AMC is an American multinational basic cable television channel that is the flagship property of AMC Networks. The channel's programming primarily consists of theatrically released films, along with a limited amount of original programming. The channel's name originally stood for "American Movie Classics", but since 2002 the full name has been de-emphasized as a result of a major shift in its programming. As of July 2015, AMC was received by approximately 94,832,000 households in the United States that subscribe to a pay television service (81.5% of U.S. households with at least one television set). History 1984–2002: Focus on classic films American Movie Classics, as AMC was originally known, debuted on October 1, 1984, as a premium channel by Rainbow Programming Services (a subsidiary of Cablevision). Its original format focused on classic movies – largely those made prior to the 1970s – that aired during the afternoon and early evening hours in a commercial-free, generally unedited, uncut and uncolorized format. The new network replaced Montage, a channel with a similar format that was being offered to Cablevision subscribers in the New York area. In 1985, Rainbow became involved in a dispute with Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System over broadcast rights to the MGM/UA film library. On July 30 of that year, Rainbow had paid $45 million to license up to 800 pre-1950 films from the library. Weeks later, Turner announced an agreement to purchase the film studio with the intention of airing the films on his Superstation WTBS. Rainbow claimed it had exclusive basic cable rights to the films for the next five years. Despite its widespread cable carriage, Turner claimed that because WTBS was a broadcast station, the restriction did not apply. This led to both companies filing lawsuits in September against each other and MGM/UA terminating the agreement with Rainbow because Rainbow allegedly breached it when it announced its intention to offer AMC to cable providers as both a basic and a premium service. By October, the lawsuit were settled with Rainbow receiving $50 million and an agreement to terminate the licensing deal on December 31, 1985, before which time AMC would not be allowed to convert to a basic service. Turner would go on to complete the acquisition of MGM in early-1986, but his ownership would be very short-lived with him selling it back to the previous owner months later. However, he would retain the film library and