Showtime Australia is a three-tier Australian pay-TV movie service, consisting of Showtime, Showtime 2 (Showtime delayed by two hours), Showtime Greats and Showcase. It is produced by the Premium Movie Partnership (PMP), a joint venture in which Sony, Universal, Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Liberty Media have equal shares. The main competitor to Showtime is Movie Network.

History

Showtime started out in 1995 as part of the basic package on the now-defunct Galaxy service, showing first-run films. It later became available as part of the Austar and Foxtel services when they were launched. At the same time its sister channel, Encore, launched, showing older, 'classic' movies. Encore was renamed Showtime Greats in 2004, with a move to more contemporary films. The Showtime channels are now also available on Optus Television.

In September 2007 it was announced that a new premium channel called Showcase will be launched on 1 December 2007 as part of the suite of Showtime channels.

Showcase screens movies (mainly independent, arthouse and documentry features) as well as a number of television series.

Showtime Australia/US

Showtime Australia is unrelated to the American Showtime service, but pays a licence fee for the use of the name and trademark. It also produces some Australian movies, such as Bad Eggs, in conjunction with other companies.

Trademark and Branding

Despite the name being Showtime, for branding purposes it is usually spelled in all capitals to match the channel logo. Similarly, Showcase is usually spelled in all lower case.

References