Starz Distribution

Background

On May 16, 2006, IDT Corporation announced that they were selling IDT Entertainment to Dr. John C. Malone's Liberty Media Corporation, which at the time held minority ownership in media conglomerates like Time Warner and Viacom. The acquisition was fully completed on September 29, and IDT Entertainment was merged into the Starz cable network and renamed to Starz Media. The company inherited Anchor Bay Entertainment (distribution of DVDs and videos), Film Roman (animation services) and Manga Entertainment (distribution of anime) from IDT, while still co-owning it with them. The company also inherited their two-picture US distribution deal with Fox.

Starz Media's parent company was later spun off by Liberty Media as an independent company as Starz Inc. on January 11, 2013, and Starz Media was renamed to Starz Distribution. Lionsgate held an estimated 13.5% share in Starz at the time, though on June 30, 2016, Lionsgate reached an agreement with Starz Inc. to acquire the company's remaining shares for $4.4 billion. The deal closed on December 8, 2016.

Contents

1st Logo (October 19, 2006-May 1, 2009)	2nd Logo (September 2, 2008-2016)	3rd Logo (2016-2022)	4th Logo (Late 2022-)

1st Logo (October 19, 2006-May 1, 2009)

Visuals: On a white or black background, there is a light blue Starz star trademark, as seen on the Starz opener from 2005 to 2008, with the words "STARZ Media" in Helvetica Neue Black on the right of the screen.

Variants:

Sometimes, the logo would have a copyright stamp below or on the lower right-hand corner of the logo.
On Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms, "in association with" would appear under the name.
A variant exists where a text "Press MENU to play program or to select other options" is seen under the logo, alongside the lower right-hand corner copyright stamp. This was found on the 2007 U.S. DVDs of Eloise in Hollywood and Eloise Goes To School.

Technique: A still 2D graphic.

Audio: None or the ending theme of the show.

Availability:

The version with the white background was seen on Eloise: The Animated Series, Hellboy Animated and season 1 of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! starting from "Who Needs School?/Magic Tricks". When it was aired on Nickelodeon, it kept using this logo throughout its second season instead of using the next logo until "Wubb Idol" (the last 5 episodes aired on the Nick Jr. channel with the 2nd logo).
The black background version is seen on Painkiller Jane, TV documentaries, TV shows, most owned films, including Hellboy Animated and the beginning of the second season of Masters of Horror.
Video on-demand and streaming prints of these shows and movies plaster this logo with the Starz Digital logo.
Peacock prints of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! have this logo cut.

2nd Logo (September 2, 2008-2016)

Visuals: On a black background, a four-pointed star appears, filling the screen with white. The white dies down to reveal the then-current Starz logo in 3D zooming until it stops in the middle, off-center to the left. Over it is a grayish teal haze. Below the Starz logo is the word "MEDIA", also aligned to the left.

Variants:

There is a version without "MEDIA".
There is a short version of this logo.
On Righteous Kill: The Game for PC, the logo is still.
On Starz 30 Second Bunnies, Tvoovies and some episodes of How It Should Have Ended, "DIGITAL MEDIA" is underneath the Starz logo.
On Righteous Kill: Revenge of the Poet Killer, the print logo is black on a white background with the text "are you ready?" above.

Technique: CGI by Troika Design Group.

Audio: A soft alternative rock theme, adapted from Starz' feature presentation theme of the time. Otherwise, the end-title theme from any show or none.

Availability:

Seen on Z Rock, Starz 30 Second Bunnies, Tvoovies, some episodes of How It Should Have Ended, and some reprints of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (Nickelodeon airings kept the first logo).
The "MEDIA" variant was seen on some TV movies, the first season 2 Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! episode "Who's That Girl?/Wubbzy's Big Move", and every DVD release of the latter, as well as the last 5 episodes of said series on Nick Jr.
It's also seen at the beginning of Starz-owned movies and shows that didn't directly air on the Starz channels, such as Dan Vs., and is also seen on the DVD release of Wubbzy's Big Movie.
It's occasionally seen on several films by Film Roman.
The still variant appeared on Righteous Kill: The Game and Righteous Kill: Revenge of the Poet Killer.
The later variant was also used as a network ID. Once again, newer video on-demand prints of these shows and movies plaster this logo with the Starz Digital logo.
Peacock prints of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! have this logo cut.

3rd Logo (2016-2022)

Visuals: Same as the 2016 Starz ident, which is the closing variant of the 2016 Starz Originals logo, but without the "ORIGINALS" text and "STARZ" moved to the center.

Technique: Computer animation by Kevin Liotti at Troika.

Audio: Same as the closing variant of the 2016 Starz Originals logo.

Availability: Seen on current prints of Midnight Movies: From The Margin To The Mainstream, plastering the Starz Encore Entertainment logo while keeping the music intact.

4th Logo (Late 2022-)

Visuals: Same as the 2022 Starz ident without any additional text.

Technique: Computer animation done at Loyalkaspar.

Audio: Same as the 2022 Starz ident.

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Starz Distribution