AMC is an American multinational
basic cable television channel
A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
that is the
flagship property of
AMC Networks
AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York.
AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC Cen ...
. The channel's programming primarily consists of theatrically released
films, along with a limited amount of original programming. The channel's name originally stood for "American Movie Classics", but since 2002 the full name has been de-emphasized as a result of a
major shift in its
programming.
As of July 2015, AMC was received by approximately 94,832,000 households in the United States that subscribe to a pay television service (81.5% of U.S. households with at least one television set). In March 2015,
Dish Network's
Sling TV
Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aim ...
announced it would soon begin making AMC channels available to
cord cutter
Cord or CORD may refer to:
People
* Alex Cord (1933–2021), American actor and writer
* Chris Cord (born 1940), American racing driver
* Errett Lobban Cord (1894–1974) American industrialist
* Ronnie Cord (1943–1986), Brazilian singer
* Co ...
s, including AMC,
BBC America
BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...
,
IFC,
Sundance TV
Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...
, and
We TV
We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming.
As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Amer ...
.
History
1984–2002: Focus on classic films
American Movie Classics, as AMC was originally known, debuted on October 1, 1984, as a
premium channel by
Rainbow Programming Services (a subsidiary of
Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
). Its original format focused on classic movies – largely those made prior to the 1970s – that aired during the afternoon and early evening hours in a
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
-free, generally unedited, uncut and
uncolorized format.
[Gildemeister, Christopher]
The Fine Arts Are Hard To Find
. Parents Television Council
The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by conservative Christian activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which advocates for what it considers ...
, October 2, 2006. The new network replaced Montage, a channel with a similar format that was being offered to Cablevision subscribers in the
New York area.
In 1985, Rainbow became involved in a dispute with
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he fo ...
's
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...
over broadcast rights to the
MGM/UA film library. On July 30 of that year, Rainbow had paid $45 million to license up to 800 pre-1950 films from the library. Weeks later, Turner announced an agreement to purchase the film studio with the intention of airing the films on his
Superstation WTBS
TBS (an abbreviation for Turner Broadcasting System) is an American pay television network owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It carries a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy, alo ...
. Rainbow claimed it had exclusive basic cable rights to the films for the next five years. Despite its widespread cable carriage, Turner claimed that because WTBS was a broadcast station, the restriction did not apply. This led to both companies filing lawsuits in September against each other and MGM/UA terminating the agreement with Rainbow because Rainbow allegedly breached it when it announced its intention to offer AMC to cable providers as both a basic and a premium service. By October, the lawsuit were settled with Rainbow receiving $50 million and an agreement to terminate the licensing deal on December 31, 1985, before which time AMC would not be allowed to convert to a basic service. Turner would go on to complete the acquisition of MGM in early-1986, but his ownership would be very short-lived with him selling it back to the previous owner months later. However, he would retain the film library and execute his original plan to air the movies on WTBS and later on his new networks
Turner Network Television
TNT (originally an abbreviation for Turner Network Television) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery that launched on October 3, 1988. TNT's original purpose ...
and
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
(a direct competitor to AMC).
The new movie network struggled to gain carriage. By March 1986, it had only 300,000 subscribers. To solve this problem, Cablevision and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
(which became half owner of Rainbow about a year earlier) worked out a deal with the nation's largest cable television provider,
Tele-Communications Inc.
Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone.
The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Co ...
(TCI). TCI gained a one-third interest in AMC (but not
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
, Rainbow's other network) and in exchange made AMC available as an offering for most of its 3.9 million subscribers. (TCI's
Liberty Media division eventually would create another premium service—
Encore
An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pre ...
, which also originally focused on older films, mainly from the 1960s to the 1980s – five years later in April 1991). During its early years, it was not uncommon for AMC to host a marathon of
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
films, or show classics such as the original 1925 release of ''
The Phantom of the Opera
''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...
''. In 1987, the channel began to be carried on the
basic cable tiers of many cable providers.
[Gomery, Douglas]
American Movie Classics
. Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our archi ...
In July 1988, AMC added its first original programming: ''Classic Stories From Classic Stars'' (featuring interviews), followed later that year by ''Star Facts'' (biographies) and a mini-documentary series ''Making of a Classic''. By 1989, AMC was available to 39 million subscribers in the U.S.
