High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Starz (originally "Starz!" until 2005 and stylized as starz) is an American premium subscription channel that features mainly first-run motion pictures, along with some original programming. The channel is the flagship service of Liberty Starz, a subsidiary and joint venture of Liberty Media (75%) and The Weinstein Company (25%), which also owns its sister channel Encore, which was launched three years before Starz`s February 1, 1994 debut; despite this, Starz is considered by the company as the flagship of the Starz Entertainment channels.