History
Showtime launched on July 1, 1976 on a local cable television system in Dublin, California, and was originally owned by Viacom. The first program and television special broadcast on Showtime was Celebration, a concert special featuring Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and ABBA. On March 7, 1978, Showtime became a nationally distributed service and began to be uplinked via satellite, turning it into a competitor with HBO and other pay cable networks.
In 1979, Viacom sold a 50% ownership interest in Showtime to the TelePrompTer Corporation. In 1982, Group W Cable, a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (which had acquired TelePrompTer the previous year), sold its stake in Showtime back to Viacom. That same year saw the debut of the channel's first made-for-cable movie Falcon's Gold and its first original series and children's program Faerie Tale Theatre. In 1983, Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment formed a joint venture that merged Showtime and The Movie Channel into the division Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. In 1985, Viacom acquired Warner-Amex's ownership interest in Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc., once again making the former company Showtime's sole owner. Showtime's parent subsidiary was renamed Showtime Networks, Inc. in 1988. That year, the company formed Showtime Event Television (now Showtime PPV) as a pay-per-view distributor of special event programming.
In 1990, Showtime ventured into acquiring and premiering independent films exclusively for the channel as part of the 30-Minute Movie short film anthology series. One of its first premieres, 12:01 PM, was nominated for an Academy Award, while 1992's Session Man won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. In the years that followed, Showtime expanded its acquisitions into the realm of feature-length fare, including the Adrian Lyne-directed 1997 remake of Lolita.
In 2000, Showtime launched "Showtime Interactive 24.7", a service that provided DVD-style interaction of its entertainment offerings. The following year in 2001, Showtime became one of the first cable networks to launch a high definition simulcast feed (with Star Trek: Insurrection becoming the first film on the network to be broadcast in HD), and also began to provide Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound on select programs.
On June 14, 2005, Viacom decided to separate itself into two companies (only six years after Viacom's acquisition of CBS), both of which would be controlled by Viacom parent National Amusements, amid stagnation of the company's stock price. The original Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation and acquired Showtime Networks along with CBS' broadcasting assets, Paramount Television (now the separate arms CBS Television Studios for network and cable production and CBS Television Distribution for production of first-run syndicated programs and off-network series distribution), advertising firm Viacom Outdoor (renamed CBS Outdoor), Simon & Schuster and Paramount Parks, which was later sold; the new Viacom kept Paramount Pictures, the MTV Networks and BET Networks cable divisions, and Famous Music (the latter was sold off in 2007).
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