On December 1, 1990, AMC began operating on a 24-hour-a-day schedule.
Beginning in 1993, AMC presented an annual Film Preservation Festival to raise awareness of and funding for
film preservation
Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the wid ...
. Coordinated with
The Film Foundation
The Film Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema. It was founded by director Martin Scorsese and several other leading filmmakers in 1990. The foundation ra ...
, an industry group that was founded by acclaimed director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
, the festival was originally conceived as a multi-day
marathon presenting rare and previously
lost film
A lost film is a feature
Feature may refer to:
Computing
* Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch
* Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob
* Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...
s, many airing for the first time on television, along with behind-the-scenes reports on the technical and monetary issues faced by those engaged in archival restoration. Portions of the festival were often dedicated to all-day marathons focusing on a single performer. During its fifth anniversary year in 1998, Scorsese credited the Festival for creating "not only a greater awareness, but ''
..' more of an expectation now to see restored films." In 1996, curator of the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
Mary Lee Bandy called the Festival "the most important public event in support of film preservation."
[Van Gelder, Lawrence, (June 30, 1996) "Restoring Films to a Former Glory"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. Retrieved September 20, 2008. By its tenth anniversary in 2003, the Festival had raised $2 million from the general public, which The Film Foundation divided among its five-member archives.
In 1993, Cablevision's Rainbow Media division became the majority owner of the channel, when it bought out Liberty Media's 50% stake in AMC; incidentally in August of that year, Liberty announced its intent to purchase the 25% stake in the channel that Cablevision held at the time, with the
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...
helping to finance the buyout that included an option for TBS to eventually acquire AMC outright. The following year,
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
(which later purchased rival
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
following the company's 1996 acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System) also attempted to acquire at least part of Liberty Media's stake in AMC.
In June 1995, AMC became involved with another dispute with Turner. It filed a $550 million
breach of contract lawsuit against
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...
, which alleged that the company violated AMC's exclusive cable television rights to the pre-1950
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
film library to broadcast approximately 30 times between July 1994 and April 1995, charging that Turner's objective in violating the contract was "to gain unfair advantage for the Turner Classic Movies cable network (which debuted in April 1994) at the expense of AMC."; Turner owns rights to the
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
film library and licensed RKO's films to AMC in an output deal that was slated to last through 2004. Under the terms of the deal, AMC obtained the RKO titles in exclusive windows.
Around this time,
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
/
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
owned a stake in AMC – which it divested in the early 2000s. From 1996 to 1998, AMC aired its first original series, ''
Remember WENN
''Remember WENN'' is a comedy-drama television series that aired from 1996 to 1998 on the cable channel American Movie Classics. Created and written by Rupert Holmes (with music also by Holmes) and set at the fictional Pittsburgh radio station ...
'', a half-hour scripted series about a radio station during the peak of radio's influence in the 1930s. The show was well received by both critics and its enthusiastic fans, but was abruptly cancelled after its fourth season following management changes at the channel (WENN was followed up by ''
The Lot
''The Lot'' is an American comedy-drama series that aired for two seasons and 17 episodes on the AMC from 1999 to 2001. It profiled the fictional studio Sylver Screen Pictures during the 1930s and the pursuits of its classic stars (such as Bar ...
'', which lasted for only 16 episodes). Despite a well publicized write-in campaign to save the series, the show was not renewed for its originally scheduled fifth season.
![AMC logo 1999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/AMC_logo_1999.png)
One popular AMC program was ''American Pop!'' (originally intended as a preview of a new 24-hour cable channel), which ran from 1998 to 2003 and featured movies from the 1950s and 1960s aimed at
baby boomers
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
(such as ''
Beach Blanket Bingo'' and ''
Ski Party
''Ski Party'' is a 1965 American musical-comedy film directed by Alan Rafkin and starring Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman. It was released by American International Pictures (AIP). ''Ski Party'' is considered as a beach party film spin-off, wi ...
''). Of particular interest to movie completists were the segments that AMC played to fill out the timeslot (Saturday nights from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
): classic
movie trailers
A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and tech ...
