Showtime Sets SVOD Service No. 3

Showtime Networks Inc. will launch Flix On Demand during the second quarter, the programmer said Tuesday.

Flix On Demand, SNI’s third subscription-video-on-demand service, will offer 100 hours of programming made up of “Cool Classics” from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, SNI said.

Comcast Corp. has already committed to launch the SVOD service later in 2005.

The service will offer more than 75 movies per month, allowing viewers to browse four different movie categories: “All Flix Movies,” “Flix by Genre (Action, Comedy, Drama and Thriller),” “Flix by Decade (1950s-60s, 70s, 80s and 90s)” and “Flix Picks (Critic's Choice and Flix Finds).”

Films that will be available on Flix On Demand include The Madness of King George, Mississippi Burning, Glory, Bad Influence, Husbands and Wives and Foxy Brown.

“Showtime was an early leader in on-demand,” executive vice president Mark Greenberg said in a prepared statement. “It is tremendously rewarding to see how successful Showtime On Demand and The Movie Channel On Demand have been in driving overall subscriber satisfaction, reducing churn and increasing retention.”

He added, “Flix On Demand is the next natural step for us. By launching this new on-demand service, we will be able to extend the same choice, convenience and control to our Flix viewers that our Showtime On Demand and The Movie Channel On Demand subscribers now enjoy.”