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Viacom, UA, MGM, and Lionsgate launching premium movie cable channel |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 April 2008
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 While it’s quite rare to see Star Trek movies floating around on the airwaves these days, in the coming years that odd sight may become an even rarer catch. That’s because Paramount’s parent company, Viacom, has teamed up with MGM, United Artists (an MGM subsidiary) and Lionsgate Entertainment to launch their own exclusive premium channel that will have first crack and rights to new productions from the studios. And that includes Star Trek.
Like HBO and Showtime, the as of yet unnamed studio, it is expected to appear on the premium tier of cable and satellite programming. The new channel will have the rights to the first premieres of new movies from MGM, UA, Lionsgate, and Paramount, as well as access to the complete libraries of each studio. Again, that includes Star Trek.
They plan to have the new channel broadcasting by the fall of 2009. It will offer video-on-demand, and presumably HD as well, hopefully coupled with the aforemention on-demand service.
Adding a twist to the deal is the owner of Showtime: former Paramount sister company CBS. Showtime has deals in place with all four studios, which will all expire some time before the new channel launches. There may be growing tension between Paramount and CBS, which may not bode well for the future of Star Trek on television.
By the time the new channel launches, though, Star Trek (2009) will probably have already hit DVD and Blu-ray, both of which provide a clearer picture than their broadcast counterparts. Of interest is the motive behind these studios’ decision to launch a new channel, as HBO and Showtime, as well as smaller channels Starz and Cinemax, are all bleeding customers in the face of increasing competition from DVD services like Netflix and Blockbuster and the quickly-growing downloadable media market.
View: Viacom press release
Discuss: TrekUnited Forum
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"Well I thought I would say hello first and then take the office, but we can do it in any order you like."
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