,
drive-in
A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskat ...
movie ads and
snipes
Snipes may refer to:
* Snipe, a wading bird
* Snipes (surname)
* ''Snipes'' (film), a 2001 film
* ''Snipes'' (video game), a 1983 text-mode networked computer game
* Snipes Mountain AVA
Snipes Mountain AVA is an American Viticultural Area l ...
(bits extolling viewers to visit the snack bar, etc.), along with
music videos
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
cribbed from movie musicals from the period.
The majority of the films presented on AMC during the 1990s had originally been released by
Paramount Pictures,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
,
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, and
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
. The channel also occasionally showed classic
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
s. The regular hosts of the telecasts were Bob Dorian and later,
Nick Clooney
Nicholas Joseph Clooney (born January 13, 1934) is an American journalist, anchorman, and television host. He is the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney and the father of actor George Clooney.
Early life
Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, t ...
(brother of singer
Rosemary
''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name ''Rosmar ...
and father of actor and businessman
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
), as well as
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
radio personality
Gene Klavan
Eugene Kantor Klavan (May 4, 1924 – April 8, 2004) was an American disc-jockey, columnist and author.
Early years
Klavan was born in Baltimore, Maryland. and attended Baltimore City College (high school). His radio career began with brief stint ...
from WNEW (1130 AM, now
WBBR
WBBR (1130 AM) is a Class A clear-channel radio station licensed to New York, New York. It serves as the flagship station of Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg L.P.'s radio service. The station offers general and financial news reports 24-hours a ...
). Another WNEW alum,
Al "Jazzbo" Collins
Albert Richard "Jazzbo" Collins (January 4, 1919 – September 30, 1997) was an American disc jockey and musician who hosted ''The Tonight Show'' in 1957.
Career
Born in Rochester, New York, in 1919, Collins grew up on Long Island, New York. In ...
, provided his voice for the "Jazzbo's Swingin' Soundies" series of
interstitials.
For most of its first 18 years in existence, AMC provided uncut and uncolorized films without commercial interruption. Its revenue came from carriage fees provided by the cable providers that maintained carriage agreements with the channel. However, in 1998, AMC began accepting traditional advertising, incorporating limited commercial interruptions between films (its sister movie channel
Romance Classics
We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming.
As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Ameri ...
, which had launched only one year earlier, became an entirely ad-supported channel at that point). By 2001, AMC had also incorporated commercial breaks during its movie telecasts. As a result of this move, Turner Classic Movies became the only one of the two classic film-focused networks to present their films commercial-free.
2002–2009: Format change and expansion into original programming
![Amc logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Amc_logo.svg)
On September 30, 2002, AMC underwent a significant rebranding, changing its format from a classic movie channel, broadening to a more general focus on movies from all eras – as well as shortening its name to just the "AMC" abbreviation, and introducing a new logo (a rectangular outline with a lowercase and uppercase "a
MC" text) and a new slogan that says TV for Movie people. Kate McEnroe, then-president of Rainbow Media, cited lack of subsidies from cable providers as the reason for the addition of advertising, and cited ad agencies who insist on programming relevant to their products' consumers as the reason for the shift to recent movies instead of just classics.
At the time of the format switchover, the company also attempted to launch a spin-off
digital cable channel, AMC's Hollywood Classics, which would have required viewers to pay an extra fee to receive the channel. This commercial-free channel would have aired black-and-white classics from the 1930s through the 1950s that American Movie Classics had been airing up until its format changeover; however, the new channel never debuted.
The network also gradually brought back original programming. In 2004, AMC aired its first
reality series
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
, ''FilmFakers''; the show featured out-of-work actors who believed they were auditioning for a major role in a real movie, only to be told that they were the subject of a prank and no film actually existed. A ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' article on the show said that "''FilmFakers'' may go down as one of the meanest reality series yet." From 2003 to 2007, AMC was a channel focused on American films partially classics as well as documentaries about film history such as ''Backstory'' and ''Movies that Shook the World''.
On September 1, 2006, AMC officially became available in Canada for cable customers of
Shaw Cable
Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...
and satellite customers of
Shaw Direct
Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two commu ...
(formerly StarChoice), marking the first time the network was made available outside the United States.
In late 2007 the network debuted its first original drama series ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...
