Showtime around the world
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[edit] Australia
Showtime Australia is a group of movie channels in Australia that began broadcasting in 1995. They show a limited number of television shows or series, as well as the occasional mini-series. Their owner, Premium Movie Partnership is owned equally by Sony, NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, News Corporation and Liberty Media. This means CBS has only a small stake in the service.
Showtime Australia’s channels include:
- Showtime - recent mainstream movies, mini-series
- Showtime 2 - the Showtime channel on two-hour delay
- Showtime Greats (formally Encore) - older mainstream and classic movies
- Showcase - Recent movies mixed with many cable television shows from the US such as The Tudors, Dexter, painkiller jane and many others
This group is available on all three major pay-TV platforms in Australia.
[edit] Middle East, North Africa and the Levant territories
Showtime Arabia, as it is called to distinguish itself from its U.S. counterpart, Showtime, is the dominant subscription television service in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Levant territories. It is a joint venture between KIPCO (79% stake) and CBS Corporation (21% stake), CBS Corp being a minor partner. The company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and has its headquarters at Dubai Media City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Showtime Arabia is one of the leading pay TV networks in the Middle East and North Africa, offering:
- The latest blockbuster movies from the leading Hollywood studios including Paramount, Dreamworks, Sony, Columbia, NBC Universal and Disney plus other local producers.
- Exclusive premium sports including the world’s most popular football league the Premier League, the Rugby World Cup and other major sporting events.
- The best international series and shows including: Desperate Housewives, Lost, Prison Break, Heroes, 24 and Ugly Betty.
- Exclusive music channels.
- Pay-per-view Home Cinema Channels.
- Disney Channel Middle East, which is an a-la-carte channel.
The Showtime Arabia network package is available via the Nilesat satellite. It has a channel line up of 40 channels.
[edit] Latin America
In the 1990s, Showtime had an early investment with Televisa, News Corporation and MGM in Cinecanal. Cinecanal was originally called "Cinecanal/Showtime".
[edit] Brazil
Showtime also had an early investment in Brazil with Grupo Abril, at the launch of its cable operator, TVA. However, several years later, Showtime was replaced with a local version of its US competitor, HBO.
[edit] Scandinavia
A Showtime channel is available in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The channel is operated by NonStop Television, which licenses the name and logo from Showtime Networks Inc. and brands the channel with the Showtime logo, but does not otherwise show any Showtime programming. Programming is mostly action movies from the 1970s to today. The channel does not premiere recent Hollywood films. Availability differs; it is available for an additional cost in some basic cable TV packages, such as Canal Digital, although for a much lower price than first-run subscription film channels. The channel is commercial-free. NonStop also operates Star! Scandinavia and Silver.
[edit] Spain
In Spain, the channel is branded as Showtime Extreme; it provides three different audio layers, Spanish, English and Catalan. It is operated by Factoría de Canales which also licences the name and logo from Showtime Networks, Inc.
[edit] Turkey
In Turkey, Showtime channel is on Digiturk, yet it does not feature any of the original programming, only movies.
