FilmFour
From Free net encyclopedia
- This article is about the channel FilmFour. There was also a film production company called FilmFour Productions
FilmFour is a British digital television channel, owned and operated by Channel 4, which screens Channel 4-like films (mainly non-blockbuster fare, generally popular independent and arthouse fare).
The channel is subscription only, costing up to £7 a month. Films screened on FilmFour generally run in definable strands. The strands screened at the original time of writing (April 2004) are:
- 1800: Magic Hour (e.g. Lawrence of Arabia (1962))
- 2000: The 8 Escape (e.g. George Washington (2000))
- 2200: Made in Britain (e.g. Birthday Girl (2001))
- 0000: Extreme (e.g. A Clockwork Orange (1971))
In addition to its main channel and its timeshifted variant (FilmFour +1), a third channel, FilmFour Weekly, screens four films across the week — at the same time each day, to make it easier to catch a film at least once.
FilmFour becoming free-to-air
Shortly after Channel 4 won a vacant slot on DTT in November 2005 (currently used by More4 +1), it was reported that the broadcaster was considering making FilmFour subscription-free, and launching it on Freeview. A similar move was made in May 2005 with E4 and its time-shifted service. [1].
It was confirmed on 6 February 2006 that FilmFour will become free-to-air from July, and launch on Freeview and Freesat from Sky. Its availability will increase, from 300,000 to 18 million households. Broadcasting hours will change to 1500-0300, and commercial breaks will be included during films for the first time in its history. The closure of FilmFour Weekly was also announced.