Star Channel
1973–1975
The Movie Channel initially launched as Star Channel in 1973, originally owned by Gridtronics.
1975–1977
Later in the 1970s, Star Channel was acquired by Warner Communications, and eventually brought into its Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment division, a joint venture between Warner Communications and American Express. The network was initially offered on Warner Cable systems, and later on Warner-Amex's experimental QUBE interactive service.
1977–1979
The Movie Channel
1979–1981
On December 3, 1979, Star Channel was rebranded as The Movie Channel.
1981–1988
Add a photo to this gallery1988–1997
This logo was introduced in May 1988, and features a pair of eyes in a rectangle. On screen, the rectangle could include many different pairs of eyes.
1997–2001
TMC adopted a very slick on-air look that predominantly used CGI graphics, with the debut of a new logo in 1997, a 3D computer-animated green sphere with a tilted and lowercase "TMC" emblazened on it, usually shown either to the right of the channel's full name or above the name (also rendered in lowercase type). Jeff Bottoms (who has since become The Movie Channel's longest-serving promo announcer, and also does promotions for sister channel Showtime) promoted upcoming programs between films with humorous, and tongue-in-cheek voiceovers. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Movie Channel started running a wide variety of network promotions from those akin to a movie trailer to typical promos that feature behind-the-scenes trivia relating to the film. The latter technique is still used by the channel today, often in a more hybrid way.
2001–2006
An extensively modified logo was introduced in 2001, featuring a one-dimensional circle with a lowercase "tmc" in Knockout type on it, surrounded with two lines on the corners framing the circle; the "movie" in the channel's name was rendered in bold.
2006–present
On May 3, 2006, a new logo was introduced, along with the slogan "Movies for Movie Lovers". Designed by Gretel.
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