Z Channel

The Z Channel was one of the early pay television stations in the United States (1974–1989) best known for its devotion to the art of cinema due to the eclectic choice of films by the programming chief Jerry Harvey.

History

Z Channel was launched in 1974 by Theta Cable (a division of TelePrompTer Corporation and Hughes Aircraft Co.) which was acquired by Group W (Westinghouse) in 1981. Operations were located in Santa Monica, California. Jerry Harvey was hired as program director in 1980. As program director, Harvey was given permission to program the network the way he saw fit. As such, the network featured a wide variety of films not typically shown on other pay television services at the time.

These included many B movies, silent films, foreign films, and original unedited versions of films. On Christmas Eve 1982, Harvey made the decision to show the original (previously unreleased in two years) version of Heaven's Gate, a movie that had been considered a disaster by all accounts. His decision was a success as the movie became the most watched feature ever shown on Z Channel. Other networks soon followed and aired Heaven's Gate.

By the mid-1980s, Z Channel had 90,000 subscribers. In 1987, Group W sold Z Channel to Seattle-based Rock Associates for $5 million. Both increased competition and lack of interest by Group W leading up to the sale led to a decrease in subscribers. In January 1988, Rock Associates merged with American Spectacor.

Demise

In April 1988, there were two major changes to the network: the death of Jerry Harvey and the addition of sports to regular programming. (It had broadcast a UCLA–USC basketball game around 1978.) Deals were made to show games from the Los Angeles Angels, Clippers and Dodgers. This increased the numbers of subscribers to 110,000. The sports deals were funded by selling advertising during the games. However, a lawsuit ensued with a court ruling that contracts with the movie studios stipulated that the service be commercial-free.

Out of options, the channel was sold to Cablevision and NBC on March 16, 1989, who were partners in the joint-venture SportsChannel and set to launch Consumer News and Business Channel (now CNBC). On June 29, 1989, Z Channel faded to black and was replaced by SportsChannel Los Angeles. The last film shown on Z Channel was John Ford's My Darling Clementine.

Legacy

Z Channel popularized the use of letterboxing on television, as well as showing "director's cut" versions of films (which is a term popularized after Z Channel's showing of Heaven's Gate). Z Channel's devotion to cinema and choice of rare and important films had an influence on such directors as Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne and Jim Jarmusch.

The channel was the subject of the 2004 documentary Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, which was directed by Alexandra Cassavetes, daughter of John Cassavetes.

Selected films that aired on Z Channel

• 1900
• 48 Hrs.
• A Clockwork Orange
• A Touch of Class
• Airplane!
• Airport 1975
• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• All That Jazz
• American Graffiti
• ...And Justice for All
• Apocalypse Now
• The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
• At Long Last Love
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Black Christmas
• Black Orpheus
• Blazing Saddles
• The Blue Lagoon
• The Blues Brothers
• Das Boot
• Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
• Caddyshack
• California Suite
• Candleshoe
• Chan Is Missing
• The Charge of the Light Brigade
• The China Syndrome
• City Lights
• Coal Miner's Daughter
• Corvette Summer
• Crocodile Dundee
• Day of the Dolphin
• The Dark Crystal
• Death Race 2000
• Desperately Seeking Susan
• Diva
• Dressed to Kill
• Electra Glide in Blue
• The Electric Horseman
• Eraserhead

• Eyes of Laura Mars
• Farewell, My Lovely
• Fatso
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Freebie and the Bean
• French Connection 2
• The Front
• The Front Page
• The Goodbye Girl
• Gone With the Wind
• The Great American Cowboy
• The Great Gatsby
• The Great Santini
• The Great Waldo Pepper
• Harry and Tonto
• Heaven's Gate
• How I Won the War
• I Vitelloni
• Ikiru
• It's Alive
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• Johnny Guitar
• Julia
• The Last Starfighter
• The Leopard
• Let It Be
• The Little Prince
• The Longest Yard
• Los Olvidados
• Love and Death
• MacArthur
• Magnum Force
• The Man Who Fell to Earth
• McCabe and Mrs. Miller
• Midnight Cowboy
• The Mission
• My Darling Clementine
• National Lampoon's Vacation
• North Dallas Forty
• On Golden Pond
• Once Upon A Time in America
• One on One
• The Onion Field
• Ordinary People
• Overlord
• The Parallax View
• Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid
• Paths of Glory
• Prince of the City
• The Prisoner of Second Avenue
• Private Benjamin
• Rear Window
• Ride the High Country
• Rocky
• Running Scared
• Salvador
• Same Time, Next Year
• Scarecrow
• The Seduction of Mimi
• Silver Streak
• Something for Everyone
• Somewhere in Time
• The Song Remains the Same
• The Spider's Stratagem
• A Star is Born (1937)
• A Star is Born (1976)
• Stardust Memories
• The Sting
• The Story of Adele H
• Straw Dogs
• The Super Cops
• Swept Away
• That Most Important Thing: Love
• Thieves Like Us
• Throne of Blood
• Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
• Time Bandits
• The Towering Inferno
• The Turning Point
• An Unmarried Woman
• Valentino
• Vertigo
• Videodrome
• Weird Science
• Westworld
• Whose Life Is It Anyway
• The Wild Bunch
• The Wind and the Lion
• The Yakuza

See also

• The Criterion Collection, similar in content
• Home Box Office, one of Z's competitors
• Showtime, one of the competitors