Liberty Media Corporation, owner of Starz, is determined to move the dial up on the No. 3 pay cable network, and transform its image from a recycler of Hollywood movies to a viable category competitor.

Starz has always played third fiddle to HBO and Showtime, and has a comparatively modest subscription audience of 17 million homes. That said, the recently premiered original melodrama Spartacus, is their first big hit – 1.1 million viewers tuned in to see violence and sex that might make Tarantino flinch.

Centered on the life of a heroic gladiator, originally portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the 1960’s, this Spartacus combines soft-core porn with modern speak: "My boot will meet your ass in the afterlife!"

The show's gladiator wannabees are made to drop their loincloths for a prospective socialite buyer to check the goods. The series is also laden with profanity that producers say is authentic to the 1st century BC.Continue reading...

There was a time when Miramax equaled Oscar nomination. That day is long gone. So far gone, in fact that Disney, Miramax's parent, plans on practically mothballing the brand.

Someday an intrepid young filmmaker will tell the story of the Mirimax brand's rise and fall. It should be great. Filled with accomplishment, strong-arming, creativity, gambling and hubris.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the gregarious brothers who legendarily ran the studio as much like an organized crime operation as an entertainment one, built the brand by putting indie on the map. Superstar directors like Tarintino and Soderberg owe their current big-box-office careers to Miramax.

Disney had owned a chunk of the studio since 1993, and took over in full four years ago when the brothers left.Continue reading...