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| Headquarters | 30 Rockefeller Plaza,New York City,New York, U.S. |
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| Programming | |
| Picture format | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| History | |
| Launched | March 1, 2007; 18 years ago (2007-03-01) |
| Closed | December 31, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-12-31) |
| Links | |
| Website | http://chillertv.com at theWayback Machine (archived December 30, 2017) |
Chiller was an Americancable andsatellitetelevision network owned byNBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary ofNBCUniversal, all owned byComcast. It also operated its own filmproduction company as well. Chiller specialized inhorror,thriller andsuspense programming, mainly films.
As of February 2015, 38,820,000 American households (33.4% of households with television) received Chiller, though this declined with later removals by several cable services as carriage agreements expired.[1]
The channel ceased operations on December 31, 2017.[2][3][4][5]
On January 12, 2007,NBCUniversal announced the launch of Chiller on March 1, dedicated to films and television shows related to thehorror genre. The company also stated that, aside from their own content, Chiller would feature content from competingfilm studios, includingLionsgate,Sony,Warner Bros., and20th Century Fox.[6] In February 2007,The 101, channel 101 onDirecTV, aired a "preview" of Chiller, featuring thepilot episodes ofTwin Peaks andAmerican Gothic, as well as varioushorror movies and programs.Sleuth, NBC Universal's mystery-themed network, later known as Cloo, aired a fourteen-hour movie marathon entitled "Chiller On Sleuth" to promote the launch of Chiller. The channel officially launched at 6:00 am Eastern/5:00 am Central on March 1. After a brief introduction to the channel, Chiller aired its first program,Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
On July 30, 2014, its carriage was merged with that of its former competitorFearnet, a network launched byComcast in 2006 as avideo on demand service six years before their purchase of NBC Universal.
In 2017, NBCUniversal began to eliminate some of its non-prime networks in NBCU's cable portfolio by closing or rebranding these networks.Cloo closed on February 1, 2017, along withEsquire Network on June 28, and Universal HD was rebranded as theOlympic Channel on July 14.
On February 1, 2017 (the same day sister network Cloo shut down),Dish removed the channel from their lineup, which cited that most of the network's rerun-centric programming was duplicative of that available on other networks and streaming services, withCharter Communications (Spectrum,Time Warner Cable andBright House Networks subsidiaries) removing the network along withEsquire Network on April 25 for the same reason.[7] Five months later on October 2, 2017,Verizon FiOS discontinued carriage of the channel, whileMediacom quietly removed the channel from their lineup on October 23.[8]
On November 8, 2017,Cox removed Chiller from its lineup when it refused to continue their carriage of Chiller within their new carriage agreements with NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, removing the network from several Cox regional outlets.[9]
On November 16, 2017, NBCUniversal Cable Networks confirmed that the channel would close on December 31.[2][3][4][5]Google Fiber removed Chiller from its lineup on December 20,[10] which leftDirecTV andAT&T U-Verse as two of the last providers to carry Chiller until its closure. A year-end ratings recap showed Chiller as ranked 127 out of 136 networks, averaging 36,000 viewers a night.[11]
The network officially shut down around 11:59 p.m. ET on December 31 after an airing ofThe Babadook with a simple message saying "Thank you for watching Chiller. GOOD NIGHT!".
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2016) |
On December 17, 2010, Chiller premieredChiller 13: The Decade's Scariest Movie Moments. The countdown special featured a diverse group of pop culture mavens and horror movie experts looking back on the top 13 scary movie moments between 2000 and 2010. Show participants include renowned special makeup effects supervisorGreg Nicotero (The Walking Dead), comedians Dan Gurewitch and David Young (CollegeHumor), actressBetsy Russell (theSaw films), writerSteve Niles,Tony Todd and horror film directorLucky McKee among others. In October 2011, Chiller continued the franchise withChiller 13: Horror's Creepiest Kids.
In December 2011, Chiller premiered its first original movie entitledRemains, based on theIDW Publishingcomic book bySteve Niles andKieron Dwyer.[12]
On March 4, 2016, Chiller premiered its only original television series entitledSlasher.[13][14]Netflix acquired the licensing rights to the series after the first season.[15][16][17]
Chiller's acquired slate included genre films, international series (Afterlife,Apparitions), non-scripted programs (Fear Factor), and anthology shows (Masters of Horror).
In July 2015, the channel aired a weekly anime block. The weekly block aired from midnight to 2:00 am on Wednesdays, but was summarily cancelled due to poor ratings. Anime shows that aired on the block includedTokyo Majin,Devil May Cry: The Animated Series,Is This a Zombie?, andBlack Blood Brothers.[18][19]
In October 2007, Chiller announced its "Dare 2 Direct Film Festival" which premiered onHalloween night. Viewers uploaded 300 short films and the winners aired on this original special.
Chiller renewed its Dare 2 Direct Film Festival in 2008, which aired on Halloween night. The channel premiered webisodes of an original film, "The Hills Are Alive" fromTim Burton protégéCaroline Thompson (co-screenwriter ofTim Burton's Corpse Bride and screenwriter ofEdward Scissorhands) in July on chillertv.com, and aired the complete film as its first original film in October.
Chiller Films was a film production company based in New York that specialized in indie horror and thriller films. It was launched in 2011, to give select Chiller movies limited theatrical runs and nationwide VOD distribution, using asimultaneous, or "day-and date" film release strategy.[20] The films were released in a limited number of small and multiplex theaters in large markets, along with release onvideo on demand through cable providers and online film retailers the same day. Most of the films are fromindependent filmmakers who then license their properties to Chiller Films. Chiller Films quietly closed in December 2017, alongside the closure of the Chiller channel it was connected to.
| Title | Year | Production Co. |
|---|---|---|
| Remains | 2012 | Chiller Films IDW Publishing |
| The American Scream | Chiller Films Brainstorm Media | |
| Dead Souls | Chiller Films Synthetic Productions | |
| Ghoul | Chiller Films Modernciné | |
| Beneath | 2013 | Glass Eye Pix |
| Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear | Chiller Films Synthetic Cinema International | |
| The Monkey's Paw | TMP Films | |
| Animal | 2014 | Flower Films Synthetic Cinema International |
| Deep in the Darkness | Chiller Films Synthetic Cinema International | |
| The Boy | 2015 | SpectreVision |
| SiREN | 2016 | Studio71 |
| Camera Obscura | 2017 | Chiller Films Hood River Entertainment Paper Street Pictures |
| Dementia 13 | Pipeline Entertainment Haloran LLC |
