Prevue Channel

Background

Pop (formerly known as Electronic Program Guide, Prevue Guide, Prevue Channel, TV Guide Channel, and TV Guide Network) is a pay television channel owned by Paramount Global. It was launched in 1981 as Electronic Program Guide and a barker channel service. Over the next few decades, the channel rebranded a few times to said former names. When United Video Satellite Group, Prevue Channel's then-parent company, acquired TV Guide in 1998, the channel became TV Guide Channel. Before the rebrand they broadcasted interstitial segments alongside their on-screen guide. At this point, they began broadcasting full-length entertainment-related programs. When Lionsgate acquired the channel in 2009, their programming shifted towards general entertainment. CBS Corporation acquired a 50% stake in the channel in 2013, followed by the remaining half from Lionsgate six years later.

Prevue Guide

Contents

1st ID (1988-1991)	2nd ID (1988-1991)	3rd ID (1991-Early 1993)	4th ID (1991-Early 1993)

Prevue Channel

Contents

1st ID (1993-1995)	2nd ID (1996-1997)	3rd ID (Late 1997-January 31, 1999)

Prevue Guide

1st ID (1988-1991)

Visuals: A space background is shown with stars flying away. Also zooming out from the top right is the Earth with a lot of clouds, passing the screen as it pans to the left. Then, the moon is shown and when it makes a sharp turn to the right at the center of the screen, the company name is displayed with "PREVUE" in a futuristic font and silver texture and "guide" in a cursive font and both ends acting as the former word's underline. The latter word also has a white shadow effect behind. Shortly after appearing, "Just what you're looking for" in white fades in below. As the moon pans to the left, the Sun is shown from the distance at the top center and the Earth returns to the screen from the left. The camera rotates to a different view of space, leaving the Sun out and positioning the moon and Earth on the top left and bottom right respectively. They stop in place before "PREVUE" shines.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A fast-paced, futuristic synth theme plays accompanied with several whooshes throughout. When the company name is displayed, a male announcer with a robotic effect to his voice reads "Prevue Guide: Just what you're looking for".

2nd ID (1988-1991)

Visuals: The camera zooms into a city at night with a blue landscape and an orange sun behind the city. The screen pans over the city to show the stars scattered around space. Here, "PREVUE" in the same font as before flips in with a burst effect directed towards the bottom right. This version of the text crossfades to its exact style from before. Below it, a light spark draws "guide" from before. The text then shines while "Just what you're looking for" wipes in from both ends. While the tagline becomes light blue and glows, "PREVUE" shines thrice.

Variants:

A variant consists of the logo in a 16-bit format and "guide" in teal. This variant is also still.
At the end of promos, the logo without its background may appear in varying animations.
- One promo has it crawling upwards and then shining multiple times.

Technique: 2D computer effects.

Audio: A calm synth chime soundtrack is heard throughout the logo. When the camera pans over the cityscape, an electronic whoosh plays. Multiple zaps are then heard when "guide" is formed. Before the zap sounds end, a different male voice announces "This is Prevue Guide: Just what you're looking for".

3rd ID (1991-Early 1993)

Visuals: The screen pans over a dark cityscape with scattered and moving lights, eventually displaying a sunset background over it. Then, a burst reveals the logo from before but with "PREVUE" in dodger blue and "guide" in white. Alongside it, "We Are What's On" is displayed underneath.

Variant: A variant consists of just the logo and its tagline with "PREVUE" in a lighter shade of dodger blue.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: High-pitched, synthesized woodwind-like sounds with wind ambience plays before a burst sound changes the notes to twinkling noises. After the whoosh, a male announcer reads the company name and its tagline.

4th ID (1991-Early 1993)

Visuals: Panning down on a space background, the Earth is shown flying in from the bottom left. "PREVUE" circles around it, stopping when facing the screen and then flattening while the Earth flies away and rests on the bottom of the screen. Four copies of five gold thin bars scroll in from both halves of the screen horizontally, meeting in the center. An orange burst sparks on the top half, followed by another, larger one in white in the center, reveaing "guide" in the same style as before as well as its tagline, again from last time.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as before.

