[mwdxer]

I have seen some mention of a newer channel from Warner Brothers, much like TCM I guess. They run commercial free uncut WB films. Is there any chance Dish could add this channel? It looks good what I read about it. I don't know if it is available in HD. The info never said. Anyone know anything about the channel? Thanks

 

[KyL416]

It's a Canadian specialty channel that's not available for distribution in the USA since HBO has the premium channel rights to their film library. It's nothing like TCM, most of what they air is from the 80s to now.

 

[mwdxer]

Thanks. I did not know HBO has the WB rights. The WB channel does not sound as great as I first thought. WB has such a huge library.

 

[Blackloz]

I have this channel on my Bell subscription. It's quite good, it's part of the Hollywood Suite package which consists of 4 HD only channels. WB Films HD, Sony Movie Channel, MGM HD and AXN Movies HD.

 

[mwdxer]

We have the Sony Movie Channel, MGM HD, and AXN down here, but no WB.

 

[KyL416]

We have the Sony Movie Channel, MGM HD, and AXN down here, but no WB.

The ones they get in Canada are not the same ones we have. The Canadian ones are run by a different company called Hollywood Suite who licensed the brands, the schedule and movies they show are completely different with some Canadian content mixed in to fill the CanCon quota.

 

[mwdxer]

I know HBO Canada is not the same as down here either. Different licensing I guess offers different programming.

 

[Blackloz]

HBO Canada has all the same shows as the US version. IE: True Blood airs at the same time as here in the US & since there is no Cinemax there those shows as in Banshee & Strike Back, ect, ect also play on HBO Canada. As to movies. Mostly all new movies play on Movie Central/The Movie Network first which is bundled with HBO Canada. Then after a while might air on HBO Canada.

 

[mwdxer]

I have heard of Movie Central, but I did not realize they ran the movies first. I know you have a channel called Showcase. Isn't it a bit like Showtime, but with commercials?

 

[KyL416]

The premium TV scene in Canada is different. Western Canada gets the Corus owned Movie Central and Eastern Canada gets Bell Media owned Movie Network. Both have the same general movie library but are independent of each other. They used to be direct competitors in the 80s but eventually they decided to stop competing and divide their territory. In 2008 they entered into a joint licensing deal with HBO and they each converted one of their multiplex channels into HBO Canada. Movie Central and Movie Network remain the main channels with movie premieres, but most of the HBO series now air on HBO Canada while the Movie Network and Movie Central air some Showtime series. They also have their own classic movie channels Encore Avenue and The Movie Network Encore, similar to what Flix is to Showtime.

There's another newer nationwide premium service caleld Super Channel which launched around the same time. It has the first run rights to Fox's movies and also has some series from Starz, Showtime and some UK networks.

Technically the Family Channel (their version of the Disney Channel) is also a premium channel, however it's now widely distributed on expanded basic, but they still are commercial free and break free.

Showcase isn't a premium channel. It's a basic cable channel with dramas, original series from channels like TNT and USA and some off network reruns from their sister channel Global.

 

[Carroll A]

The movie network back in the 80's was an awesome channel for c banders. It was the best of all us movie channels wrapped up in one til just like here in the us scrambled with VC 2. The odd thing was for the most part they were fixed key so you could still watch the channel.