MrRant 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 Interesting...... Wonder who is going to carry it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrRant 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 More: Fright fans will soon have a cable station to call their own with The Horror Channel, the first 24-hour national digital genre cable network, which will debut in October 2004. FANGORIA has been given the exclusive scoop on the ambitious project, which will involve many of the industry’s key chillmeisters and broadcast a mix of classic and new fright flicks and television shows, as well as original programming. “I truly believe we can bring the genre into the limelight, where it deserves to be,” CEO and founder Nicholas A. Psaltos tells Fango. ”There’s no reason why the Horror Channel should not exist and thrive. Comedy Central and Sci Fi are both doing extremely well. Both are very valuable enterprises and they’re each only about a dozen years old. And they are both descendants of movie genres. Today there are the Golf Channel, Food Network and DiscoveryWings. None of these borrows its content from a proven, successful or hugely profitable movie genre. But the Horror Channel does.” “We hope to create a compelling and successful company whose identity is fomented by the true grassroots horror fan,” says co-founder Kim Bangash, who has helped finance a number of films, including STRANGELAND and SLING BLADE. “We want to take that vision and then create an international brand that pays homage to all the different genres of horror in this country and abroad.” To create this vision, the Horror Channel has turned to the filmmaking community and signed many familiar scream greats to its advisory board. In addition, the Channel has brought FANGORIA editor Tony Timpone on board as a consultant and has an interest in developing a “FANGORIA Fridays”-type programming block, as well as licensing some of the company’s video titles as broadcast premieres. “One of the first things we did was to reach out to the key horror filmmakers,” Psaltos says. “The masters of horror were all quite happy to meet with us. We met with the established fathers of the genre: George Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Mick Garris, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman, Stuart Gordon, et al. It was like a dream sequence. Every meeting was positive and collaborative. Later on, we reached out to some of the younger guys, up-and-comers like Rob Zombie, Eli [CABIN FEVER] Roth, Lucky [MAY] McKee, Uwe [HOUSE OF THE DEAD] Boll, Robert [LOVE OBJECT] Parigi and Victor [JEEPERS CREEPERS] Salva. These guys are all brilliant and worthy of the honor of carrying the torch for the next several decades. Ultimately, we will be collaborating with many of these people on new programming such as films, miniseries, anthology shows, behind-the-scenes specials and branded guest-hosting spots.” The next stage involves bringing horror buffs into the endeavor, and Psaltos says that he’s all ears. “Our fans are extremely important in this process,” he explains. “We are launching our consumer website, www.horrorchannel.com, this October 1. We need the fans to fill out a survey so that we can petition every cable operator in the land with their unified voice clamoring for a horror channel. In addition, the fans will become part of our programming and content creation process. We will develop programs that they ask for and, in some cases, produce scripts that they write or air films that they’ve produced. We also have a strong desire to connect with the Goth music and lifestyle scene. Talent like Rob Zombie will be a strong proponent in the music area, and we’re already in discussions with the Costume Network and several others regarding the lifestyle aspect.” Psaltos says that the lack of a cable station for genre enthusiasts inspired his gargantuan and risky undertaking. “John Hendricks, founder of the Discovery Channel, was a personal hero of mine,” he says. “I saw him on an elevator one day when I worked at Discovery and thought, ‘Why not me?’ All I needed was the right idea. Then a friend of mine was talking about how huge horror was and that it needed its own channel. I thought, ‘Yes, this is interesting.’ So I began visiting all the websites and attending FANGORIA and Chiller Theatre conventions and talking to intriguing people. At the time I was working in a dead-end job at Bravo/IFC. My wife was seven months pregnant, and we’d just bought a house. So what else was I supposed to do? I waited until Henry Nicholas was born, then three weeks later I quit my job and began working on the Horror Channel.” “It’s hard to believe that no one has put a Horror Channel on the air before,” Bangash adds. ”There have been attempts before that for one reason or another petered out. With the growing penetration of digital cable, today’s environment seems to be the most viable time to launch the Horror Channel. People can now get service with up to 1,000 channels, which makes this idea all the more of a no-brainer. I don’t need to tell you how popular this genre is. It is the last major feature-film genre that does not have a cable channel dedicated to its fanbase.” So what took so long? “Network executives are not rewarded for risk-taking,” Psaltos says. “Launching a new channel is a big risk. They don’t understand the consumers that flock to this genre. Sci-fi won its own channel because their fans were ‘easier’ to identify and categorize. But the paradox here is that horror fans are even easier to find, because everyone loves horror—even if they’re too afraid to admit it. About a dozen years ago, when Sci Fi first launched, they were supposedly the answer to all fantasy genres, including horror. And at first they were, dedicating about 35 percent of their programming to horror. Over time, this changed because Sci Fi wanted to hone their appeal more specifically to the sci-fi audience. Fan complaints were not loud enough within the cable industry to ignite a unique horror channel offering. Plus, at the time, analog channel launches were hugely expensive because shelf space was limited to about 60 channels. Things have changed over the past four years. Direct broadcast satellites [DBS] and digital cable boxes enable homes to receive hundreds of channels. But despite the increased bandwidth, it’s still not easy—or cheap—to launch a channel.” To deliver the Horror Channel to your living room by fall 2004, Psaltos and company must continue raising at least $3 million in the months ahead. They’ve assembled a number of choice cable executives and business people to facilitate the process. “We have put together a team that is a healthy mix of veterans from the cable TV, film, consulting and finance industries,” Psaltos says. “Also, we are all horror fans and movie lovers. Kim is from the independent film scene. Our head of marketing, Chris Apostle, was at Showtime Networks. Our CIO and project launch manager, John Giunti, is a huge horror fan and a management consultant. I myself come to the table with 10 years of experience in the cable industry. I was most recently in programming and acquisitions at Bravo/IFC. Prior to that, I was in finance and business development at both A&E and Discovery. We also have several part-time consultants, full-time advisors who are from various cable networks, investment banks and film production/distribution entities.” “This concept, this team and its timing could not be more right,” Bangash adds. “Many channels are launched by accountant and lawyer types. We are fortunate to not only have the right team of professionals needed to launch a cable network, but most of us are also horror enthusiasts.” Of course, the question on every Fangorian’s lips is whether the programming will be shown uncensored. “Yes,” answers Psaltos. “Films will be uninterrupted and uncut. Older TV series will have the commercial interruptions that were originally edited into them. Some of the more graphic films will probably only be available on our sister Video On Demand channel.” Adds Bangash, “The advent of digital cable allows us many creative ways to keep the movies coming uncut.” Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PsychoDriver 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 Of course, the question on every Fangorian’s lips is whether the programming will be shown uncensored. “Yes,” answers Psaltos. “Films will be uninterrupted and uncut. Older TV series will have the commercial interruptions that were originally edited into them. Some of the more graphic films will probably only be available on our sister Video On Demand channel.” Adds Bangash, “The advent of digital cable allows us many creative ways to keep the movies coming uncut.” Well if that's true then it should be a great channel. Because a Horror Channel with Commerials and cut movies would be pretty worthless (like the B-Mania channel) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Choken One Report post Posted September 27, 2003 Digital TV has opened the doors for new once unthinkable networks... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted September 27, 2003 This has to make it onto DirecTV... I must have this channel...I want it now It looks like you'll be able to watch movies on their site for a fee. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoCalMike 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 HOLY SHIT......THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN. After reading this thread, if this horror channel doesn't come to fruition, I will cry. Ever since I first watched the Sci-Fi network 10+ years ago, I always was wondering when the hell a horror network would come out.... Folks, I am going on vacation, but please keep this thread *bumped" up for Oct. 1st so I can remember to go sign the petition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karnage 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 Canada already has a horror channel on Digital Cable called Scream. We even have a channel called MenTV way before Spike called themselves the first network for men. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarvinisaLunatic 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 If the movies are uncut/uncensored, its probably going to be a premium channel. What will probably end up happening is HBO will buy it within a year or so and name it HbORROR or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted September 27, 2003 It wouldn't have to be a pay channel, they just couldn't show extremely disturbing movies. They could probably even get away with extremely graphic. Nudity would probably be the only big problem. If they have to edit some nudity I wouldn't mind. Hell I'd have no problem with HBO putting in under their umbrella, as long as it's on DirecTV. I'd just hope that HBO would allow these people to continue running it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoCalMike 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 IFC, TCM, Sundance and Encore(on some cable/satellite systems) are included with basic cable. They are not part of a bigger package and show uncut/uncensored movies. AMC used to but changed format. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted September 27, 2003 I think Sundance is included in a package with The Movie Channel. Encore is a pay channel on DirecTV. I think being commercial free is the key. If they don't have to answer to advertisers they can play anything as long as it doesn't violate any rules. If they don't violate any rules they can't be touched. Religous groups couldn't use the advertisers against them. What exactly are the rules on what can and can't be shown on Cable TV? Thanks to The Sheild and Nip/Tuck it's clear that Cable can get away with alot more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrRant 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 If they wish to not be part of a premium package (HBO etc,) then what they will probably have is something like "The Hills Have Eyes" brought to you by Mr. Clean or something of that nature. Perhaps commercials before and after each movie. I would be okay with commercial breaks even if the movie ended up uneditted. However Thriller MAX (DirecTV doesn't have it) is already into this niche but with a mix of horror and sci-fi. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted September 27, 2003 However Thriller MAX (DirecTV doesn't have it) Yes, I know...ya bastard I believe TCM has commercial breaks between movies. I'd even be ok if they take a commercial break at the midway point of the movie. However, adding sponsors would open them up to attacks from Religous and anti TV violence groups Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrRant 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 Depends on the sponsor. XBOX for example. Movie trailers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 Holy Christ, this may be the best news I've heard all year. I'm being totally and completely honest, too. I could weep tears of joy over this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarvinisaLunatic 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 I was just clicking through the Starz Free Preview thing.. A Westerns channel, a Love Stories Channel, an Action channel, a Mysteries channel, a True Stories Channel I think every Genre has its own channel except horror. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrRant 0 Report post Posted September 27, 2003 That is because horror is lumped with Sci-Fi and such. They are similar of course... but different. In general I consider an alien killing a whole bunch of people Sci-Fi but a janitor burned by parents killing a bunch of kids to be horror. And don't forget the mindboggling subsets of both genres. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ravenbomb 0 Report post Posted September 28, 2003 true, but they've got nothing on the subcategories in comedy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JMA Report post Posted September 28, 2003 Sounds like a good idea (in theory). Think of the marathons they could show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HellSpawn 0 Report post Posted September 28, 2003 I hope SKY Latino get this channel. This is a dream (or should I say... nightmare) come true. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dynamite Kido Report post Posted September 29, 2003 WOW, the horror channel will own all!!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Just J Report post Posted September 29, 2003 (edited) Hell.......Yes! I wonder if coyrights are going to keep them from getting some of the really popular films? Edited September 29, 2003 by Mr. J Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
