Posted on 07/07/2003 10:53:35 AM PDT by Pro-Bush
here! Pay Per View Launches on DIRECTV as Nation's First Television Destination Serving the Gay and Lesbian Market
Monday July 7, 1:43 pm ET
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 2003--here! Pay Per View: Award-Winning Filmmakers Paul Colichman And Stephen P. Jarchow Launch First Television Service Specializing In Gay And Lesbian Appeal Movies And Specials here! Pay Per View To Premiere August 29, 2003 Exclusively On DIRECTV® Service Paul Colichman and Stephen P. Jarchow -- two of Hollywood's most recognized producers of gay and lesbian-themed theatrical motion pictures -- have launched here! Pay Per View, a precedent-setting pay per view destination dedicated to serving the country's gay and lesbian audience. here! Pay Per View will launch on DIRECTV, the nation's leading digital multichannel television service provider.
Set to debut August 29, 2003 on DIRECTV channel 170, here! Pay Per View will offer two to six pay per view premieres each month for $3.99 per movie. These premieres will include recent theatrical and video releases, direct to pay per view premieres and a wide range of programming targeting gay and lesbian viewers, whose estimated 8 to 12 percent of the U.S. population and $450 billion annual spending power makes it the most substantial yet underserved television audience in the country.
here! Pay Per View will launch with the television premiere of "Sordid Lives," the critically-acclaimed comedy, released theatrically by here! Films, emerged as the highest grossing independent gay & lesbian film of 2002. Starring Olivia Newton-John, Beau Bridges, Delta Burke, Bonnie Bedelia and Leslie Jordan, "Sordid Lives" puts a comedic twist on a story of unconditional love, acceptance and "coming out" in a Texas family as they converge for the matriarch's funeral.
Said Colichman: "It has been long recognized that the gay and lesbian niche market is dramatically underserved in the television world. Programming such as Showtime's 'Queer as Folk' and NBC's 'Will and Grace' have demonstrated that there is a strong and dedicated market for gay-themed programming. Additionally, these programs have attracted a wider demographic beyond their target markets. here! Pay Per View is an entertainment destination whose time has come. We are dedicated towards designing here! Pay Per View as a program service that will provide entertainment to all viewers, while it fosters understanding of the gay and lesbian community - the true mandate and promise of the television medium."
"As a nationwide digital television platform, we have the opportunity to satisfy the programming needs of a highly diverse viewership," said Michael Thornton, senior vice president of Programming Acquisitions for DIRECTV, Inc. " here! Pay Per View is quality programming that enables us to take advantage of that opportunity."
Founder-principals of independent feature film production-distribution company Regent Entertainment, Colichman and Jarchow are the producing team responsible for the Academy Award®-winning (Best Adapted Screenplay) "Gods and Monsters," starring Sir Ian McKellen, Lynn Redgrave and Brendan Fraser. The pair also produced the multi award-winning "Twilight of the Golds," starring Brendan Fraser and Faye Dunaway and "A Woman's A Helluva Thing," starring Penelope Ann Miller, Angus Macfadyen and Ann-Margret.
The launch of here! Pay Per View follows on Colichman and Jarchow's formation of here! Films, which the executives formally unveiled during the 2002 American Film Market. A fully-integrated company exclusively dedicated to the production, acquisition, distribution and international sales of gay content films. Following its successful release of "Sordid Lives," here! Films is now theatrically releasing "Friends and Family," a comedy starring Tony Lo Bianco, Tovah Feldshuh, Beth Fowler, Edward Hibbert, Meshach Taylor and Anna Maria Alberghetti. The company has also acquired worldwide distribution rights for "Showboy," the directorial and acting debut of "Six Feet Under's" Emmy Award-Winning writer Christian Taylor. "Showboy" follows Taylor's attempts to become a Vegas Showboy following dismissal from his duties as a writer for "Six Feet Under" and features cameos from Siegfried and Roy and Whoopi Goldberg. here! Films also operates a foreign distribution arm representing gay and lesbian films from the Regent Entertainment library, including "Sordid Lives," "Gods and Monsters," and "Speedway Junky," and has acquired foreign sales rights to "The Trip," a gay romantic comedy, set in 1970's America; "Urbania," a darkly humorous portrait of urban legends and one man's plunge into mania; and "Big Eden," a unique drama about home and family.
About here! Pay Per View
Launching Friday, August 29, 2003 on DIRECTV, here! Pay Per View is a national pay-per-view programming service offering quality gay and lesbian-themed recent motion pictures, direct to pay-per-view premieres and a wide range of specials. here! Pay Per View is a venture of Stephen Jarchow and Paul Colichman, founders and principals of Los Angeles-based film production company Regent Entertainment.
About DIRECTV
DIRECTV is the nation's leading digital multichannel television service provider with more than 11.4 million customers. DIRECTV and the Cyclone Design logo are registered trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation. Hughes Electronics Corporation, a unit of General Motors Corporation, is a world-leading provider of digital television entertainment, broadband satellite networks and services, and global video and data broadcasting. The earnings of HUGHES are used to calculate the earnings attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock (NYSE:GMH - News).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: SSA Public Relations Los Angeles: Steve Syatt, Dominic Friesen, 818/501-0700 New York: Mike Rudnick, Robin Lawson, 212/679-4750
You mean the "Manly-Man" format? I used to watch it when they had country music and country shows.
Entertainment doesn't have to go to that kind of low.
I have children. I know those shows will not come on till later in the evening, but..I my wife and I go to bed early, and the kids are out of school. As soon as I find the instructions on how to block this channel during those times, I am staying up!
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