Prevue Channel

1st ID (1993-1995)

Visuals: A grided globe is drawn by multi-colored lines on a black background. Panning out, colorful tiles pan over the black space as "PREVUE", in the same style as before but with silver lateral faces, zooming out. The globe crossfades into a transparent, gray, and stylized Earth with its latitudes and longitudes intact while gaining a bright, transparent ring around it. "CHANNEL", underneath "UE" in "PREVUE"," wipes in with a transparent white box behind it. Before the objects pan away, the background changes colors with orange as the most prominent, as the tiles continue to slide throughout the screen. Several seconds later, "CHANNEL" and its box disappear, the globe pans to the left and then the right, "PREVUE" and said model zooms towards the screen, and the tiles slide away and reveal a black background.

Variants:

Sometimes, the logo crossfades to black before it can break away.
A boxed variant features the logo in a fullscreen format, positioning itself on either the left or right sections of the screen while the following text is displayed on the other half:

Before You View
Prevue!

After several seconds from the logo being formed, it freezes.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A synthesized horn fanfare sampled from the Happy Records library track 'Venturing South' composed by Mats Björklund and Dietmar Kawohl. Before the logo breaks away, a male announcer reads the same line from before.

Audio Variants:

An alternate version of the fanfare features lower-pitched horn notes and no announcer.
Another soundtrack used during the logo is an exciting, orchestral theme.
On the boxed variants, a funky synth soundtrack plays.
One boxed variant's soundtrack consists of three dramatic synth hits split from one another.
Another boxed variant has an instrumental pop soundtrack play throughout.

Availability: The first alternate soundtrack variant was seen on a December 30, 1993 broadcast at 12:31 AM.

2nd ID (1996-1997)

Visuals: On a white background, a teal sphere with a spinning, multi-colored ring containing "BEFORE YOU VIEW, PREVUE!" in white pans out. Simultaneously, "PREVUE" flies to the top left. Over both the sphere and ring, a white light spark orbits around and forms a thin, red ring, followed by a green one, and a gray curve starting from above the "P" and then around the sphere. This changes the sphere's color to gray and the curve to shine from the right.

Variant:

Sometimes, the print version of the logo in dark blue against a white background is displayed instead.
- This version changed in 1997, consisting of the logo in white on either the left or right sections of the screen and the other half reading "Before you view.. Prevue!".
A letterboxed variant adds two dodger blue bars on both halves of the screen.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A fast-paced soundtrack with dramatic synthesized hits and a futuristic theme.

Audio Variant: A different soundtrack may be used, consisting of drums, bass, and whooshes.

3rd ID (Late 1997-January 31, 1999)

Visuals: "p r e v u e" with a large "p" behind it is against two sides colored purple and red respectively. Two blue TV sets are also displayed on both halves containing a "p". The top and bottom halves are tinted blue and light red, the former of which is thicker and on top of a horizontal black bar. As "p r e v u e" zooms in, the "'p" behind it disappears and in comes two mirrored images of a silhouette of a coated person kneeling back and forth.

The screen changes to a coated arm pressing a button on a remote control against a thick black outlined, rotating red bar underneath a green background with light green dots spinning clockwise. When the button is pressed, the red bar flashes and becomes blue. The footage of the arm is replaced with a man in brown suit giving a thumbs up while aligned to the rotating bar. After he disappears, a black bar with "p r e v u e" in small underneath slides down while multiple long, TV sets containing their logo are shown on the top black outline. Also happening simultaneously is a footage of a woman popping in at the right, displaying a wide smile at the viewer. The background of the green dot patterns and TV sets are replaced with two closer shots of the latter objects aligned to the bottom black outline. In the light blue background is a blue silhouette of a man who waves his head away from the screen before it, alongside the TV sets, crossfade into a different background. This new background consists of rotating, green blob particles with the logo's eye symbol against thinly outlined letters, underneath a multicolored bar, and a center-aligned vertical text box containing "s p o r t s", "m o v i e s", and "f a m i l y", and "n e w s" repeated four times. The eye is also seen shaking back and forth, within the domain of the horizontal, multi-colored bars.

