New Prime-Time Alternative Programming Destination Will Deliver IFC’s Best-Network Premieres, Originals, Exclusive Series, and Short-Form Content
Season Three of The Whitest Kids U’ Know to Premiere in AUTOMAT First Quarter 2009
New York, NY, July 11, 2008 – IFC will take viewers back to the future with its new IFC AUTOMAT, a four-hour block packed with exclusive uncut, uncensored alternative programming-an entire night of network premieres, originals, shorts, web shows, anime and more. Scheduled to launch in September 2008, IFC AUTOMAT will air every Tuesday night beginning at 8:00 p.m., followed by a testosterone-infused feature film at midnight.
Hell Girl, a popular anime series currently available only through IFC On Demand, will make its U.S. television premiere when it kicks off IFC AUTOMAT on September 30 at 8:00 p.m. From The Basement, a new original music series supervised by Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and record producer Nigel Godrich, also debuts on the network. Three 15-minute "IFC BLASTS" break-up the block with exceptional film, music, and web-themed short-form content. The third season of the highly successful original sketch comedy series, The Whitest Kids U’ Know, will premiere in AUTOMAT during first quarter 2009.
"IFC AUTOMAT marks the first time in the network’s history that we have developed a unique prime-time television destination devoted to IFC’s original and exclusive content," said Jennifer Caserta, executive vice president and general manager of IFC. "The concept builds on our successful multi-platform strategy that is already attracting influential, young male audiences-on-air, on demand, and on the web. Tuesday nights on IFC will be the premiere destination for smart, funny, and irreverent alternative programming."
IFC’s highly-touted and most popular original web series will make their way to television for the first time through AUTOMAT, including Young American Bodies, Wilfred, Get Hit, Mary Van Note: Gavin Really Wants Me, the satirical morning news show Good Morning Internet! , the Webby Award-nominated Getting Away With Murder, and Uploaded, a documentary shorts series created by emerging film makers that focuses on the voices of independent culture. AUTOMAT will also showcase acquired shorts and independent content from IFC Media Lab. IFC News and LUNCHBOX (the IFC.com daily web series) will also contribute segments to the block.
Following the IFC AUTOMAT, the network will showcase feature films at midnight geared towards a younger male audience, including titles from the network’s successful Grindhouse and Pulp strands, and original documentaries such as the controversial and influential This Film Is Not Yet Rated. The network will repeat IFC AUTOMAT as a late-night encore.
Following the on-air launch in fourth quarter 2008, IFC plans to rollout the AUTOMAT brand on IFC.com and IFC On Demand as a cross-platform programming strategy.
About IFC
IFC (The Independent Film Channel) is the first and only network dedicated to independent film and related programming, 24 hours a day, uncut and uncensored. Operating under the mantra ’always, uncut,’ IFC presents feature-length films, "cult classics," thought-provoking original documentaries such as At the Death House Door and This Film Is Not Yet Rated, shorts, animated series, exclusive web series, and television’s most comprehensive independent film library. The network also offers some of the most innovative and edgy original series on television, including the sketch comedy "The Whitest Kids U’ Know." Providing a voice for independent thought not found anywhere else on television, IFC broadens the audience for independent film and supports the independent film community through its exclusive live coverage of notable film events like the Independent Spirit Awards. The network’s On Demand offering, IFC Free, gives audiences the opportunity to watch premieres of all of IFC’s original series in HD before they air on the linear network. IFC is a subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multi-platform content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world’s most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, WE tv, Sundance Channel, LIFESKOOL, SPORTSKOOL, and VOOM HD Networks. Through IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a leading distribution company for independent film; IFC Productions, a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects; and IFC Center, a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales company; Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company; and 11 Penn TV, a company that manages Rainbow Media’s NYC studios and post-production facilities.