Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, its programming consists of theatrically released motion pictures and first-run original television series.

Starz and its sister networks, the aforementioned Starz Encore and MoviePlex, are headquartered in Santa Monica, California,[4] with satellite office facilities located at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Englewood, Colorado,[5] and at a small office located on 5th Avenue in New York City.

with an exclamation point) was launched at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on February 1, 1994, primarily on cable systems operated by Tele-Communications Inc.; the first two movies aired on the network were dramas released in 1992: respectively, Scent of a Woman[8] and The Crying Game.

[10][11] The multiplex was intended to only include six channels, but on May 31, 1993, Encore acquired the pay cable rights to broadcast recent feature films from Universal Pictures released after that year; as a result, TCI/Liberty decided to create an additional premium pay-TV service to serve as a competitor to HBO and Showtime.

The network restricted the scheduling of films that contained graphic sexual or violent content to late evening and overnight time periods.

[28][29] 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.

However, they subsequently apologized, clarified that the invalid DMCA claims were sent on their behalf by a third-party contractor called The Social Element and promised that they are "working with our vendors to reinstate any such content that was inappropriately targeted for removal.

Despite being a premium service, cable providers have occasionally used Starz Kids & Family (and its predecessor, Starz Family) to temporarily replace television stations dropped due to carriage disputes such as during Journal Broadcast Group's 2013 dispute with Time Warner Cable.

This dispute resulted in TWC's systems in certain markets substituting other stations (such as the Local AccuWeather Channel- and Live Well Network-affiliated digital subchannels of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's WTMJ-TV) with the channel.

Programs included Angela Anaconda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Liberty's Kids, Muppet Babies, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!

[38] In 1994, Encore launched the pay television industry's first "themed" multiplex service – seven additional movie channels that each focused on a specific genre.

This was intended to include only six channels, but Encore decided to launch Starz as a competitor to HBO and Showtime after it acquired the pay-TV rights to broadcast films by Universal Studios released after 1993.

Kids was created as a movie service featuring films aimed at children between 2 and 11 years of age, maintaining a format similar to that of Starz!

It was available to Starz subscribers of Verizon FIOS,[58] AT&T U-verse,[59] Cox Communications,[60] Xfinity by Comcast[61] and DirecTV[62] until it was merged with Starz.com on April 5, 2016.

It was created in 2008 after the subscription streaming service struck an agreement with Starz Entertainment to allow Netflix to sub-license rights to films from distributors that maintain output deals with the linear Starz channel for online viewing – in lieu of acquiring the digital distribution rights on its own, due to the expense of acquiring newer film titles – as Netflix was considered to be merely a "content aggregator".

Because Netflix chose to sub-license digital rights through Starz instead of negotiating with the studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures threatened not to renew its output deal with Starz unless it either discontinued its deal with Netflix or paid Disney a licensing fee for digital streaming rights to its films (Netflix ended up assuming rights to most film releases by Walt Disney Studios from Starz in 2016).

[69] On September 1, 2011, Starz announced that it would not renew its streaming agreement with Netflix, which ended on February 28, 2012; movie titles that are available on DVD from Sony Pictures, Disney and other studios that maintain pay television distribution deals with Starz were not affected and can be acquired from Netflix by this method.

Starzplay Arabia was the first Starz-branded service to be localized outside the United States, launching on April 2, 2015, in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, breaching those territories before its biggest competitor in media streaming being Netflix.

[83][84] In March 2022, a 57% majority stake in Starzplay Arabia was acquired by a consortium, led by e& (formerly known as Etisalat) and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group ADQ.

[85] In January 2021, Starzplay Arabia signed a deal with Abu Dhabi Media, which allows subscribers to watch UFC fights and events live.

The Starz app also includes offline playback functionality, allowing users to download and watch content without an internet connection.

[97] In the winter of 2015, Amazon Video began offering Starz and rival premium network Showtime as add-on subscriptions for their customers; the cost is $8.99 per month, after a seven-day free trial.

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

In 2005, Starz began expanding its original programming slate in order to compete with rivals Showtime and HBO, with the inclusion of scripted series.

The project, from Battlestar Galactica developer Ronald D. Moore and Sony Pictures Television, received a 16-episode order, with production beginning in Scotland (where the books are set) in October 2013.

Caitriona Balfe, who plays the leading character in the show, also received a nomination in the Actress Drama Series category.

[132] Multiplex channel Starz Kids & Family also features some series programming, which are aimed at young children and pre-teens.

The 1994 logo was replaced in March 2005 with an abstract star shooting upwards and a more modern "starz" wordmark in Helvetica Neue.

That year, Starz introduced an opaque on-screen logo bug on the lower-right corner of the screen, appearing for two minutes each half-hour of the movie.

In 2022, following the renaming of StarzPlay to Lionsgate+, Starz got a new logo, with a bolder teal wordmark, which appears in a yellow-sky blue gradient on-screen.