Starz

Starz (stylized as Starz! from February 1994 to March 2005, and as starz since March 2005 pronounced "stars") is a premium cable and satellite television network which serves as Starz Inc.'s flagship service. Starz's programming features mainly theatrically released motion pictures and some first-run original television series.

The headquarters of Starz, and its sister networks Encore and MoviePlex, are located at the Meridian International Business Center complex in Meridian, Colorado. In July 2015, Starz's programming was available to approximately 30.816 million television households (26.5% of cable, satellite and telco customers) in the United States (30.219 million subscribers or 26.0% of all households with pay television service receive at least Starz's primary channel).

History

Starz 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 and The Crying Game. The network was originally operated as a joint venture between TCI and Liberty Media (both companies were controlled by John Malone), with TCI owning a 50.1% controlling interest in the channel.

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, record, film, and television producer. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens, Jackson began selling drugs at age twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic. Although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career, he was struck by nine bullets in a 2000 shooting. After Jackson released the compilation album Guess Who's Back? in 2002, he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

With the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre (who produced his first major-label album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'), Jackson became one of the world's best selling rappers and rose to prominence with East Coast hip hop group G-Unit (which he leads de facto). In 2003 he founded G-Unit Records, signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his second album, The Massacre, which was released in 2005. He released his fifth studio album, Animal Ambition, in 2014 and is working on his sixth studio album: Street King Immortal, scheduled for release in 2016.