- For more information on the international TCM, see Turner Classic Movies. or for the Australian TCM, see Turner Classic Movies (Australia)
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a digital television channel featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which include many MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. titles. It was launched in 1999, when its predecessor, TNT dropped its film programming to become a general entertainment channel. Its penetration increased when it took over TNT's space on various platforms on 1 July 2000.[1]
Technical Faults and interruptions
On July 27 2006, TCM, along with Cartoon Network, CN Too, Toonami, and Boomerang suffered a major technical fault due to a power cut in Soho, London. This was due to the energy supplier EDF cutting power from different parts of Soho one at a time for four hours, purposely, due to the inability to meet energy demands in the wake of a heat wave. The power cut caused a mix up of channels (i.e. Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang and Toonami, with Boomerang being broadcast on CN Too). Boomerang +1 was off air for some time, while TCM, reverted between TCM France and other programming during the times it was able to provide a service. TCM 2 didn't have a power cut because of its downtimes of timesharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel websites were offline also. However, Those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people curious into why the incorrect programmes were played out when compared to the EPG CN Too and Boomerang were showing episodes of The Flintstones. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this service. This is due to technical difficulties. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages. Whilst most channels returned to the air relatively quickly, it took longer for CN Too to resume programming and it was also joked on various animation based forums by Toonami UK viewers, many of whom have made note of their disdain for the direction in which Turner took the Brand in the UK, that the backup transmission was more entertaining, purely on the basis that there's no live action aired during the black out. The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the black-out displayed the message "Sorry! Toonami is broken, we'll be right back as soon as we fix it.". These idents have since been re-used in disclaimers warning viewers not to try stunts on various shows at home.
Examples of Films seen on TCM
References
- ^ Timeline: Turner Broadcasting System Europe LTD. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
External links
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