'', a
period piece
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
about
Madison Avenue advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
executives in the 1960s. The show was immediately lauded by critics,
and won 16
Primetime Emmy Awards and a
Peabody Award. ''
Breaking Bad'', a drama about a
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
-stricken chemistry teacher involved in making and dealing
methamphetamine (played by
Bryan Cranston
Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor and director who is best known for portraying Walter White in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and Hal in the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–20 ...
, who had been known primarily for comedic roles in series such as ''
Malcolm in the Middle'' prior to the series), premiered in 2008; also garnering critical acclaim, winning 16 Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Mad Men'' ended their runs in 2013 and 2015, respectively, with the former receiving a spin-off in the form of ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
''.
2009–2013: "Story Matters Here"
On May 31, 2009, during the second-season finale of ''Breaking Bad'', AMC rebranded with the introduction of a new slogan, "Story Matters Here".
Later that year, the network premiered its second miniseries, ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
''. On January 4, 2010, AMC began airing
infomercials on Monday through Saturday mornings from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time; the Saturday morning infomercial block was eliminated after its March 25, 2011, airing as AMC added a Saturday block of
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
series and films the following week. 2010 also saw the premieres of ''
Rubicon
The Rubicon ( la, Rubico; it, Rubicone ; rgn, Rubicôn ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just north of Rimini.
It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Ca ...
'' and ''
The Walking Dead''. While ''Rubicon'' was cancelled, ''The Walking Dead'' became an enormous success and has become the most watched scripted program in basic cable history.
In 2011,
Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
spun off Rainbow Media into a separate company, which was renamed AMC Networks, after its flagship cable network. Cablevision founder
Charles Dolan
Charles Francis Dolan (born October 16, 1926) is an American billionaire businessman, best known as founder of Cablevision and HBO. Today, Dolan controls Madison Square Garden Sports, MSG Networks, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Madison ...
and his family continue to retain a controlling interest in the company. Also during this year, the network introduced two new dramas (''
The Killing'' and ''
Hell on Wheels
Hell on Wheels was the itinerant collection of flimsily assembled gambling houses, dance halls, saloons, and brothels that followed the army of Union Pacific railroad workers westward as they constructed the First transcontinental railroad in 186 ...
''), two original web series (''
The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks'' and ''
The Walking Dead: Torn Apart''), and the ''Walking Dead'' discussion series ''
Talking Dead
''Talking Dead'' is a live television aftershow in which host Chris Hardwick discusses episodes of the AMC television series '' The Walking Dead'', '' Fear the Walking Dead'' and '' The Walking Dead: World Beyond'' with guests, including celebr ...
''. In 2012, AMC premiered three original reality series: ''
The Pitch The Pitch may refer to:
* "The Pitch" (''Seinfeld'')
* ''The Pitch'' (TV series), an AMC original series
* ''The Pitch'' (podcast), an American podcast
* ''The Pitch'' (newspaper), a newspaper in Kansas City
* A segment in '' The Gruen Transfer ...
'', ''
Comic Book Men
''Comic Book Men'' is an American reality television series which aired on the AMC network from 2012 to 2018. It is set at Kevin Smith's comic book shop, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Production history
Filmmaker Ke ...
''
[AMC Greenlights Two Unscripted Series]
''Multichannel News'' September 1, 2011, and ''
Small Town Security
''Small Town Security'' is an American reality television series produced by Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver from Left/Right Productions for the AMC network. The unscripted show focused on a small, family-owned, private security company called ' ...
''; along with a second web series spun off from ''The Walking Dead'', ''
The Walking Dead: Cold Storage''.
[
]
2012 Dish Network carriage dispute
2013–present: "Something More"
On March 31, 2013, during the third-season finale of '' The Walking Dead'', AMC unveiled a rebranding campaign with the new slogan "Something More", and inverted the logo from a rectangular outlined box to a solid gold block with the network's acronymic name retained in the center. 2013 saw the channel's unscripted slate double with the additions of ''Owner's Manual
An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer products such as vehicles, home appliances and computer peripherals. ...
'', ''Showville'', the second part of the final season of '' Breaking Bad'', the ''Breaking Bad'' discussion series '' Talking Bad'', and the second season of the unscripted series '' Freakshow'', before being cancelled.
Also in April, ''Rectify
''Rectify'' is an American television drama series exploring the life of a man after he is released from prison after nearly 20 years on death row following a wrongful conviction. It was created by Ray McKinnon and is the first original series f ...
