Horror Channel

Horror Channel (formerly Zone Horror) is a British television channel showing horror films and television series and some science fiction. It is broadcast in the UK and Ireland.

Horror Channel
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom
Ireland
Programming
Picture format576i 16:9 SDTV
Timeshift serviceHorror Channel +1
Ownership
Owner
History
Launched3 May 2004 (2004-05-03)
Former namesThe Horror Channel (2004-2006)
Zone Horror (2006-2010)
Links
Websitewww.horrorchannel.co.uk
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview UKChannel 68
Cable
Virgin Media UKChannel 149
Channel 202 (+1)
WightFibre UKChannel 114
Virgin Media IrelandChannel 146
Satellite
Freesat UKChannel 138
Channel 139 (+1)
Sky UK & IrelandChannel 317
Channel 318 (+1)
Astra 2F
28.2°E		11344 V 27500 5/6
11344 V 27500 5/6 (+1)
Streaming media
Virgin TV AnywhereWatch live (UK only)
FilmOnWatch live

Specialized programming includes cult films, classic horror, comedy, B movies, modern thrillers, series, home-produced specials, biography and documentary films.

Horror Channel is available as a free-to-air service on Astra 2F and, since Friday the 13th of March 2015, on Freeview channel 70. The launch on the Freeview platform increased its viewership by some 300%.[1]

History

The Horror Channel was created by Tony Hazell, who had worked for the God Channel. The Horror Channel went into administration on 21 September 2004.[2][3] The original management team formed a second company (Amore TV Ltd.) and purchased the channel on 22 September 2004, writing off the £200,000 investment made in the channel by venture capital firm, Northern Enterprise.

Zone Vision Networks Ltd. agreed to acquire the Horror Channel for an undisclosed sum on 17 June 2005.[4] In June 2006, the Horror Channel was renamed "Zone Horror" after Zone Vision Networks was renamed AMC Networks International UK. It became a part of the AMC Networks International UK content division of Liberty Global in 2005.[5]

Zone Horror +1 was launched on Sky on 1 July 2008 replaced CBS Reality.

On 30 October 2006, Zonemedia launched Zone Horror in the Netherlands.[6] On 1 July 2009, the channel was dropped from cable in the Netherlands.[7]

On 14 September 2009, it was revealed that the international arm of CBS, CBS Studios International, struck a joint venture deal with Chellomedia to launch six CBS-branded channels in the UK during 2009. The new channels would replace Zone Romantica, Zone Thriller, Zone Horror and CBS Reality, and timeshift services Zone Horror +1 and Zone Reality +1.[8][9]

On 5 April 2010, Zone Horror was renamed "Horror Channel", following the renaming of the portfolio’s other three channels in November 2009.[10] On-air the channel name appears as Horror. The rebrand was produced by Chello Zone’s in-house creative services team.

As of May 2014 the channel's pre-show idents incorporated a prominent CBS eye even though CBS does not appear in the channel's name.

Zone Fantasy got rebranded by Horror Channel in Italy on 6 September 2011.[11] Horror Channel closed in Italy on 1 July 2015.[12]

On 21 August 2012, a pre-watershed simulcast of Horror Channel began broadcasting in Sky's Entertainment genre on channel 198,[13] followed by three hours of Psychic Today after 9.00 pm. This version of the channel was replaced by Reality TV, a simulcast of CBS Reality with a Psychic Today block, on 20 May 2013.

On 9 March 2015, Horror Channel appeared on Freeview channel 70 as a placeholder channel, and on 13 March 2015 Horror Channel started broadcasting fully and is the third of the CBS family to move to Freeview in under a year.

Films
Main article: List of films broadcast by Horror Channel

Horror Channel airs a wide range of films; aside from horror, films of mixed genres with horror themes including sci-fi, thriller, comedy, action and exploitation often screen on the channel. Originally, as The Horror Channel, it premiered a number of classic films including Carnival of Souls, The City of the Dead, The Killer Shrews, and Lady of Burlesque, while it became known for its showing of B movie classics such as Bloody Birthday, Troll 2, Brian Damage, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Frogs, and Slugs. European cinema became notable during the early years of the channel with films including The Devil's Nightmare, Nude for Satan, Black Magic Rites, The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine and several films from French director Jean Rollin like Requiem for a Vampire, The Iron Rose, The Grapes of Death and The Living Dead Girl which were initially shown as part of "The Jean Rollin Season". Additional early films consisted of the Troma films Mother's Day and The Toxic Avenger film series, with others such as the Sleepaway Camp trilogy, the Hellraiser trilogy, Pumpkinhead, Flowers in the Attic and Turkey Shoot.

When the channel was renamed in 2006 as Zone Horror, most of the older films eventually became phased out and were replaced with more recent low-budget and independent films which are less known, such as, Drive-Thru, Choker, Berserker: Hell's Warrior and Blood Ranch, while classic films were shown only on a sporadic basis.

Rebranded as simply Horror Channel in 2010, a number of classic horror films began to premiere on the channel, some of which included The Evil Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Happy Birthday to Me and The Incredible Melting Man. Many films were screened as part of horror seasons, with 2011's highlights including "Horror Horreur" for September, "Hammer Horror" for October and "Season of the Banned" for November. Notable inclusions consisted of the films of European directors Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, and, screenings of recently released films by home entertainment company Arrow Films, which includes Savage Streets and Street Trash. Following this, Horror Channel has premiered many popular films; Pan's Labyrinth, Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Rabid, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, Peeping Tom, Blue Steel, Wolf Creek and Jeepers Creepers,

Programming

The following is a list of past, current, and upcoming television and miniseries which are broadcast on Horror Channel.

Note: See List of films broadcast by Horror Channel for all films, including television films.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Current

Former

Miniseries

Documentaries

Logos
Logos of Horror Channel
  • Original logo from 2004–2006
  • Rebranded Zone Horror from 2006 to 2009

References
  1. "BARB". BARB. February 2015.
  2. "A horror show for venture capitalists". The Journal. 30 November 2004.
  3. "Stay Screaming". RMT. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  4. "Zone Vision buys Horror Channel". C21Media. 17 June 2005.
  5. "Zone develops new vision of itself". C21Media. 13 June 2006.
  6. "Zonemedia Launches Horror Channel In The Netherlands". 4 Regional Film & Video. 30 October 2006.
  7. https://service.upc.nl/index.php?CampaignID=48&PageID=1415&cid=257&aid=1055%5B%5D
  8. "CBS FINALChello Zone partnership press release". Chello Zone. 14 September 2009. Archived from the original (DOC) on 24 July 2011.
  9. "CBS to launch UK channels with Chellomedia". Broadcastnow. 14 September 2009.
  10. "Zone Horror rebrands as Horror Channel". Broadband TV News. 31 March 2010.
  11. MvdbMedia (6 September 2011). "Fantasy wordt Horror". DutchDreambox.nl. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  12. "Come vedere Horror Channel" (in Italian). lettera43.it. 24 September 2015.
  13. "Horror Channel Now Also On Sky 198 from 9am till 9pm!". Horror Channel. 20 August 2012.
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