The screen changes to that of two blonde models holding a light blue screen with the eye symbol and an old woman on the right. They are behind a black-red bar, the bottom half having small "p r e v u e" copies on top of it as well as said text with a black outline and a large format behind the models. There are also top and bottom bars consisting of the same green-dotted patterns from earlier. Additionally, two copies of "ON THE AIR" in white and against a gray box are on the black half and next to the two models. While "p r e v u e" scrolls to the right, the models look at each other while the black-red box scrolls downwards and the footage of them zooms in.

Then, the model footage as well as the box are changed to two violet-tinted heads of a black person wearing light blue windsor glasses. The left copy is tilted 90 degrees clockwise and the other one is -90 degrees. They also have a gold glow and are against a dark yellow box with the eye symbol and "p r e v u e" behind and underneath them, and three copies of "p r e v u e" shaking back and forth above the two heads. While the bottom text zooms back and forth, the two heads smile and the green bar on top slides to the left.

The screen switches over to a man with a gold inner glow watching two blue screens containing a silhouette of a hooded man in a darker shade of blue. The top and bottom halves are a rotating, red-tinted dot pattern and a purple bar with the eye symbol in black peeking on the bottom left. Back to the TVs, they contain several words within a white outlined box, reading the exact same words in the vertical text box from earlier. After that, the screens flash and are replaced with a blonde boy tipping his glasses and a woman with hair curlers and her hands next to her cheeks.

After the screens flash, another sequence features a man balancing a TV set with his nose. He is against a black background with a blue spotlight with two purple bars on the left and right, the former of which contains "p r e v u e" tilted 90 degrees clockwise and aligned to the right of the bar, and a light red one on top. The vertical text box from earlier is shown on the right side of the screen and the multi-colored bars are on the left. While "p r e v u e" slides down and the vertical text box shake back and forth, the blue spotlight lights up and then the screen flashes, showing a closer shot of the balancing act with the TV set showing the logo. The light red bar is also moving to the left.

"p r e v u e" in a gold bar with a thick black outline and three copies of "p r e v u e" underneath slides down while the previous footage crossfades to gold. Said color cuts to two purple heads of a woman with blue glasses sliding down while next to a TV set in the center, showing a man with a hat and glasses looking upwards. The background is also a yellow-tinted dot pattern. Before the heads and TV are replaced with a closer shot of the man in the TV, blue TV static slowly rises from the bottom. When the women are replaced, the screen flashes and then the man quickly disappears, now showing two TV sets with the logo inside of them on the left and right sections of the screen. Three copies of the eye symbol in gold, one of which is on the top half, scroll to the left while their logo in lime deblurs in the center. "'p r e v u e" is also seen zooming back and forth on top.

Variants:

A cropped variant exists, most notably removing the top and bottom bars. This is seen when the on-screen guide is shown below.
A shortened variant consists of the last sequence of the logo starting after the flash.
- This variant may also be tinted red or green.
A boxed variant exists, positioning the logo on the right side and with the logo on the left alongside its website link in a stacked format. They are both on a dodger blue bokeh lights background.

Technique: A mix of 2D animation and live-action by 3 Ring Circus.

Audio: A fast-paced and catchy pop soundtrack with an emphasis on drums. A woman can briefly be heard yelling "Yeah!" twice. The music ends with no drums and two held out guitar notes.

Audio Variant: An alternate take on the soundtrack adds a woman shouting "Prevue!" when the two models are seen. After that, the music has a more upbeat finish with beeps added and faster guitar notes.

Prevue Channel

TV Guide Channel

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