Starz Is 'Playing Favorites' on Encore With Channel Changes & TV Series/Movie Offerings

Already a favorite for consumers as the most widely subscribed premium pay TV service in the United States with 35 million subscribers, Starz has strengthened ENCORE and its family of thematic multiplex channels and service offerings. The new ENCORE pack of channels bring programming enhancements to further super-serve the nation's evolving demographics and focus on groups who over-index in viewing within the premium pay TV category.

Beginning December 2, 2013, subscribers can look forward to The Following changes:

ENCORE BLACK Replaces ENCORE DRAMA Showcasing popular programming for the African-American community, ENCORE BLACK will bring a terrific combination of commercial-free premium movie content, comedy such as "Martin Lawrence's 1st Amendment Stand Up," and the introduction of TV favorites including: "What's Happening!!," "Diff'rent Strokes," "227," and "Amen." ENCORE BLACK will be originated in HD and service the strong viewership from the African-American community, which has historically over-indexed on premium channel viewership. The December launch will spotlight Academy Award nominee, actor Samuel L. Jackson with films such as Unbreakable, Losing Isaiah, Freedomland, One Eight Seven, and more.

ENCORE CLASSIC Replaces ENCORE LOVE A new addition to the ENCORE HD channel portfolio, ENCORE CLASSIC will be a favorite for the Baby Boomer set, with a mix of generational evergreen movie favorites and classic TV series. Leveraging the deep and broad ENCORE movie library of new release and favorite hits, ENCORE CLASSIC will add TV hits, "Murphy Brown," "Magnum, P.I.," and "Night Court" to its programming slate. Classic movie titles will air every night with a new favorite every day of the month at 9PM ET/PT. Films include Kramer vs. Kramer, American Graffiti, Independence Day, Breaking Away, Stand By Me, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Good Will Hunting, Tootsie, Basic Instinct, The Notebook, and more.

"The Graveyard Shift" Horror Blocks Reigns over ENCORE SUSPENSE Nightly starting at 9pm ET/PT Younger viewers can get their blood-thirsty and chilling need for horror on ENCORE SUSPENSE every night of the week beginning at 9PM ET/PT and airing until approximately 5AM ET/PT with "The Graveyard Shift." Another new addition to the ENCORE HD channel portfolio, ENCORE SUSPENSE gives fans a regular eight-hour fix of great horror flicks with the best in high-def picture quality and sound. Top horror films from Hollywood's best studios, including movies from its own Anchor Bay Entertainment - one of the leading producers and distributors of the horror film genre in the industry: Top horror titles airing in December during "The Graveyard Shift" include Night of the Living Dead, The Fly, Silent Night, The Amityville Horror, The Dead Zone, Resident Evil: Retribution, and Frozen.

ENCORE ESPANOL Moves to a Lower Tier For the growing Latino audiences who want 24/7 Spanish-Language premium content, ENCORE ESPANOL will now be made available to multichannel video distributors in the United States to be part of their popular, lower-cost Spanish-language channel bundles. ENCORE ESPANOL will now enjoy its own Spanish-language film programming from worldwide suppliers and be more than a Spanish-language version of the flagship ENCORE channel.ENCORE ESPANOL will showcase U.S. Television Premieres of Sin Otono, Sin Primavera (Ecuador), Estrella del Sur (Columbia), La Llamada (Argentina), and Lo Azul del Cielo (Columbia).

"The new and improved ENCORE family of channels and services are aligned to super-serve its many constituent demographic groups," said David Baldwin, Executive Vice President of Program Planning for Starz. "Growth in Latino and Boomer populations and continued over-indexing in TV usage by African-American audiences created marketplace opportunities for us to add incremental consumer value to the ENCORE services. Along with the new nightly horror block, these enhancements will benefit ENCORE subscribers for years ahead. ENCORE truly is 'Playing Favorites' with these improvements to the channels and the ENCORE ON DEMAND and ENCORE PLAY services."

The ENCORE MOVIE PACK has the most highly engaged audience of any premium package, with subscriber households spending an average 17.3 hours per month watching ENCORE channels.

The December 2 roll-out will also feature brand new channel logos, graphics and audio package as part of a fresh, new on-air style representative of the newly improved and fortified ENCORE channels and services.

About Starz
Starz (STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television channels (Starz Networks), global content distribution (Starz Distribution) and animated television and movie production (Starz Animation), www.starz.com.

Starz Networks is a leading provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship Starz and ENCORE pay TV networks which showcase premium original programming and movies to U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. As of September 30, 2013, Starz and ENCORE serve a combined 57.0 million subscribers, including 22.0 million at STARZ, and 35.0 million at ENCORE, making them the largest pair of premium flagship channels in the U.S. Starz and ENCORE, along with Starz Networks' third network MOVIEPLEX, air more than 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, complemented by On Demand and authenticated online offerings through Starz PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and MOVIEPLEX PLAY. Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires entertainment content, distributing it to consumers globally on DVD, digital formats and traditional television. Starz Distribution's home video, digital media and worldwide distribution business units distribute original programming content produced by Starz, as well as entertainment content for itself and third parties. Starz Animation produces animated TV and movie content for studios, networks, distributors and audiences worldwide.

About ENCORE
ENCORE is the most widely subscribed premium pay TV flagship brand in the United States with 35 million subscribers through September 30, 2013. Offered by Starz from its operating unit, Starz Networks, ENCORE's eight premium channel offerings include: ENCORE, ENCORE ACTION, ENCORE CLASSIC, ENCORE WESTERNS, ENCORE SUSPENSE, ENCORE BLACK, ENCORE FAMILY, and ENCORE ESPANOL. Advanced services options for ENCORE subscribers include ENCORE HD, ENCORE ON DEMAND, ENCORE HD ON DEMAND, and the ENCORE PLAY authenticated online offering. ENCORE subscribers enjoy a wide variety of newer release and favorite premium commercial-free movie programming from leading studios, in addition to a complement of classic TV shows and other original programming.

*source: Nielsen Media Research, Live+SD total day HH time spent viewing, January-September, 2013

SOURCE Starz

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