Turner Classic Movies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the US television channel. For other countries' versions, see Turner Classic Movies (Australia) and Turner Classic Movies (UK).
| Turner Classic Movies | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Launched | April 14, 1994 |
| Owned by | Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner Inc.) |
| Sister channel(s) | TCM 2 (UK) |
| Website | Official Site |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| See below | |
| Satellite | |
| See below | |
| Cable | |
| See below | |
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a cable 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.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The channel, created by Ted Turner as part of his Turner Broadcasting System, began broadcasting on April 14, 1994. The date was chosen for its significance as "the exact centennial anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City."
Before the creation of TCM, quite a few titles from its vast library of movies were broadcast — with commercial interruptions — on Turner's TNT channel, along with Turner's controversial colorized versions of black-and-white classics such as The Maltese Falcon.
When TCM was created in 1994, however, colorization did not carry over to the new channel. As Gary R. Edgerton wrote in the winter 2000 issue of The Journal of Popular Film and Television, TCM immediately advertised itself in April 1994 "with the promise: 'uninterrupted, uncolorized and commercial-free!' Attitudes had evidently come full circle. Colorization was now unfashionable and unprofitable — even for Ted Turner and his colleagues at TBS."
In 1996, the Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner. Not only did this put TCM and Warner Bros. under the same corporate umbrella, but it also gave TCM access to the post-1948 Warner Bros. library.
[edit] About TCM
In stark contrast to American Movie Classics (AMC) and another competitor, the Fox Movie Channel (FMC), which shows only 20th Century Fox movies and is premium only, TCM is essentially commercial-free (advertising only products available at the TCM Web site, and a subscription-based monthly program guide). TCM's content has also remained mostly uncut (depending upon the original content of movies, particularly movies rated by the MPAA after 1968). From time to time, the channel shows restored versions of films, particularly old silent films with newly commissioned musical soundtracks. The British version of TCM does interrupt movies for commercials, although the majority of movies are uncut (depending on what time of the day the movie is transmitted).
Also unlike AMC and FMC, Turner Classic Movies' regular programming spans almost the entire history of film, from the 1920s forward, including, of late, a few post-1970 films. A given day may begin with 1924's Greed and conclude with the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
As a result, viewers interested in tracing the career development of actresses like Barbara Stanwyck or Greta Garbo or actors like Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart have the unique ability to see most of the feature films made during their careers, from beginning to end. Many films aired on TCM are not, at present, available on DVD, thereby increasing accessibility of many of these works.
Also unlike AMC or FMC, Turner Classic Movies presents many of its features in letterboxed or widescreen versions.
Its programming season runs from March until the following February of each year when a retrospective of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies is shown (this festival is called 31 Days of Oscar). TCM occasionally shows some classic 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures movies, but they have to be licensed individually. Gaps between features are filled with theatrically released movie trailers and classic short subjects (from series such as The Passing Parade, Crime Does Not Pay, Pete Smith, Robert Benchley, etc.) as part of TCM's One Reel Wonders. Critically acclaimed documentaries are frequently shown, along with limited-run television shows (such as reruns or new episodes of The Dick Cavett Show, Thursdays at 8 pm, during the Fall 2006 season.)
Although a vast majority of TCM's movies are classics from the 1930s-1950s (with many silent movies and post-1960 movies occasionally shown; the most recent film shown on the network was 2001's Spirited Away), the network also airs original content, mostly documentaries about classic movie personalities and particularly notable films. Most feature movies shown in primetime (8pm-3am Eastern Standard Time) are presented by film historian Robert Osborne, who has been with the network since its launch in 1994. More recently, movies shown during the daytime on weekends are presented by Ben Mankiewicz, talk radio host (The Young Turks), Herman Mankiewicz's grandson and great-nephew of Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
A TCM staple, "The Essentials", is a weekly program on Saturdays at 8pm EST, spotlighting a specific movie and contained a special introduction and post-movie discussion. It was originally hosted by director/producer/actor Rob Reiner, followed by fellow producer/film director/actors Sydney Pollack and Peter Bogdanovich. In May 2006, hosting duties were taken over by Robert Osborne and Molly Haskell. Carrie Fisher later replaced Haskell when "The Essentials" returned for its current new season in March 2007 following its annual "31 Days of Oscar" festival. The spotlight movie is often replayed the following Sunday at 6 pm EST.
Each August, TCM suspends its regular schedule for a special "month of stars", featuring entire days devoted to a single star, offering movies and specials pertaining to the star of the day.
