Starz Entertainment Announces Five More Channels Going Hi-Def

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment revealed plans to launch five additional high definition (HD) channels, adding to its suite of premium, commercial-free offerings. Anticipated to launch in phases in early-mid 2010, Starz In Black HD and Starz Cinema HD will round out the complete Starz channel lineup in HD. Additionally, IndiePlex HD and RetroPlex HD will debut, as well as a West Coast feed of the flagship Encore HD channel and bring Starz Entertainment's total HD channels and feeds to eleven.

Specifically, upon launch of the five new HD channels, Starz Entertainment will offer affiliates and its subscribers up to nine distinct HD channels and additionally, West Coast HD feed options of its two flagship channels, Starz and Encore. Starz Entertainment is also the leading provider in HD On Demand programming with its Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, and MoviePlex HD On Demand services.

All Starz Entertainment HD offerings are presented to affiliates in Dolby® Digital 5.1 surround sound, a powerful audio format that provides up to 5.1 separate channels of crystal-clear digital surround sound that brings entertainment to life.

"Starz viewership, satisfaction levels and subscriber counts have grown the past few years thanks in part to integrating HD into the Starz viewing experience, said Ed Huguez, executive vice president, affiliate sales and marketing for Starz Entertainment. "We are pleased to extend the high definition reach of our channels next year and will begin working with our cable, satellite and Telco affiliates to bring them to consumers in the future."

Starz Entertainment is the exclusive subscription television and broadband provider of Starz Originals (including "Crash" and "Party Down," and coming in 2010, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" and "Gravity") and feature films. First-run movies are from leading Hollywood studios including Walt Disney Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Overture Films, Miramax Films, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Pixar, TriStar, Screen Gems, Sony Classics, and Warren Miller Films. Starz licenses hundreds of feature films from a wide array of independent distributors including IFC, Yari Film Group, and Summit Entertainment and a vast collection of classic and favorite titles from most Hollywood studios.

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 17.5 million and 31.5 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Entertainment Group, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation.

Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories.

Source: Starz Entertainment

Posted by Shane Sturgeon, October 21, 2009 7:09 AM