MOVIETIME BRINGS HOME THE MOVIES

At 11:30 this morning in a Hollywood studio, Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, is to throw the switch launching the new Movietime cable-TV channel into about 2 million American homes.

The new 21-hour-a-day basic cable service hopes to do for the motion picture industry what MTV has done for the pop recording business.

“We’re aimed first to the regular movie-goer, and secondarily, to the fan,” said Movietime president Larry Namer in a telephone interview from his Seward Avenue office.

“Overall it’s like ‘Entertainment Tonight’ content-wise but skewed to a younger audience,” Namer said.

Movietime, with its schedule of information programs, profiles, behind-the-scenes reports, gossip and contests, bears more than a passing resemblance to MTV.

Like the rock ‘n’ roll service, the new channel’s program format calls for rotating hosts and an eclectic mix of programming presented in rapid-fire succession. Unlike pay-cable services such as Home Box Office the new service will not show full-length feature films.

Seven hours of programming will be rotated three times daily at the outset.

The Hollywood Reporter Executive Report, airing daily at 7:45 a.m. (PDT), is the channel’s only live program. Others will be taped three days in advance.

Namer and Movietime chairman Alan Mruvka designed the service to include a local theater directory (in each cable franchise area) running every 15 minutes.

Additionally, Namer estimated about 30% of the channel’s content will be geared toward promoting shows on cable television.

In greater Los Angeles, Movietime will be carried on the CommuniCom system on the Westside of Los Angeles and on Falcon Cable system in the Pasadena area. They have about 20% of area cable households, according to Namer.

The service’s national penetration is at the 5% level with projections of a fourfold increase by the end of the year. Namer said Movietime will launch with “a presence” in 17 of the country’s 25 major markets.