In 2000, TCM launched the annual Young Composers Film Competition, inviting aspiring composers to participate in a judged competition. Grand prize has been the opportunity to score a restored, feature-length silent film, mentored by a well-known composer, with subsequent premiere of the new work on the TCM channel. As of 2006, films which have been rescored include Camille (1921) with Rudolph Valentino, two Lon Chaney films, Ace of Hearts (1921) and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), and Greta Garbo's The Temptress (1926).
In November 2004, perhaps in response to Cartoon Network's removal of classic cartoons, TCM began to broadcast a half-hour monthly (bi-weekly as of the fall of 2005) show entitled Cartoon Alley which featured cartoons from animation's Golden Age.
In October 2006 the network premiered a new late-night series hosted by rocker/filmmaker Rob Zombie called "TCM Underground," which features a number of cult films personally selected by Zombie. Films in the series include Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and Electra Glide in Blue (1973).
More recently, TCM has collaborated in boxed set DVD releases of previously unreleased films by noted actors, directors, or studios. The sets often include bonus discs including documentaries and shorts from the TCM library.
TCM is headquartered at the Techwood Campus in Atlanta, Georgia in Mid-town. Since 1994, Tom Karsch has overseen the expansion of the network as the general manager and executive vice president. TCM is available in many other countries around the world.
[edit] International version
In Canada, Turner Classic Movies debuted on November 1, 2005 on the Shaw Cable system and Star Choice satellite service. Rogers Cable started offering TCM on December 12, 2006 as a free preview channel for all digital customers, and will be adding it to the "Ultimate TV" analogue package on or around February 1, 2007. While the schedule for the Canadian channel is generally the same as the US channel, some films are replaced for broadcast into Canada due to rights issues and other reasons.
In Europe, Turner Classic Movies is available as three separate channels for France, Spain and the UK/Ireland, and a panregional channel with various feeds in different languages.
In Asia and Oceania, Turner Classic Movies is available as one feed that serves more than 14 territories.
TCM is also available in Latin America, but this version receives little attention unlike the US and Europe counterparts.
[edit] TCM 2
In Britain, TCM 2 launched on May 2, 2006. The channel, which is a spin-off from the UK version of TCM, shows the bigger films from the MGM and Warner film archives including The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, North by Northwest and Easter Parade, among others.
[edit] Availability
[edit] Asia Pacific
- Television Oceania - Australia
- Foxtel - Australia
- Austar - Australia
- Cable TV Hong Kong - Hong Kong
- now TV - Hong Kong
- TVB Pay Vision (formerly SuperSun) - Hong Kong
- Digital 1 TV - Indonesia
- Dream Satellite TV - Philippines
- SkyCable Platinum - Philippines
- Cablelink - Philippines
- Global Destiny Cable - Philippines
- StarHub Digital Cable - Singapore
- Dish TV - India
- True Visions - Thailand
- Sky Network Television - New Zealand
- TelstraClear InHomeTV - New Zealand
[edit] Canada
Satellite
Cable
- Shaw Cable
- Rogers Cable (free preview for Rogers digital subscribers from December 12, 2006 until February 1, 2007, at which point it will be added to the Rogers "Ultimate TV" analogue channel package)
[edit] Middle East, Africa, and the Levant territories
For the Middle East, North Africa, and the Levant territories broadcasting via satellite, from pay-TV networks such as Showtime Arabia and Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network.
It available on DStv in South Africa and surrounding countries.
[edit] Spain
[edit] Republic of Ireland
- UPC Ireland
- SCTV
- Sky Ireland
- Magnet Networks
[edit] Germany
- Arena
- Tividi
- Cable Digital Home (To be added soon)
[edit] United Kingdom
Digital Terrestrial
Satellite
- Sky Digital
- Melita Digital
Cable
- Virgin Media
- Chorus
- WightCable
- Melita Cable
[edit] United States
Satellite
Cable
- Adelphia
- Bright House Networks
- Bresnan Communications
- CableOne
- Cablevision
- Charter Communications
- Cebridge Connections
- Comcast
- Cox
- Insight
- Mediacom
- Midcontinent Communications
- Qwest
- RCN
- Time Warner
- Verizon FiOS
[edit] Sweden
Digital
[edit] Denmark
Digital
- Canal Digital
- Stofa
- Selector
- Viasat
[edit] South America
- TVA - Brazil
- Intercable - Venezuela
