TCM Movies

TCM Movies (formerly TNT and Turner Classic Movies) was a British pay television channel, focussing mostly on classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which included many MGM titles, along with movie-related profiles and some classic American television series.

This article is about the UK television channel. For the USA and other countries' versions of Turner Classic Movies, see Turner Classic Movies and Turner Classic Movies (around the world).

TCM Movies
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar
HeadquartersTurner House,
Great Marlborough Street,
London, United Kingdom
Programming
Picture format16:9 576i SDTV
Timeshift serviceTurner Classic Movies 2 (2006–2013)
TCM Movies +1 (2013–2023)
Ownership
OwnerWarner Bros. Discovery International
Sister channelsBoomerang
Cartoon Network
Cartoonito
CNN International
History
Launched17 September 1993 (1993-09-17) (as TNT)
15 October 1999 (1999-10-15) (as Turner Classic Movies/TCM Movies)
Closed1 July 2000 (2000-07-01) (as TNT)
7 July 2023 (2023-07-07) (as Turner Classic Movies/TCM Movies)
Replaced bySky Documentaries
Former namesTNT (1993–1999)
Turner Classic Movies (1999–2019)
Links
Websitewww.tcmuk.tv

History
TNT logo

On 17 September 1993, TNT launched as an evening and overnight classic movie channel. It timeshared with Cartoon Network UK and was on the air daily from 7pm until 5am, which in 1996 was pushed back to 9pm. The first film to be broadcast on TNT at 7pm on the 17th of September 1993 was the 1966 film Spinout starring Elvis Presley. Both channels were available free-to-air on satellite. Its slogan was "Classic Movies".

In 1999, TNT fully moved to a general entertainment schedule - it had been showing the weekly wrestling programme WCW Monday Nitro since 1996 - and the films shown on the channel were transferred to a new channel, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), which launched at 9pm on the 15th of October 1999 with the 1946 movie The Big Sleep.

TNT was closed on 1 July 2000 and TCM took over TNT's space on various platforms.[1]

By now, Cartoon Network in the UK had become pay channels but Turner Classic Movies continued to broadcast free-to-air until January 2004 when it joined Sky's subscription packages.[2]

In 2009, Turner Classic Movies received a graphical makeover and a new logo in an attempt to attract a younger audience. With the makeover several new films were added to the channel's catalogue.[3] A high definition version of the channel launched on 4 September 2012,[4] at the same time the standard definition version began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen, whereas Turner Classic Movies 2 continued to be broadcast in 4:3.

On 2 March 2009, Turner Classic Movies UK sold the Sky EPG slot, when Travel Channel 2 closed.

A one-hour timeshift, Turner Classic Movies +1, launched on 13 August 2013, replacing Turner Classic Movies 2.[5]

On 25 July 2019, the HD channel closed on Sky.[6]

Turner Classic Movies was renamed TCM Movies on 1 August 2019.

The channel closed on 7 July 2023, and some of the channel's former film programming was moved to sister channel Quest.[7] The last movie shown on the channel was Murder Most Foul and the last content shown on the channel before the closedown was a Close Up short dedicated to Arnold Schwarzenegger.[8][9]

Turner Classic Movies 2

Turner Classic Movies 2 (TCM2) was a spin-off of the original channel and broadcast on Sky channel 318. The channel launched alongside Cartoon Network Too on 24 April 2006. It also showed popular films from the Turner Entertainment library (which includes MGM and Warner Bros. films).

Films were shown from 7pm to 3am (later changed to 8pm to 4am on 25 March 2010) (interspersed with various original short films about the films) from Monday-Sunday, and the following week included a new line-up. This allowed the viewer to "catch-up on the big films", thus allowing the chance to see the preferred film on any day of the week. The channel timeshared with Cartoonito (originally the original version of Cartoon Network Too), another UK-only spin-off channel. The channel began airing Adult Swim at 10pm every Wednesday as of 4 January 2012, before moving to Friday later in April 2012.[10]

Closure

For unknown reasons, Turner Classic Movies 2 closed at 4am on 12 August 2013 with Turner Classic Movies +1 launching the next day, 13 August 2013.[5]

Other programming

Television series

Adult Swim

As Adult Swim shows cannot be shown on the UK version of Cartoon Network (as Ofcom regulated children's channels are not allowed to broadcast adult content), they were shown on Turner Classic Movies 2 instead. They typically started at 1:15 AM on Saturday and included shows such as:[11]

Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling launched on TNT (UK) in April 1996 with WCW Monday Nitro. On 9 October 1998 WCW Thunder was added. Both aired in a 9pm to 12.30am (variant) block starting with the debut of Thunder. When TNT (UK) was closed down, WCW programming was briefly moved over to Turner Classic Movies and then Bravo. Trailers aired on Turner Classic Movies informing viewers of the change.

WCW Nitro

  • 1996 to 1997 - Friday Nights - 9pm - 10pm
  • 1997 to 1998 - Friday Nights - 9pm - 11pm
  • 1998 to 2000 - Friday Nights - 9pm - 11.35pm
  • 2000 - Friday Nights - 9pm - 11pm

(WCW Nitro then changed to Bravo in 2000, on Thursday Nights - 9pm - 11pm, until March 2001, when WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation).

WCW Thunder

  • 9 October 1998 to 2000 - Friday Nights - 11.35pm - 1am

See also

References
  1. "Timeline: Turner Broadcasting System Europe LTD". Turner Info. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2006.
  2. "TCM encrypts on satellite". Digital Spy. 6 January 2004.
  3. "Turner Classic Movies unveils ambitious plans to win younger film fan demographic". Turner Media Innovations. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010.
  4. "TCM Movies channel launching in HD on Sky". Digital Spy. 31 August 2012.
  5. "System Updates". Overnights.tv. 22 July 2013. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2016. TCM2 will cease broadcasting at the end of the broadcast day on 12th August, 2013. TCM +1 will be BARB reported from 13th August, 2013.
  6. "TCM HD service to end on Sky". RXTV LOG. 19 July 2019. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019.
  7. "TCM's UK Channel to Be Shut Down in July". The Wrap. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  8. TCM UK Final Closedown 7th July 2023 R.I.P 1993-2023, retrieved 7 July 2023
  9. "Why is TCM closing down? Popular Sky and Virgin Media film channel shuts down". Yahoo News. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  10. What's on
  11. "Listings from TCM and TCM2". TCM. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
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