Fearnet was an American

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previo ...

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

, website and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service owned by

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. The network specialized in horror entertainment programming through a mix of acquired and original series, and feature films.

Background and platforms

Fearnet on Demand

Fearnet launched on October 31, 2006 as a

service, Fearnet On Demand. It was originally operated as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between

Lions Gate Entertainment Starz Entertainment Corp, formerly known officially as Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation and commonly as Lions Gate and/or Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment industry, entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica ...

, and

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

. The on-demand service featured full-length horror, thriller, and suspense films as well as shorts, trailers, interviews, and behind-the-scenes featurettes. It was available to subscribers of Comcast,

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...

, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, Insight Communications, Bresnan Communications, Guadalupe Valley Systems, Buckeye CableSystem,

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, o ...

, Wave Broadband, Bright House Networks, and CenturyLink.

Fearnet cable channel

Fearnet launched as a linear

cable channel Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

on October 31, 2010. The network was originally scheduled to launch four weeks earlier on October 1, but the date was pushed back as Fearnet was in the midst of carriage negotiations with cable providers to carry the linear channel. The Fearnet channel was available through Comcast (in select markets),

, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, Bright House Networks, and CenturyLink. The network aired over 350 full-length feature films annually, as well as popular series (such as '' Tales from the Crypt'' and '' Reaper'') and original content (such as '' Holliston'') and the weekend program block called "Funhouse". In September 2012, Fearnet became the first television network to offer Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), technology which decreases integration time from four weeks to as few as three days, and allows advertisers to refresh creative mid-campaign and track impressions on a daily basis.

Fearnet.com

The Fearnet website featured thriller, suspense, and horror films available for

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

(with available content updated each week); other videos including movie trailers and shorts; daily news and reviews that covered all aspects of the genre; and sweepstakes, chats, and forums. The website had over 270,000 registered users.

Leadership and ownership changes

In 2010, Peter Block (who launched the top-grossing ''Saw'' horror film franchise, and produced several other blockbuster horror and thriller films including ''

Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

'', '' Cabin Fever'', '' Open Water'', and '' House at the End of the Street'') was named president and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of Fearnet, replacing Diane Robina. In addition to his duties at Fearnet, Block continued to run his production company A Bigger Boat.

Merger with Chiller

On April 14, 2014, Comcast purchased Lions Gate Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment's stakes in Fearnet to acquire full ownership of the channel. Comcast planned to fold Fearnet's programming into its existing horror- and thriller-focused network

Chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression refrigeration, vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigerator, absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated th ...

(owned by the company's NBCUniversal Cable unit) and move some of Fearnet's programming to Syfy. The merger occurred on July 30, 2014 at midnight, after an airing of '' House of 1000 Corpses''. Chiller itself, would cease operations on December 31, 2017.

Programming

Original programming

On April 3, 2012, Fearnet premiered their only original series, '' Holliston'', a horror/comedy series starring real-life filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch as two college graduates chasing the dream of becoming successful horror filmmakers while struggling to make ends meet through their jobs at a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

public-access cable channel. The series was renewed for a second season which aired in 2013.

''Funhouse''

In August 2012, Fearnet debuted a two-hour program block on Saturday and Sunday mornings called "Funhouse", featuring reruns of science-fiction and horror series aimed at children, including: '' The Real Ghostbusters'', '' Tales from the Cryptkeeper'', '' Eerie, Indiana'', and '' Dark Oracle''.

References

External links

{{commons category Streaming television in the United States NBCUniversal networks Companies based in Santa Monica, California English-language television stations in the United States Defunct television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2006 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2014 Horror fiction websites Former Lionsgate subsidiaries Former Sony subsidiaries Former joint ventures