Launched 15 October 1999 | Founded 1999 | |
 | ||
Owned by Turner Broadcasting System Europe (Time Warner) Picture format 576i (SDTV) 16:9
1080i (HDTV) 16:9 Audience share 0.12%
0.06% (+1) (September 2015 (2015-09), BARB) Broadcast area United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta Headquarters Turner House,
Great Marlborough Street,
London, United Kingdom Owner Turner Broadcasting System Europe (Time Warner) Profiles | ||
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a subscription digital television channel featuring classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which include many MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. titles.
Contents
History
It was launched in 1999, when its predecessor, TNT, dropped its film programming to become a general entertainment channel. Its penetration increased when it took over TNT's space on various platforms on 1 July 2000.
Unlike other versions of Turner Classic Movies and the other Turner channels in the UK, Turner Classic Movies UK was for a long time broadcast free-to-air. The channel became encrypted in January 2004 when it joined Sky's subscription packages.
In 2009, Turner Classic Movies received a graphical makeover and a new logo in an attempt to attract a younger audience. With the makeover several new films were added to the channel's catalogue. A high definition version of the channel launched on 4 September 2012, at the same time the standard definition version began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen, whereas Turner Classic Movies 2 continued to be broadcast in 4:3.
A one-hour timeshift, Turner Classic Movies +1, launched on 13 August 2013, replacing Turner Classic Movies 2.
On 6 October 2015, the channel was rebranded from Turner Classic Movies to TNT in Poland and Romania.
Television series
Turner Classic Movies 2
Turner Classic Movies 2 (TCM 2) was a British television channel. It was a UK-only spin-off channel from the UK version of Turner Classic Movies, and showed popular films from the Turner Entertainment library (which includes MGM and Warner Bros. films).
Films were shown from 8pm to 4am (interspersed with various original short films about the films) from Monday-Sunday, and the following week included a new line-up. This allowed the viewer to "catch-up on the big films", thus allowing the chance to see the preferred film on any day of the week. The channel timeshared with Cartoonito, another UK-only spin-off channel. The channel began airing Adult Swim at 10pm every Wednesday as of 4 January 2012, before moving to Friday later in April 2012.
For unknown reasons, Turner Classic Movies 2 closed at 4am on 13 August 2013 and was replaced by Turner Classic Movies +1 later in the day.
Adult Swim
As Adult Swim shows cannot be shown on the UK version of Cartoon Network (as Ofcom regulated children's channels are not allowed to broadcast adult content), they were shown on Turner Classic Movies 2 instead. They typically started at 1.15am on Saturday mornings and included shows such as:
TNT UK
TNT UK was launched on 17 September 1993 along with Cartoon Network UK. The two channels shared the same transponder with Cartoon Network broadcasting during the day with TNT taking over for the evening and overnight period. Initially TNT was on air from 7pm until 5am although in 1996 TNT's start time was pushed back to 9pm. In the early years TNT was primarily a movie channel although the final year saw the channel move to a general entertainment schedule until TNT (UK) was replaced by Turner Classic Movies on 1 July 2000. Its old slogan was "Classic Movies".
World Championship Wrestling launched on TNT (UK) in April 1996 with WCW Monday Nitro. On 9 October 1998 WCW Thunder was added. Both aired in a 9pm to 12.30am (variant) block starting with the debut of Thunder. When TNT (UK) was closed down, WCW programming was briefly moved over to Turner Classic Movies and then Bravo. Trailers aired on Turner Classic Movies informing viewers of the change.
WCW Nitro
(WCW Nitro then changed to Bravo in 2000, on Thursday Nights - 9pm - 11pm, until March 2001, when WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation).
WCW Thunder