Premiere (also known as PREM1ERE on air) was the first

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

movie channel launched on 1 September 1984, which broadcasts to Europe via satellite alongside the other services of that time including Sky Channel,

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...

and

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat ...

History

The Entertainment Network

The Entertainment Network – also known as TEN and The Movie Channel – launched on 29 March 1984 by

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-born British media proprietor

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...

, it was jointly owned by UIP Pay TV Group (

MGM 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 a ...

/ UA,

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

and MCA/

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), Visionhire,

Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...

and

The Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...

, which also developed in-house by Rediffusion Cablevision. The station went bust on 1 June 1985, but was later relaunched as Mirrorvision in the following day.

Mirrorvision

Mirrorvision was a film channel from the stable of the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' launched on 2 June 1985, whether Mirrorvision and Premiere were merged but continue to be called from the same name on 1 April 1986.

Star Channel

Star Channel was started by

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

in August 1986 as an alternative film service which broadcasts between 6.30pm and 2.00am, it has been distributed to several cable operators on

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form rather than by

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. Discussions on a merger between the film services were begun and concluded with Premiere, Star Channel and

Home Video Channel Home Video Channel (HVC) was a British cable television service devoted to broadcast low-budget movies (such as horror, action, adventure, science fiction and erotica) from 8.00pm to midnight, and the owners also operated The Adult Channel whi ...

all now being programmed within a reconstructed partnership but the channel continued as a separate service for the time being. In July 1987, the expected closure of Star Channel took place following its merger with Premiere, thereby reducing the remaining film services to include

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and Home Video Channel.

Demise

Due to losses of around £10 million and increased competition from

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

, Premiere closed on 31 July 1989. The final film shown was 1985's '' Twice in a Lifetime'', followed by a final announcement thanking the viewers as well as a few businesses that helped with Premiere's transmission.

Programming

In addition to movies, the service also showed children's television programmes in an after school slot as fillers within the channel premiered '' ThunderCats'' before the

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

launch, and also the first to show was ''

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors ''Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors'' (French: ''Jayce et les Conquérants de la Lumière'') is an animated TV show which was first broadcast on TF1 on September 9, 1985 on the block ''Salut les p'tits loups !'', and eventually on September 16 in ...

''.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110716201338/http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/premiere.html * http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8u5bt_premiere-family-films-ident-1986_shortfilms#.UdH6E5y-FgE {{Authority control Defunct British television channels Television channels and stations established in 1984 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1989 Movie channels in the United Kingdom 1980s in Europe 1980s in the United Kingdom 1980s in British television History of television in the United Kingdom