[1][2][3][4] The network's programming consists of recent and older theatrically released motion pictures, original television series, documentaries, and music and comedy specials.

It was the culmination of a gradual transition by the network to utilize the imaging of MGM following the buyout, as well as Amazon repositioning it as a sister service to Prime Video and Freevee.

In April 1980, Paramount (then owned by Gulf+Western), MCA/Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox partnered with Getty Oil to jointly develop a pay cable service to be named Premiere.

After reviewing the case, the Justice Department issued an injunction blocking Premiere's planned January 1, 1981, launch, deeming the venture to be an illegal boycott of the existing pay services that would subject them to possible financial damage if its presence resulted in price fixing of film titles.

As with the earlier Premiere proposal, the Justice Department subjected the proposal to regulatory scrutiny as Warner, Universal and Paramount received 50% of their respective total revenue from film releases and licensing fees from premium services; the 30% share that would be held by the Showtime-TMC combination would have also formed an oligopoly in the pay cable market with HBO and Cinemax (which, even with the presence of smaller competitors at the time like Bravo and Home Theater Network, controlled the remaining 60% of the market).

[23][24][25] The proposal was revised twice to address these issues and others cited by HBO executives in responses to a civil antitrust lawsuit against the Showtime-Movie Channel merger that was filed by the Justice Department on June 10, 1983.

This culminated in Paramount and Universal being dropped from the partnership in the final revision submitted on July 28, 1983; Warner Communications, Viacom and Warner-Amex became the only partners remaining in the proposal, which a Justice Department memorandum cited would "prevent any anti-competitive effect [against other premium services wishing to enter the market] from arising," currying the department's formal approval of the proposal on August 13 (three weeks before it was finalized on September 6).

In the spring of 1989, Paramount struck an exclusive licensing agreement with HBO; subsequently that May, Paramount filed a lawsuit against Showtime Networks, its parent Viacom, and the corporate parent of both entities, National Amusements over Showtime's alleged refusal to pay a total of $88 million in fees for five films—all of which had underperformed in their theatrical release—to reduce the minimum liability for its 75-film package from the studio.

The 2000 renewal deal also included a production development agreement to produce three original series—which would end up consisting of Dead Like Me, The L Word and the short-lived Barbershop: The Series—for Showtime between 2003 and 2007.

(MGM had already produced some original programming for Showtime at the time of that deal, most notably The Outer Limits and Stargate SG-1, both adaptations of MGM-owned science fiction franchises.

)[32][33] By 2002, after that studio finished a long-term distribution pact with HBO and Cinemax, Lions Gate Entertainment joined Paramount and MGM as Showtime's major film suppliers.

Paramount's distribution contract with Showtime expired in January 2008, three years after the original Viacom corporate structure was split into two standalone companies within the National Amusements umbrella: a successor entity that adopted the Viacom name, which took over Paramount's operations and select other divisions including the original entity's basic cable channels (among them, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central), and CBS Corporation, which—among the few properties it kept from its pre-split entity—retained ownership of Showtime Networks; MGM and Lions Gate's respective contracts with Showtime subsequently expired at the end of that year.

Greenberg served as the founding president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Epix, leading it from its creation in early 2008 through its acquisition by MGM, until he stepped down after a nine-year tenure in September 2017.

During this preview, Epix added between five and seven movie selections every three days from the libraries of its three major studio backers, including the premium cable premieres of the 2008 releases Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Cloverfield.

On September 25, 2009, the channel announced plans to launch an expanded online video on demand service—to be known as the "Epix MegaPlex"—that began offering a minimum of 3,000 film titles beginning in the summer of 2010, in comparison to the approximately 200 titles that the basic Epix online VOD service would include in its library upon the streaming service's official October 2010 launch.

The network continues to expand its VOD selection through cable, satellite and telco operators; however, it does not include more than 150 to 200 titles per month due to the bandwidth constraints of these systems.

Epix also provided customers—including those that were not Verizon FiOS subscribers—free previews of the online service each weekend through the end of November 2009, permitting access to the website's film content using invite codes given on a first come, first served basis.

[66] On June 2, 2014, Bright House Networks—which had its carriage agreements negotiated on their behalf by Time Warner Cable, prior to its November 2016 merger with Charter Communications—added the Epix multiplex, with all four channels being offered to its subscribers in a three-month free preview upon its initial rollout.

[69][70] On August 31, 2015, Epix announced that it had signed a multi-year nonexclusive licensing contract in which Hulu would obtain the partial streaming rights to its feature film content.

[79] At an investor's gathering in early January 2017, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer implied that it would explore strategic options regarding its stake in Epix—including a possible sale that would allow it to focus on Starz, of which Lionsgate completed its purchase on December 8, 2016, Feltheimer stated that Epix "is very valuable and throwing off cash," and that Viacom and MGM would "realize the value, which ever way we all decide is best for our companies."

Expected to close in mid-2022, subject to regulatory approvals and other routine conditions of sale closure, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and its divisions would continue to operate under the new parent company as a label under Amazon's existing content arm.

With the move, the service will also re-position to focus more on the network's original programming and the MGM film library, though it would continue to air recent releases from Paramount Pictures for the duration of their output agreement.

[105] MGM+ offers on-demand access to feature films from the network's content partners, a back catalog of episodes of current and former original series (with new episodes being made available for streaming on their original broadcast airdate on the main multiplex channel), documentaries produced for the service and through its third-party content partners, and stand-up comedy and music specials.

[41] (Lionsgate holds a 45% stake in Roadside, with the remaining interest primarily held by studio founders Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff.

Since November 2020, the channel also carries sub-licensed library movie product from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (including content from 20th Century Studios), Warner Bros. Pictures (including content from New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment and Turner Entertainment, who owns pre-May 1986 MGM titles), and maintains VOD-exclusive rights to films distributed by Screen Media Films, Sonar Entertainment and Gravitas Ventures, and in February 2024 will handle a pay TV deal licensing agreement library movie product from Universal Pictures.

[citation needed] Prior to the network's launch, Epix ordered its first original series pilot Tough Trade (to have been produced by then-corporate sister Lionsgate Television).

The drama, created by Jenji Kohan (creator of Weeds and Orange Is the New Black), was to have centered on three generations of a dysfunctional family involved in country music.

[122] Thereafter, Epix remained active in producing other original programming exclusively for the channel, including documentaries, sports, comedy, and music specials.

[124][125] On July 8 of that year, Epix announced its first original scripted project to be picked up as a series, both of which are set for a fall 2016 debut: Graves, a political satire from Lionsgate Television and creator Joshua Michael Stern (with Nick Nolte and Sela Ward toplining the show's cast), about a former American president seeking to repair the damage caused by his administration, and Berlin Station, an espionage drama produced by Paramount Television, about a CIA agent's quest to uncover an information leak at the agency's Berlin office.

[130] On March 19, 2011, Epix became the third premium cable channel—after HBO and Showtime—to air professional boxing events with the telecast of a heavyweight title fight between Vitali Klitschko and Odlanier Solis, held in Cologne, Germany.