On 17 January 2013, in response to the outrage by subscribers, Foxtel launched an additional 2 timeshift channels (Family + 2 and Action/Adventure + 2).
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.
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.
On 1 January 2014, Action/Adventure, Drama/Romance and Thriller/Crime were renamed Action, Romance and Thriller respectively. Despite these changes, the programming of each channel remained constant. 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.
On 28 March 2015, a timeshift channel for Foxtel Movies Disney launched, coinciding with its first birthday.
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.
Channels
Foxtel Movies consists of 9 channels, all with a HD simulcast, in addition to 4 of the channels having a 2-hour SD timeshift channel:
Pop-up channels
In the Summer of 2015/16, Foxtel Movies offered two pop-up channels:
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.
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.
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.
From 22 July until 31 July 2016, Foxtel Movies launched a Star Trek themed pop-up channel, airing all twelve films back-to-back.
From 30 September until 3 October 2016, Foxtel Movies launched a Star Wars themed pop-up channel, airing all seven movies back-to-back.
From 29 October until 31 October 2016, Foxtel Movies launched a A Nightmare on Elm Street themed pop-up channel in celebration of Halloween, airing all nine movies back-to-back.
In celebration of Christmas, a 12 Days of Christmas pop-up channel featuring Christmas-themed movies was available from 14 December until 25 December 2016.
Similar to Foxtel Movies inaugural pop-up channel, a Best of 2016 channel was available from 26 December until 31 December 2016. Featured films included Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, and Jurassic World.
A Star Wars-themed pop-up channel, featuring all seven movies back-to-back launched on 1 January 2017, and was available until 5 January 2017. The channel coincided with the death of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher.
From 26 January until 29 January 2017, a Resident Evil themed pop-up channel launched, airing the first five films. The launch coincided with the theatrical release of the sixth and final installment of the series and the Australia Day public holiday.
From 24 February until 27 February 2017, Foxtel Movies launched a Batman vs Superman themed pop-up channel featuring 14 Batman and Superman movies.
Coinciding with Arnold Schwarzenegger's visit to Australia, from 17 March to 20 March 2017 an Arnold Schwarzenegger dedicated pop-up channel launched, featuring 19 of his films; including titles such as Conan the Barbarian, Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Escape Plan.