Tcm.com

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 Atlanta, Georgia.

The channel's programming consists mainly of classic theatrically released feature films from the Turner Entertainment film library – which comprises films from Warner Bros. (covering films released before 1950), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (covering films released before May 1986), and the North American distribution rights to films from RKO Pictures. However, Turner Classic Movies also licenses films from other studios and occasionally shows more recent films.

The channel is available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta (as Turner Classic Movies), Latin America, France, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, the Nordic countries, the Middle East, Africa (as TNT), and Asia-Pacific.

History

Origins

In 1986, eight years before the launch of Turner Classic Movies, Ted Turner acquired the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio for $1.5 billion. Concerns over Turner Entertainment's corporate debt load resulted in Turner selling the studio that October back to Kirk Kerkorian, from whom Turner had purchased the studio less than a year before.Fabrikant, Geraldine. "Turner to Sell MGM Assets."
''The New York Times.'' June 7, 1986.

As part of the deal, Turner Entertainment retained ownership of MGM's library of films released up to May 9, 1986. Turner Broadcasting System was split into two companies, Turner Broadcasting System and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and reincorporated as MGM/UA Communications Co.

The film library of Turner Entertainment Co. would serve as the base form of programming for Turner Classic Movies upon the network's launch. Before the creation of Turner Classic Movies, films from Turner's library of movies aired on the Turner Broadcasting System's advertiser-supported cable network TNT along with colorized versions of black-and-white classics such as '' The Maltese Falcon''.

Launch and contributions (1994–1996)

Turner Classic Movies debuted on April 14, 1994, at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, with Ted Turner launching the channel at a ceremony in New York City's Times Square district. The date and time were chosen for their historical significance as "the exact centennial anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City". The first movie broadcast on TCM was the 1939 film ''Gone with the Wind'', the same film that served as the debut broadcast of its sister channel TNT six years earlier on October 3, 1988. At the time of its launch, Turner Classic Movies was available to approximately one million cable television subscribers.

The network originally served as a competitor to AMC, which at the time was known as "American Movie Classics" and maintained a virtually identical format to Turner Classic Movies, as both networks largely focused on films released prior to 1970 and aired them in an uncut, uncolorized, and commercial-free format.

Time Warner ownership (1996–2018)

In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner which, besides placing Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros. Entertainment under the same corporate umbrella, also gave Turner Classic Movies access to Warner Bros.' library of films released after 1950 (which itself includes other acquired entities such as the Lorimar, Saul Zaentz and National General Pictures libraries); incidentally, Turner Classic Movies had already been running select Warner Bros. film titles through a licensing agreement with the studio that was signed prior to the launch of the channel.

In the early 2000s, AMC abandoned its commercial-free format, which led to Turner Classic Movies being the only movie-oriented basic cable channel to devote its programming entirely to classic films without commercial interruption or content editing. By 2002, AMC had broadened its film content to feature colorized and more recent films.

TCM Movie Database (2006–2019)

Launched in 2006, Turner Classic Movies maintains its own comprehensive database of actors, actresses, and film crew (listing more than 1.25 million people, with 15,000 written biographies),

and motion picture titles (more than 130,000 titles), not limited to the film libraries that Turner Classic Movies owns, and it includes links by which a user can request that Turner Classic Movies schedule any title for viewing.

''TCM Movie Database'' has lost some functionality.

The portal page is now unavailable, yet database entries are still available and function.
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Richard B. Steiner was the creator, architect, and supervisor of ''TCM Movie Database''.

By 2013, the ''Watch TCM'' app for iOS, Android, and Blackberry had some ''TCM Movie Database'' information.

Leonard Maltin's reviews appear in the TCM Movie Database.

Corporate reconstruction (2019–present)

On March 4, 2019, Time Warner's new owner AT&T (who renamed the company WarnerMedia) announced a planned reorganization to effectively dissolve the Turner Broadcasting System division, which involved Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, and digital media company Otter Media being transferred directly under Warner Bros. Entertainment. Aside from Otter, which was transferred to WarnerMedia Entertainment on May 31, 2019 to oversee development of HBO Max, the newly transferred properties came under a newly formed division, Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics.

On September 1, 2021, Turner Classic Movies introduced a new logo and slogan, "Where Then Meets Now", in the network's first major rebranding since its launch. The rebranding was intended to give Turner Classic Movies a more modern and energetic presentation while continuing to emphasize its commitment to showcasing classic cinema; new branding elements include Technicolor-inspired color schemes, and a new stylized "C" in its wordmark, which resembles a camera lens and symbolizes themes of "curation", "context", "culture" and "connection".

Programming

Turner Classic Movies essentially operates as a commercial-free service, with breaks between films usually consisting of promos for its programming, advertising for the network's events and merchandising, and interstitial segments profiling classic film actors and actresses. In addition to this, extended breaks between features are filled with theatrically released movie trailers and classic short subjects – from series such as ''The Passing Parade'', ''Crime Does Not Pay'', ''Pete Smith Specialties'', and Robert Benchley – under the banner name ''TCM Extras'' (formerly ''One Reel Wonders''). In 2007, some of the short films featured on Turner Classic Movies were made available for streaming on Turner Classic Movies's website. Partly to allow these interstitials, Turner Classic Movies schedules its feature films either at the top of the hour or at :15, :30 or :45 minutes past the hour, instead of in timeslots of varying five-minute increments.

