Pay Television

Fledging movie channel Epix continues to slowly gain traction, landing its first national distribution contract with Dish Network Corp. The deal, which is expected to be announced today, doubles the availability of the movie channel, which launched in October. In total, pay-TV customers in about 30 million homes will be able to subscribe to the channel. Dish, which has 14.1 million subscribers, will offer it as part of a high-definition package. Epix also has deals with Verizon Communications Inc.'s FiOS, Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Mediacom Communications Corp.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. has clinched a deal with media tycoon Haim Saban's private investment firm, Saban Capital Group, to become a partner in Tiger Gate, the company's recently launched pay-TV venture in Asia. Saban Capital, which owns stakes in Spanish-language media company Univision and Israel's telecommunications provider Bezeq, will initially match Lions Gate's Tiger Gate investment to date of several million dollars, with more funding expected in the future. Saban's infusion will enable the partners to expand Tiger Gate's presence across Asia with additional channels and the acquisition of existing media assets in the region.

Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, announced Tuesday that HBO pay-per-view will televise the March 13 Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey welterweight fight at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. More than 1,500 fans plus the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders greeted Pacquiao and Clottey for their news conference Tuesday inside the stadium. Both fighters entered the stadium through the players' tunnel and said they felt like football players. "It was a fun announcement," Cowboys and stadium owner Jerry Jones said.

The quality of programming being what it is, I was listening to my TV with half an ear a few nights ago, most of my attention being devoted to a self-improvement book, when I thought I heard a voice from the screen say that Time Warner Cable needed my help. In my shock, the book -- "Donald Trump's Management Tips for Dummies," if recollection serves -- fell from my grasp. Yet it was true: Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-biggest cable system, desired my support in its long-running fight with content providers such as Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC. The programmers, it seems, want to jack up the fees they charge Time Warner and its fellows to beam their content through my cable box. "Price increases," Time Warner lamented on its website.

The quest to have you part with $54.95 to see the Pacquiao-Cotto fight Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view was in its homestretch here Wednesday. If this is a tough sell, it is only because slugfests are not high priority in sluggish economies. Or because the stars, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, seem to be decent people who speak with respect and are about as controversial as a table napkin. Most boxers are mush-mouths who play smash mouth. These two are courteous, yes-sir and no-sir people.

The economy is pounding entertainment companies left and right, but Time Warner Inc.'s pay cable channel HBO so far has been immune to the turmoil, its top executives said Thursday. Speaking at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, HBO Co-President Richard Plepler said the company's strong DVD sales, along with little evidence of subscribers' dropping the service to save a few bucks, had the network feeling "cautiously optimistic" that it could weather the storm.

For years, filmmakers flocked to the Cannes Film Festival to sell their independently financed movies, confident they'd soon see their work exhibited in movie theaters. Like so many show business dreams, those visions have been vanishing quickly as numerous distributors of film-festival fare closed their doors after losing money or corporate support. But there's a potential savior on the horizon called video on demand -- and it may be hiding somewhere inside your cable television box.

This Epix tale might not be one the Hollywood studios were banking on. Ten months ago, three film studios -- Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. -- teamed up to create a "next generation" movie channel that would debut on the Internet and revolutionize the pay-television business.

Hoping to bring more independent films to movie lovers, the Sundance Channel is launching a video-on-demand service dedicated to new titles that haven't received a theatrical release. Sundance Selects, as the new pay-per-view service is called, is scheduled to start Jan. 1 and will offer about 50 new movies a year that have been curated by Sundance Channel programmers. More than a third of the movies will be nonfiction films, and most (but not all) of the movies will never have made it into the multiplex.