M-Net Movies is a group of South Africa-based film-only television channels launched as Movie Magic in 1995 and broadcast across

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

DStv Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

and

GOtv GOtv Africa is a pay television terrestrial service in sub-Saharan Africa owned by broadcaster MultiChoice. It mainly consists of African and international programming. History The terrestrial TV service was founded in October 2011 by MultiCho ...

. The channels broadcast films/movies based on genre as well as clips featuring behind-the-scenes looks at previous, current and future breakout

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

hit films.

History

MultiChoice through

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

launched two

film/movie channels, Movie Magic 1 and Movie Magic 2 a day after the launch of its

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

satellite service A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisoto ...

. In order to unify/expand the M-Net brand, the channels were renamed respectively M-Net Movies 1 and M-Net Movies 2 in 2005. Two additional film channels, M-Net Stars and M-Net Movies Action (which on launch replaced M-Net Action (then actionX) which launched in 2006), were later launched. In October 2012, the previous film channels were expanded to six channels which grouped films according to genre. These channels, along with the existing Action, Stars and Zone, made for a total of nine movie channels. In June M-Net Movies Action was made an HD channel, followed by M-Net Movies All Stars, both only in Southern Africa, in October 2016. As of 1 September 2020, M-Net stopped giving their movie channels names and went with the numbering system and reduced the number of movie channels from 6 to 4 channels. M-Net Movies also has an Add Movies feature which allows non-premium subscribers to pay for premium movie channels including future pop-up channels.

Channels

These were the channels they offered before September 2020 and its numbers: * M-Net Movies Premiere (104) * M-Net Movies Smile (105) * M-Net Movies Action+ (106) * M-Net Movies Action (110) * M-Net Movies All Stars (111) * M-Net Movies Zone (139) A seventh channel M-Net Movies Showcase was later dropped by M-Net on 1 April 2017 with the aim of creating limited run pop-up channels, airing films ranging from those starring

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

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and

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

. On 1 June 2017 it was replaced by Sundance TV. On 1 December 2017, M-Net Movies Zone was made available in HD to all households who owned an HD capable decoder such as the DStv Explora, HD Decoder, HD PVR and were on the all DStv packages. M-Net Movies Zone is the only channel airing on the

service via its Max and Plus packages. As of 1 September 2020, M-Net Movies stopped giving their movie channels names and reverted to adding numbers to the channels alongside reducing the number of movie channels to four. From now on, there are 4 Movie channels, numbers, qualities and packages. M-Net Movies 1 M-Net Movies flagship channel consisting of first run movie premieres mostly after being available on the DStv BoxOffice rental service and M-Net, as well as animation specials. The channel is a result of M- Net Movies Premiere and M-Net Movies Smile (Smile being a combination of M-Net Movies Comedy and M-Net Movies Family). As a combination of M-Net Movies Premiere & M-Net Movies Smile, the channel is only available for DStv Premium as part of the offering M-Net gives after airing a movie on the original channel. M-Net Movies 2 The premium action movie channel focuses on thrillers and horror movies. It is a combination of M-Net Movies Action and M-Net Movies Action+. The channel is only available on DStv Premium for its offering from its former home M-Net Movies Action Plus. M-Net Movies 3 This is a general entertainment channel focusing on the most favoured stars, inherited from its predecessors M-Net Movies Action & M-Net Movies Allstars. Due to most stars being voiceovers, the channel has mostly animated films/movies, with a mix of comedy and romance and some action. The channel is available for DStv Compact Plus and DStv Compact . M-Net Movies 4 The lower tiered channel aimed at DStv Access and GOtv Plus subscribers which air all movies shown on M-Net or other M-Net Movies channels. M-Net Movies Pop-Up Channel The pop-up channel and the first of the movie channels to broadcast less than 24 hours a day. Initially, the channel was named M-Net Movies Showcase. In 2015, the same year M-Net Movies Smile was formed, another channel, M-Net Movies Romance was incorporated into Showcase, in direct response to viewer complaints of too many repeats. Mostly airing movie festivals such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, James Bond, etc. This channel is usually available to DStv Premium and this January, the channel wasn't launched for Premium, it was launched for Compact and Compact+. M-Net Movies also has an Add Movies feature that allows non-premium subscribers to watch premium movie channels for a fee which includes future pop-up channels that may launch on M-Net Movies.

References

{{reflist

External links

As of January 2016, all M-Net Movies Channels are under the sub-domain of the M-Net website;
M-Net Movies ActionM-Net Movies Action+M-Net Movies PremiereM-Net Movies All StarsM-Net Movies SmileM-Net Movies Zone
2012 establishments in South Africa Afrikaans-language television English-language television stations in South Africa Pay television