The Movie Channel (TMC) is an American premium television network owned by Showtime Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. Its programming focuses on theatrically released and independently produced motion pictures.[1] The channel began in 1973 as Star Channel, a pay movie service of Gridtronics, and was relaunched as The Movie Channel on December 1, 1979.[2]
Design and History
The channel’s earliest logo featured a star alongside the uppercase text “The Movie Channel,” a reference to its previous identity as Star Channel.[3] In November 1988, The Movie Channel introduced a logo featuring a profile of a person’s face with a pair of eyes and the bridge of a nose, with the channel name rendered in uppercase letters.[4]
In August 1997, TMC debuted a new logo featuring lowercase “tmc” letters on balls of various colors, accompanied by the tagline “100% Pure Movies, 100% Pure Fun.”[5][6] An extensively modified logo was introduced on March 5, 2001, featuring a one-dimensional circle with a lowercase “tmc” in Knockout type, surrounded by two lines on the corners framing the circle.[7]
The current logo was introduced on May 3, 2006, alongside a new on-air look and the slogan “Movies for Movie Lovers.”[8] The mark features three colored crescent-like sections in a circle framing the channel’s name.[9] On April 1, 2010, The Movie Channel and TMC Xtra began displaying digital on-screen graphic logos during programming; the on-screen bug is an alternate version of the channel’s logo with “The Movie Channel” oriented in vertically stacked text.[9]
Typography and Design
The 2006 logo renders the channel’s name in the same Helvetica typeface variant used in the 1988-1997 logo, with the word “MOVIE” set in bold type as in the previous 2001-2006 logo.[4][9] The crescent-like slivers surrounding the name have been described as green and blue in tone.[4]
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