Turner Classic Movies's film content has remained mostly uncut and uncolorized (with films natively filmed or post-produced in the format being those only ones presented in color), depending upon the original content of movies, particularly movies released after the 1968 implementation of the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings system and the concurrent disestablishment of the Motion Picture Production Code. Because of this, Turner Classic Movies is formatted similarly to a premium channel with certain films – particularly those made from the 1960s onward – sometimes featuring nudity, sexual content, violence and/or strong profanity; the network also features rating bumpers prior to the start of a program (most programs on Turner Classic Movies, especially films, are rated for content using the TV Parental Guidelines, in lieu of the MPAA's rating system).

The network's programming season runs from March of one year until the following February of the next when a retrospective of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies is shown, called ''31 Days of Oscar''. As a result of its devoted format to classic feature films, viewers who are interested in tracing the career development of actresses such as Barbara Stanwyck or Greta Garbo or actors like Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart have the unique opportunity to see most of the films that were made during their careers, from beginning to end. Turner Classic Movies presents many of its features in their original aspect ratio (widescreen or full screen) whenever possible – widescreen films broadcast on Turner Classic Movies are letterboxed on the network's standard definition feed. Turner Classic Movies also regularly presents widescreen presentations of films not available in the format on any home video release.

Occasionally, Turner Classic Movies shows restored versions of films, particularly old silent films with newly commissioned musical soundtracks. Turner Classic Movies is also a major backer of the Descriptive Video Service (created by Boston PBS member station WGBH-TV), with many of the films aired on the network offering visual description for the blind and visually impaired, which is accessible through the second audio program option through most television sets, or a cable or satellite receiver.

During the prime time hours, an ident for the "Watch TCM" app is shown after every movie.

Certain titles on Turner Classic Movies are not available to streaming services, due to restrictions through this service platform. During these scheduled times, the movie title is blocked from airing and a visual notice is provided to the viewer.

''Now Playing''

Turner Classic Movies formerly published ''Now Playing'', a monthly program guide, originally available through a standalone subscription, which provided daily listings and descriptions for films scheduled to air on Turner Classic Movies in the coming month. The digest-size magazine highlighted a featured actor on the cover, and featured essays about the "guest programmer" as well as a movie-and-actor themed crossword puzzle. The May 2017 issue, following the death in March 2017 of host Robert Osborne, contained "Remembering Robert Osborne" by Ben Mankiewicz.

Turner Classic Movies ceased print publication of ''Now Playing'' (which had been one of the few channel-specific program guides that remained in print circulation for most of the 2000s and 2010s) with the August 2017 issue, moving it to an electronic format available via email free of charge.

Movie library

Turner Classic Movies's library of films spans several decades of cinema and includes thousands of film titles, including Warner Bros. Pictures. Besides broadcasting films owned or licensed by Warner Bros., Turner Classic Movies also licenses films from Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Company (including film content from 20th Century Studios, Buena Vista Distribution as well as most of the Selznick International Pictures library), Sony Pictures Entertainment (primarily film content from Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures), StudioCanal, and Janus Films.

Also, Turner Classic Movies has aired movies from the 1900s, the 1910s and the 1920s. Although most movies shown on Turner Classic Movies are releases from the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1960s, some are more contemporary – Turner Classic Movies sometimes airs films from the 1970s and the 1980s, and occasionally broadcasts movies released during the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and the 2020s.

Hosted and special programming

Regular features

Most feature movies shown during the prime time and early overnight hours (8:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time) were presented by film historian Robert Osborne (who had been with the network since its 1994 launch until 2016, except for a five-month medical leave from July to December 2011, when guest hosts presented each night's films), Ben Mankiewicz presenting primetime films on Wednesday through Sunday evenings, Jacqueline Stewart presenting "Silent Sunday Nights" on Sundays, Tiffany Vasquez presented the films on Saturday afternoons from 2016 to 2018 when Dave Karger began presenting Saturday afternoons and the primetime films on Mondays, and Alicia Malone presenting the films on Sunday afternoons, the primetime films on Tuesdays and "TCM Imports" on Sundays. During the ''31 Days of Oscar'' film festival in 2021, which aired from April 1 to May 1 to coincide with the 93rd Academy Awards – which were pushed back to April 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Stewart and Muller alternated hosting duties on Wednesday nights, as the respective programming blocks they hosted in any other month, ''Silent Sunday Nights'' and ''Noir Alley'', were pre-empted by the month-long Oscar showcase. A similar occurrence took place in August for the Summer Under the Stars festival.

Turner Classic Movies regularly airs a "Star of the Month" throughout the year in which most, if not all, feature films from a film star are shown during that night's schedule. August is the only month to not have a "Star of the Month" due to "Summer Under the Stars". The network also marks the occurrence of a film actor's birthday (either antemortem

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