MovieTime HD to launch this March

[TVViewer]

More details to come, but Canwest will be launching MovieTime HD later this March. No word yet on what providers have signed on to carry, but considering the popularity of the channel (in ratings) I would expect most to pick it up soon after it launches.

[bigoranget]

Good to here. Although I'm not a fan of movies with commercials, I do from time to time watch the odd movie on this channel when there is nothing else on.

[InMontreal]

Oh my god! The answer to my prayers are there!

I will finally get to see my favorite cancon fillers Whatever Happened To, Big Screen Top Ten, Reel to Reel and Ad Persuation in High Definition!

Good thing I didn't subcribed to this poor movie-with-Gold4cash-commercial channel.

Is there an HD version of the Slap Chop commercial too?

[julie_rose_valliere]

Is there an HD version of the Slap Chop commercial too?

lol!!!! I hate that commercial is annoying. so if we could get slap chop hd, why not SHAMWOW???? :D

[TVViewer]

Don't have the press release yet, but MovieTime HD will launch March 11th, the first provider to pick it up is Rogers, MovieTime HD will be available on channel 562.

[musimax]

So it's March 11, any word on this launching?

[CDN Viewer]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but just curious why Canwest has decided to launch an HD version of Movietime instead of launching HD simulcasts of two of their most popular channels- Food Network & HGTV?? This channel is a waste, it airs commercials during its movies so who cares about MovieTime HD?!

[musimax]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but just curious why Canwest has decided to launch an HD version of Movietime instead of launching HD simulcasts of two of their most popular channels- Food Network & HGTV?? This channel is a waste, it airs commercials during its movies so who cares about MovieTime HD?!

I agree to with some of that. I agree that HGTV and Food Network are good candidates for HD channels; they are both extremely popular and they both have a good amount of HD programming available. So they kinda seem like better choices to go HD first. But what I don't agree with and get is why people keep saying that movie channels with commercials are so bad. Sure, commercials in general are bad (and well, even sometimes good frankly, sometimes it's nice to have a commercial break to get up a snack or whatever else you may want to do), but what's the difference between a movie with commercials and a TV drama series with commercials? It's all relative to me, not a big difference.

[CDN Viewer]

Sure, commercials in general are bad (and well, even sometimes good frankly, sometimes it's nice to have a commercial break to get up a snack or whatever else you may want to do), but what's the difference between a movie with commercials and a TV drama series with commercials? It's all relative to me, not a big difference.

Two points here,

First, sitcoms and dramas are created with commercial breaks in mind, meaning the show is produced in a fashion where at certain points the broadcaster can insert a commercial without affecting any part of the content. That is not the case with movies, they are filmed to be shown without commercials so basically if you insert commercials you butcher the film and end up omitting some of the content so that you can insert the advertising.

Second, most of these channels that air movies tend to insert way too many commercials which for me anyway makes the movie unwatchable since every 10-15min. there is a commercial break. Alliance Atlantis did a better job with this, I remember watching Showcase Action during its early days and they would only insert commercial breaks once or twice during the entire duration of the movie and usually around the halfway mark. They also would air the movies uncut which means you would not miss any of the content, not sure if Canwest still does this with their channels?!

[musimax]

Two points here,

First, sitcoms and dramas are created with commercial breaks in mind, meaning the show is produced in a fashion where at certain points the broadcaster can insert a commercial without affecting any part of the content. That is not the case with movies, they are filmed to be shown without commercials so basically if you insert commercials you butcher the film and end up omitting some of the content so that you can insert the advertising.

OK, that's true, that is quite annoying when they start cutting stuff out just so that they can fit commercials in and still have the movie fit in a 2 hour time frame. But then again, any sort of editing, whether movie or not, is always extremely annoying.

[TVViewer]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but just curious why Canwest has decided to launch an HD version of Movietime instead of launching HD simulcasts of two of their most popular channels- Food Network & HGTV?? This channel is a waste, it airs commercials during its movies so who cares about MovieTime HD?!

Just because you don't like the channel doesn't mean it's a waste, it's one of the top 10 most watched digital channels, so people do care about the channel, it makes sense for a movie channel to go HD.

[musimax]

MovieTime launches in High Definition

Canada's First HD Specialty Movie Channel

TORONTO, March 11 /CNW/ - Canwest Broadcasting proudly announces the launch of MovieTime HD on Friday, March 12, 2010. Beginning tomorrow, MovieTime HD will be included as part of the Rogers Digital Cable VIP offering for customers with an HD box on channel 562. This launch continues to reinforce Canwest as a leader in HD programming with History Television, Showcase, National Geographic Channel and four Global Television stations - Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton - currently broadcasting in High Definition.

The ultimate destination for big-ticket movies, MovieTime launched over a year ago and has been a huge success with viewers. It is now a top 10 digital channel in Canada for all key demos.

"With the immense popularity of MovieTime, we're delighted to announce the launch of MovieTime HD - Canada's only HD specialty destination for recent blockbusters", said Daniel Eves, VP Strategic Programming, Specialty, Canwest Broadcasting. "The channel will offer viewers an incomparable movie viewing experience, combining superior resolution and sound with big-ticket movie titles."

Viewers can expect to find HD titles that will include: Batman Begins, The School of Rock, Scorpion King, The Wedding Planner, Stuart Little 2, The Bucket List, Bourne Identity, Sahara, Catch Me If You Can, Matilda and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life. Many more new titles are to be added in the coming months.

MovieTime HD will be launching with other TV providers later this spring.

MovieTime HD is a Canwest Broadcasting Channel.