'', which was originally developed for AMC, premiered on AMC's sister channel Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to:
* Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States).
* Sundance Channel (Canada)
* Sundance Channel (Netherlands)
* Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to:
* Sundance TV, formerly kno ...
to jump-start that network's emerging slate of original scripted programming. It was then followed by the July announcement that fellow sister channel WE tv
We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming.
As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Amer ...
had picked up another series originally developed for AMC for the 2012-13 development slate, '' The Divide'', to series. During this timeframe, AMC had started to run marathons of certain shows and cross-promote programs from its co-owned sister channels.
In July 2013, the network announced that it had given series orders for two dramas: '' Turn: Washington's Spies'' (which premiered on April 6, 2014) and '' Halt and Catch Fire'' (which premiered on June 1, 2014). This marked the first time that AMC had four pilot orders picked up to series in the same cycle, the other two being ''The Divide'' and '' Low Winter Sun'' (the latter premiered on August 11, 2013, after the season premiere of the final season of ''Breaking Bad''). The former two would both be renewed for second seasons while the latter two were cancelled after their first seasons. AMC would then pick up '' Into the Badlands'' up for a six episode first season and ''Breaking Bad'' spinoff ''Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
'' for two seasons.
Shift away from unscripted programming
On October 9, 2014, it was announced that AMC would scrap its entire current and future unscripted slate outside ''Talking Dead'' and ''Comic Book Men''. This announcement came shortly after AMC took over the United States co-production of the sci-fi drama ''Humans'' from Xbox Entertainment Studios
Xbox Entertainment Studios was a short-lived American television and movie studio based in Santa Monica, California created internally by Microsoft Studios in 2012, in order to create "interactive television content" for Xbox Live.
On July 17, ...
. AMC Media recently bought the European media giant Chello Media from Liberty Global. At the end of October, it was announced that AMC had won the bidding war to air the miniseries ''The Night Manager''. In November, AMC Networks
AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York.
AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC Cen ...
renamed the European MGM Channel to AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
. In January 2015, the Asian MGM channel also became AMC as well. Also in January 2015, AMC announced that they would be airing the eight part miniseries '' The Making of the Mob: New York''.
In 2016, AMC introduced a new slate of original unscripted series, including '' Ride with Norman Reedus'', '' Geeking Out'', and new expansions of the ''Talking Dead'' format with '' Talking Saul'', '' Talking Preacher'', and ''Talking with Chris Hardwick
''Talking with Chris Hardwick'' is a weekly talk show that features host Chris Hardwick interviewing a celebrity guest from the world of pop culture that premiered on April 9, 2017 on AMC.
Format
The series follows in the vein of ''Talking Dead'' ...
''.
Programming
Series programming
Although movies remain an integral part of AMC's schedule, the network has garnered attention in recent years for its original series. The channel's first original series was the game show '' The Movie Masters'', which ran from 1989 to 1990 and was otherwise notable for being Gene Rayburn
Gene Rayburn (born Eugene Peter Jeljenic; December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show '' Match Game'' for over t ...
's last hosting role; outside ''Remember WENN'' and ''Filmfakers'', most of AMC's original programming prior to September 2007 consisted of film history-related documentary and review programs. The establishment of ''Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...
'' in 2007, followed by that of '' Breaking Bad'' in 2008, and Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
in 2015 , has given AMC a reputation on par with premium cable networks HBO and Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
, both of which rejected ''Mad Men'' before it came to AMC.
AMC also airs acquired programming, ranging from black-and-white filmed shows (such as ''The Rifleman
''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show ...
'' and shorts from ''The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
'') to contemporary series (such as ''CSI: Miami
''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...
'').
Movie library
AMC maintains movie licensing rights agreements with Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
(including films from United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
and library content from The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1978.
Background
The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films fro ...
, Orion Pictures, and Cannon Group
The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested ...
), Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
(including some films from DreamWorks Animation as titles from Illumination Entertainment
Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American computer animation studio, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. Illumination is owned by Meledandri and the Illumination brand is co-owned by Universal Pictures, a divisi ...
and most from Focus Features are absent), Paramount Pictures (including films from DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and formerly DreamWorks Studios, commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film company and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994 as a liv ...
), Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It ha ...
