Not quite right about the Fox Movie Channel

At the beginning of 2012, when the Fox Movie Channel changed to a format of half "older" movies remaining commercial-free, and half newer movies with "limited" commercial interruption, I suggested that it wasn't a bad guess to say the end is near. I would have picked six months before the FMC half of the channel was phased out in favor of 24 hours of FXM, although I see in my January 2012 post that I didn't actually pick a time frame.

In fact, what's left of the Fox Movie Channel limps along a full year later, with the web-site's schedule suggesting that they've scheduled at least into February. In my defense, there are a lot fewer "classic" old movies, with there sometimes being full days with nothing made before 1980. And it seems as though there are even more repeats than there were when the channel was FMC 24 hours a day.

Once in a while, though, FMC actually does run a vintage movie or two. I overlooked yesterday's airing of Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence, which I blogged about back in November 2009. It doesn't seem to be getting another airing any time soon, and I don't think it's made it to Fox's MOD DVD system.

I mentioned detective Michael Shayne back in November 2011, and FMC has very slowly pulled out more films from that series to run. I believe since I posted about Michael Shayne, they've shown four of the seven films, with the one currently running being Sleepers West, which is on again at 6:00 AM tomorrow and a couple more times later in January. Sleepers West is followed at 7:15 AM by the solitary airing of Nightmare Alley.

How much longer will FMC be around? I have no idea. At least TCM seems to be having more luck in getting the rights to run movies in the Fox library.