Flix (TV network)

History[edit]

The network launched on August 1, 1992, as a single-channel "mini-pay" service. Flix originally featured movies from the 1960s to the 1980s, although it would gradually begin to scatter some 1990s film titles onto the network's schedule over time. At its launch, Flix had been one of the last premium channels to restrict the broadcast of R-rated films to the nighttime hours. A notable aspect of Flix during its early days was that the channel did not solely advertise the channel's own prime time lineup, but also ran a schedule of programs that were slated to air that evening on the other major U.S. premium channels – including HBO, Cinemax and Encore as well as sister networks Showtime and The Movie Channel – during breaks between daytime movies (since 2002, Showtime has been the only other premium service that the network has provided prime time listings during its prime time lineup segment).^[1]


Three years prior to the channel's launch, in 1989, Tele-Communications Inc. made a failed bid to acquire a 50% ownership stake in Showtime from Viacom.^[2] There was some debate as to whether Viacom or TCI originally conceived the idea for Encore, another (one-time) "mini-pay" service that was originally similar in format to Flix, which also focused on films from the 1960s to the 1980s until a format change in 1999 in which that channel added more recent films to its schedule. Viacom executives insisted that TCI lifted part of the idea for Encore from the company's Showtime Networks division. John Sie, the president of Encore at the time, said in a 1991 interview with Multichannel News that TCI brought up the concept of the Encore network as a way to revitalize Showtime, either by launching a new tertiary service from scratch or by overhauling the format of Showtime's existing sister network The Movie Channel.^[2]


On June 14, 2005, Viacom decided to separate itself into two companies (only six years after the company'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 restructured as 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).^[3][4]


In 2007, Flix began to broadcast certain R-rated movies during daytime timeslots. That same year, Flix began to air movies released in 2000, including such titles as Reindeer Games and Pitch Black; other films released during the 2000s have been added to the network's schedule since then.


On August 13, 2019, National Amusements officially announced that CBS and Viacom would re-merge into a new entity known as ViacomCBS, to be headed by Viacom CEO Bob Bakish as the new company's president and CEO, while National Amusements CEO Shari Redstone would serve as chairperson.^[5][6] On October 29, 2019, National Amusements approved the re-merger deal; it closed on December 4, 2019. As part of the new structure, the Showtime Networks unit and its assets—Showtime, The Movie Channel and Flix—became part of the Premium Content Group division of Paramount Media Networks, along with BET and temporarily Pop TV (which was transferred to the Youth & Entertainment Group division the following month), to be overseen by SNI CEO David Nevins.^[7]