About Canwest Broadcasting:

Canwest Broadcasting operates Global Television and 18 of the country's most popular specialty channels, including HGTV, Mystery TV, National Geographic Channel, Showcase, History Television, Food Network and TVtropolis. Canwest Broadcasting is a division of Canwest Media Inc.

About Canwest Media Inc.:

Canwest Media Inc. is a subsidiary of Canwest Global Communications Corp. (www.canwest.com), Canada's largest media company. In addition to owning the Global Television Network, operating 18 industry-leading specialty channels and having ownership in 5 specialty channels, Canwest is Canada's largest publisher of English language paid daily newspapers and owns and operates more than 80 online properties.

About MovieTime HD:

MovieTime HD is the ultimate destination for big-ticket movies seven days a week. With over 250 movie titles each month and back to back movies on the weekend, MovieTime HD offers movie lovers unparalleled sound and resolution in the high definition format. Viewers can tune in for an extensive collection of favourite hits such as Batman Begins, Matilda, The Wedding Planner, Bourne Identity, The Bucket List and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life. What time is it?... MovieTime!

Source: CNW

[TVViewer]

[quote=CDN Viewer;29441]

That means nothing, another example of manipulating viewership stats to make it seem as if a channel is really popular. The digital channels have low viewership overall so your stat is worthless at the end of the day. Most people watch the older analogue specialty channels like Discovery, Bravo!, TSN, Space, etc.

It doesn't mean nothing, out of all the digital channels out there, MovieTime is in the top 10 most watched.

Your kidding right?!

Movietime a movie channel, please its a pathetic excuse for a movie channel. A real movie channel airs movies uncut and commercial free as they are supposed to be seen, this piece of crap airs movies in a butchered format with endless commercial breaks. This is a cheap knock off, TMN & Movie Central are the only ones that can truly be classified as 'movie channels'.

It's a movie channel, just because it airs commercials doesn't mean it's not a movie channel, and just because you don't like it doesn't make it crap, as I said it's in the 10 most watched digital channels, so obviously others don't mind that they air commercials. It's also not as expensive as the pay tv movie channels.

This is another example of people changing the topic of the thread, this was about MovieTime going HD, not MovieTime airing commercials.

[InMontreal]

it's one of the top 10 most watched digital channels

Hmmm, I don't think so.
- Nobody watches the annoying fillers.
- Do you know ANYBODY who will sit on the couch and watch the same 3 movies THREE TIMES in the same day?

Off course, if you add up viewers of the same movie from the morning/afternoon airing + evening airing + overnight airing, you get a nice number. But let's be realistic, MovieTime is NOT a channel you'd watch all day.

Some US channels (like TBS SUperstation) place a warning at the beginning of the film like "This movie has been modified to fit your screen and edited for language and edited in time for a 2-hours slot". That was informative. You knew exactly what to expect. Don't like it? Get the DVD/VHS !

Before Showcase Action's makeover, the viewer knew the movies there were UNCUT. Nowadays, you have to guess, compare, try and error, figure out at which time that specific channel airs the movie in which format: theatric?, director's cut?, unrated? So, MovieTime is what kind of broadcaster?

For those not familiar with the terms, UNCUT means that no scene has been deleted or modified from the original, but the movie can be paused for commercial breaks.

[TVViewer]

Yes it does, at least as far as I am concerned. ;) :D

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and mine is that this channel is crap. Looks like InMontreal agrees and thanks for pointing out another reason not to watch this channel- they air the same movies over and over again. Something I would expect from CHCH (a conventional station with probably a fairly limited budget) but not from a specialty channel that gets revenue from two sources- advertising and subscriptions ;)

Good thing you and InMontreal are in the minority, as MovieTime is in the top 10 most watched digital channels :)

As I said before, this thread was started to inform people about MovieTime launching HD, not for you and InMontreal to complain about the channel. What does airing commercials have to do with the channel launching in HD? Even the thread on DigitalHome got mostly on topic replies.

[InMontreal]

Noticed how he keeps replying by repeating the same "top 10 most watched" without any further argument?

It's impossible to be entitled to your opinion in here, except off course if you're in his ignore list...

[TVViewer]

My apologies,

Would you like me to delete all my posts in this thread that are off topic?! Of course that means you have to delete some of yours as well since you replied to all of mine. ;)

And now, back to the main attraction- Movietime HD! :)

Thank you for offering to do that, but no need to delete your posts, I started another thread in the cable and satellite discussion that has a press release announcing MovieTime HD's launch on Rogers, so visitors will be able to be informed without having to read a debate on MovieTime airing commercials. :)

Thank you for trying to steer this thread back on topic :)

[NB Josh]

I don't subscribe to MovieTime, but I don't mind watching movies with commercials. I actually kind of like the break, I find it hard to pay attention to a movie for 2 hours without any commercials.

For the record, it doesn't really matter that MovieTime is in the top 10 digital channels. All of the digital channels don't get very good viewership, especially compared to the analogue ones. As far as I know it is the first non-sports digital channel to launch in HD though (so far only TSN2 and Raptors TV have I think).

[musimax]

There's actually quite a bit more digital sports and non-sports channels in HD: Wild TV, National Geographic Channel and Leafs TV. OK, that's only 3, so maybe not quite a bit, but a few.

[InMontreal]

Not to forget SuperChannel, High Fidelity's ones (Rush-Oasis-Equator-Treasure), french specialties Mystère, Planète and recently Zeste... nope, MovieTime is not the first Cat 2 digital specialty to go HD :)