Starz announced Monday that its sister network Encore is introducing three new channels and retiring two others in a shuffle aimed at luring two key demographics—Black and Hispanic viewers—to its lineup.

Encore Black will replace the existing Encore Drama and feature film and television programming for the African-American community. Primetime will feature reruns of classic sitcoms like “Amen” “Diff’rent Stokes” and “227.” The Starz Original “Martin Lawrence’s 1st Amendment Stand Up” will also be on the schedule.

Encore Espanol will have a Sunday night block dedicated to the U.S. premiere of popular films from Latin America.

Encore Classic, which replaces Encore Love, will also have a primetime block devoted to reruns, this time featuring “Murphy Brown,” “Magnum P.I.” and “Night Court.”

As of September, Encore had 35 million subscribers across its eight channels.

Brief Take: More precise branding to specific and underserved demographics could help Starz/Encore expand the audiences of these niche channels.

Tags:


  Save as PDF