Picture format 576i (16:9) Language English | Country Hong Kong, India Founded 1994 | |
Launched 6 October 1994; 22 years ago (1994-10-06) Owned by Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific
(Time Warner) Broadcast area India, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, Malaysia,China,Mongolia | ||
Turner Classic Movies is a digital television channel featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which include many MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. titles, mainly classic films (e.g. The Wizard of Oz or Citizen Kane). It is the Asian iteration of the US Turner Classic Movies.
History
The channel originally launched as TNT in October 1994, and was time shared with Cartoon Network. TNT aired from 21:00 CET to 6:00 CET (from 20:00 UTC to 5:00 UTC) and IST respectively and Cartoon Network the remaining time, mainly for analogue cable systems across Europe and India, although it was originally targeted at the Republic of Ireland, India and the United Kingdom. It was formerly free-to-air, but is now carried encrypted and provided only to cable companies and on some commercial satellite systems. It was one of the three movie channels available on Foxtel, and Austar in Australia. Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network became two separate channels operating in Europe and the Indian Subcontinent in 1999. TCM has four separate feeds: the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Taiwan, and Australia and New Zealand.
In April 2000 the channel was rebranded as Turner Classic Movies.
In India, this channel was exclusively available on Dish TV until 15 March 2009. Now it is available on IN Digital Cable from the Hinduja Group and from 31 August 2009, on Tata Sky. The channel has been discontinued on Tata Sky from 15 September 2012.
From 1 July 2011, TCM's Australian and New Zealand feed began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen.
From 13 December 2016, Australian satellite and cable provider Foxtel ceased to offer TCM. It is believed the cause of the removal was due to the channel's repeated broadcasting of a limited catalogue of films. Ultimately, this saw TCM no longer available in Australia. Foxtel has since been criticised by its customers for its decision.