Starz Entertainment LLC., (doing business as Starz Inc., and founded as Encore Movie Group in 1991) is an American entertainment company that owns U.S. pay television channels, including the namesake Starz network, and a media distribution company. The company is headquartered at Meridian, Colorado, and uses nearby Englewood as its location in corporate filings and press releases. On December 8, 2016, it became a subsidiary of

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

History

Early history

Encore Movie Group (also known as Encore Media Group) was founded in 1991 as a wholly owned television programming subsidiary and a joint venture of Liberty Media and

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 ...

, two companies that were controlled by

John C. Malone John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, landowner and philanthropist. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, for twenty-four years from 1973 to 1996. ...

. The premium channel

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 ...

was launched in 1991 on cable systems operated by Tele-Communications Inc., followed by the launch of Starz in 1994, and Encore Plex (now

MoviePlex MoviePlex, stylized as movieplex since 2006, is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Starz Inc. subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment and headquartered at the Meridian International Business Center complex i ...

) in 1997. On June 2, 1997, TCI announced it would transfer part of its ownership stake in Encore Media Group to sister company Liberty Media, due in part to substantial losses incurred by the Starz network. TCI retained a minority 20% ownership interest in Encore Media Group until Liberty Media acquired TCI's stake following its 1999 merger with

AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...

. In 1999, Encore Media Group was renamed the Starz Encore Media Group, "Media" was dropped off in 2001. As part of a corporate restructuring in 2003, Starz Encore Group eliminated 100 jobs in its nine regional offices, four of which have been closed. On March 25, 2005, Starz Encore Group was renamed Starz Entertainment, and on March 28, Starz! was renamed Starz (dropping the exclamation point) and adopted a new logo featuring a hand-drawn star and a wordmark set in Helvetica Neue Black.

Starz Media

On August 31, 2006, Liberty Media acquired the US division of

IDT Entertainment Starz Distribution (formerly IDT Entertainment and Starz Media) is the motion picture, animation, television, and home video operating unit of Starz Inc., a subsidiary of Lionsgate. Starz Distribution develops, produces, and acquires original ...

for $186 million, followed by the Canadian and Australian divisions on September 29, 2006. IDT Entertainment was then merged under Starz Entertainment Group and renamed Starz Media. On November 19, 2009, Liberty Media spun off Starz Entertainment Group into a separate tracking stock, known as Liberty Starz. On January 1, 2010,

Chris Albrecht Chris Albrecht (born July 24, 1952) is an American media executive. He is the head of television at Legendary Entertainment and was previously chief executive officer and President of Starz. Albrecht was also the former chairman and CEO of HBO. ...

became the president and CEO of Liberty Starz, overseeing the company's entities including Starz Entertainment,

Overture Films Overture Films was an American film production and distribution company and a subsidiary of Starz (then subsidiary of Liberty Media). It was founded in November 2006 by Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett. Through its affiliated companies Anchor Bay E ...

Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...

and Film Roman. On January 4, 2011,

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...

acquired 25% of

Starz Media Starz Distribution (formerly IDT Entertainment and Starz Media) is the motion picture, animation, television, and home video operating unit of Starz Inc., a subsidiary of Lionsgate. Starz Distribution develops, produces, and acquires original ...

, one of the operating units of Liberty Starz. The arrangement included a five-year distribution deal under which starting in April 2011, Liberty Starz's

would release new TWC films on DVD and Starz Digital Media would handle online downloads and streaming. On August 8, 2012, Liberty Media announced that it would spin-off Liberty Starz into a separate public company; the transaction includes about $1.5 billion of debt. The spin-off of the subsidiary was expected to be completed by the end of 2012, but was actually completed on January 11, 2013. As a result of the spin-off, Liberty Starz changed its name to "Starz Inc." Starz Inc.'s businesses and assets at the time consisted of

Starz Networks Starz Entertainment LLC., (doing business as Starz Inc., and founded as Encore Movie Group in 1991) is an American entertainment company that owns U.S. pay television channels, including the namesake Starz network, and a media distribution com ...

Starz Distribution Starz Distribution (formerly IDT Entertainment and Starz Media) is the motion picture, animation, television, and home video operating unit of Starz Inc., a subsidiary of Lionsgate. Starz Distribution develops, produces, and acquires original ...

, and its minority stake in

Arc Productions Jam Filled Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario with additional facilities in Toronto and Halifax and is a division of Boat Rocker Media. It is best known for animating '' Thomas & Friends'' between 2013 and 20 ...

Acquisition by Lionsgate

On February 11, 2015,

, the majority shareholder in both Starz and its former parent company Liberty Media, swapped a 4.5% stake with 14.5% of the voting power in Starz Inc. for 3.4% of shares in film and television entertainment company

while joining the company's board of directors.Lionsgate, Starz Swap Stock as John Malone Joins Board
Brent Lang variety.com February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015 Fourteen days later, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht hinted a possible merger with Lionsgate.
Jeff Berman thestreet.com February 25, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015 On November 10, 2015, Malone's two other companies, Liberty Global and

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

, made a joint investment of $195–400 million in Lionsgate and acquired a 3.4% stake in the company. On June 30, 2016, Lionsgate agreed to acquire Starz Inc. for $4.4 billion in cash and stock. As part of the acquisition by Lionsgate, Starz Inc.'s home entertainment business have been subsumed into Lionsgate's Worldwide Home Entertainment division, as well as Starz Inc.'s Worldwide TV distribution group being similarly combined. On December 8, 2016, the deal was finalized thus making Starz a subsidiary of Lionsgate.

Starz Networks

Starz Networks currently consists of 17 American cable TV channels. As of December 31, 2012, Starz and Starz Encore serve a combined 56 million subscribers, including 21 million at STARZ, and 35 million at Starz Encore. Starz, Starz Encore, and MoviePlex air over 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, On Demand, and online offerings through Starz Encore Play and MoviePlex Play.

List of Starz-owned channels

** MoviePlex ** IndiePlex ** RetroPlex * Starz ** Starz ** Starz Cinema ** Starz Comedy ** Starz Edge ** Starz in Black ** Starz Kids & Family * Starz Encore ** Starz Encore ** Starz Encore Action ** Starz Encore Black ** Starz Encore Classic ** Starz Encore Español ** Starz Encore Family ** Starz Encore Suspense ** Starz Encore Westerns

References

External links

*
About Us Page
{{Lions Gate Entertainment Starz Entertainment Group Lionsgate subsidiaries Former Liberty Media subsidiaries Cable network groups in the United States American companies established in 1991 Entertainment companies established in 1991 Mass media companies established in 1991 Entertainment companies of the United States Mass media companies of the United States Companies based in Meridian, Colorado 2016 mergers and acquisitions