(primarily film content from Touchstone Pictures, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...
, Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
, and Buena Vista International
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It h ...
, while titles from Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
, Lucasfilm, much of Marvel Studios, and the defunct Blue Sky Studios are not included because of other channels' agreements, including those owned by Disney themselves) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (including Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
, Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produce ...
, Screen Gems, and Triumph Films
Triumph Films (also known as Triumph Releasing Corporation) was a film studio division of Sony Pictures Entertainment that geared towards theatre and direct-to-video film production and distribution.
History
It was founded in 1982 as a joint ve ...
). Since the 2003 format change, the network's film telecasts usually are "television" cuts meant for basic cable, which feature content edits, dubbing of profanities
Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, ru ...
, and some time edits by removing some superfluous plotting or toning down scenes with adult content inappropriate for basic cable broadcast to fit within a set timeslot with commercials added.
FearFest
In 1997, AMC launched "Monsterfest", a popular week-long marathon of horror movie
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...
s and thrillers that aired from mid- or late October every year for Halloween until the day after Halloween. In the mid-2000s, AMC started a Monsterfest blog on its website, which chronicled news on horror-related film and television productions. In addition, AMC presented "Fear Friday," a horror movie double feature on late Friday evenings. On September 26, 2008, AMC announced the launch of a new horror-themed movie marathon for its October schedule called "Fearfest" (which replaced Monsterfest); coinciding with this, the "Monsterfest" blog was renamed as the "Horror Hacker" blog. "Fearfest" also runs from mid- or late October every year for Halloween until the day after Halloween too and it also sometimes runs throughout the whole month of October during certain years too as well.
Best Christmas Ever
AMC had typically aired a rotating lineup of five to six Christmas movies
Many Christmas stories have been adapted to feature films and TV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on television; since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, their many editions are sold and re-sold every year d ...
during the holiday season. In 2018, the channel introduced a more extensive holiday lineup branded as Best Christmas Ever, running from November 26 to December 25, featuring a mix of popular Christmas and family films, along with other acquired specials. The schedule included notable acquisitions from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, including ''Elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
'', ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' is a 1989 American Christmas comedy film and the third installment in ''National Lampoon'' magazine's ''Vacation'' film series. ''Christmas Vacation'' was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, written and co ...
'', ''The Polar Express
''The Polar Express'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1985. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detai ...
'', ''I'll Be Home for Christmas
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longe ...
'', and 12 Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...
specials (the films had been recent mainstays of Freeform's competing ''25 Days of Christmas
Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas is an American annual seasonal event of Christmas programming broadcast during the month of December by the U.S. cable network Freeform. The event was first held in 1996, and has been an annual fixture of the chann ...
'' schedule, with ''Elf'' in particular having received extensive airplay and high viewership during the event), as well as other specials from DreamWorks Animation. As expected, AMC saw ratings gains over the holiday season; primetime viewership for the first two weeks of the event was up 40% year-over-year, airings of ''Elf'' and ''Christmas Vacation'' both peaked at 1.5 million viewers, and average viewership of feature films on Freeform fell by 36% year-over-year in the same period.
AMC Premiere
AMC Premiere is an add-on subscription service only available as an extra to those already normally subscribed to AMC. It involves access to an expanded On-Demand library compared to the standard "AMC OnDemand" library packaged with the usual cable service. This is necessary to view many "locked" programs on the AMC website (such as complete availability to The Walking Dead all ten seasons) which prompts someone to subscribe for ~$5/mo or ~$30/yr. For currently-airing programs it sometimes gives early access to viewing them before they debut on the main AMC channel.
AMC+
AMC+ is a premium, commercial-free streaming bundle that includes the same benefits of AMC Premiere, early access to additional AMC series, as well as additional library content from sister networks BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV, and the complete collections of fellow AMC Networks streaming services including Shudder, Sundance Now and IFC Films Unlimited. The service is available through most streaming services for $8.99 per month like Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
and it's also at a reduced price for existing AMC channel subscribers too like Xfinity
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the c ...
, Dish Network and Sling TV
Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aim ...
. Like AMC Premiere, it is currently only available in the United States.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amc (Tv Channel)
Television networks in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 1984
English-language television stations in the United States
Movie channels in the United States
AMC Networks
1984 establishments in the United States