[3] Prior to 2018, Starz Encore outpaced HBO for the largest subscriber reach of any American premium channel.

The channel debuted with an introduction by founder John Sie, who served as the president of the network from its launch until 1999 and CEO until his retirement in 2004,[6] which was then followed by Encore's first movie telecast, the 1980 comedy film 9 to 5.

The negative option fee led to lawsuits filed against TCI by ten states, eventually causing the company to back away from utilizing the billing method for the channel.

[10][11] Many other cable providers were reluctant to offer Encore in its early years due to concerns that it would cannibalize subscriptions of other premium services.

[7] Around the time of its launch, there was some debate as to whether Viacom or TCI originally conceived the idea for Encore; Viacom executives insisted that TCI lifted part of the idea from Viacom-owned Showtime Networks (which would launch a similarly formatted mini-pay service, Flix, in August 1992).

[15] On January 1, 1997, Encore launched a new pay service called MoviePlex (originally named "Encore Plex" for its first few months on the air)[16] which replaced a Liberty Media-owned network called INTRO Television, that ran blocks of programming from other cable channels.

[21] As the channel aged, it adopted a more conventional presentation style: first in 1998, Encore began to carry two exclusive first-run feature film broadcasts each month,[22] then Encore shifted its focus to hit movies as part of a major rebrand of the channel on May 24, 1999, primarily incorporating recent films, but with notable classics mixed in as well.

[23][24] By this point, Encore advertised itself as guaranteeing to air "a great movie every night", even setting up a special 1-800 number in which a $2.50 refund would be given to unsatisfied subscribers.

[25][26] Encore eventually began to be sold as a hybrid service, offered as either a premium channel or a digital basic network depending on the provider, retaining the uncut and commercial-free nature of its programming.

[32][33] On June 30, 2016, Lionsgate agreed to acquire Starz Inc. for $4.4 billion in cash and stock; the acquisition was completed five months later on December 8.

[34][35] Depending on the service provider, Starz Encore provides up to thirteen multiplex channels – eight 24-hour multiplex channels, five of which are simulcast in both standard definition and high definition – as well as a subscription video-on-demand service (Starz Encore On Demand).

Starz Encore broadcasts its primary and multiplex channels on both Eastern and Pacific Time Zone schedules.

The respective coastal feeds of each channel are usually packaged together (though most cable providers only offer the east and west coast feeds of the main Starz Encore channel), resulting in the difference in local airtimes for a particular movie or program between two geographic locations being three hours at most.

This was initially going to be composed of six channels,[40] but Encore decided to launch its own competitor to HBO and Showtime, called Starz!, after a May 1993 deal in which it acquired the pay television rights to run Universal Studios films released after that year.

In addition, Encore Español, which originally sought carriage alongside the other multiplex channels, began to be made available as part of the Spanish-language channel tiers offered by most cable and satellite providers and adopted an independent schedule of Spanish-language feature films.

[47] The main Encore HD simulcast is currently carried nationally by all major cable and satellite providers.

It was available to Encore subscribers of Verizon FIOS,[48] AT&T U-verse,[49] Cox Communications,[50] Xfinity by Comcast[51] and DirecTV[52] until it was merged with Starz.com on April 5, 2016.

From winter of 2015 to April 5, 2016, Encore's east coast linear feed along with much of its movie and TV series catalog had been offered as part of Starz's add-on subscription service, through Amazon Prime[57] The cost was $8.99 per month (after a seven-day free trial) for Amazon Prime subscribers to access the Starz/Encore catalog and live feeds.

On July 15, 2021, Starz reached a licensing deal with Universal Pictures for first-run movies 18 months after they stream on Peacock and Prime Video respectively.

[66] Additional Paramount Pictures releases were broadcast the following month on Encore, such as Racing with the Moon, She's Having a Baby and Black Rain.

[70] Encore generally airs older films released between the 1960s to the 1990s, with some newer movie titles (usually broadcast between six and nine months after their premiere on Starz) interspersed throughout the day (mostly on Sunday nights, as of the summer of 2014).

[78][79] The first-run film output agreement with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures expired after December 2015, with Netflix assuming pay television rights in January 2016 (excluding films released by Touchstone Pictures, which were retained by Starz through a separate contract).

[86][87] Encore aired its first ever slate of original programming in 2011: the miniseries Moby Dick[88] and The Take,[89] and the biographical documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis.

On December 1, 2013, Encore introduced a new text-only logo, dropping the starburst mark included in its branding since its launch.