Starz is both a premium cable broadcaster and a television producer in the United States. They have the majority financial interest in the production of Torchwood: Miracle Day, and are the network of first publication for that series. They are not, however, the copyright-holder to Miracle Day, whose ownership rests with BBC Worldwide. Nevertheless, they received significant concessions in the deal, including the global premiere rights.[1]
Starz is the first American partner not related to the BBC to make and broadcast more than one episode set in the DWU.
Cost of Miracle Day to subscribers
As a premium cable broadcaster, Starz must be specifically ordered by American cable customers. Prices vary widely depending on the nature of the customer's account with their local cable company, whether they're getting a discount because they're a new Starz customer, what other services they order concurrently, and many other factors.
One of the major East Coast suppliers, Comcast, was running a special during the time Miracle Day was active, which allowed the customer to add the channel for $10/month for a minimum of a year.[2] It's difficult to determine an average US price for Starz, however, as it's offered by so many different companies, under so many different conditions and bundles.
Nevertheless it's fair to say that the average American trying to get Starz in order to watch Miracle Day could well have encumbered themselves with a contract of six or twelve months, which might well have included many channels that they didn't actually want. It's entirely likely that some Americans who didn't already have Starz would have ended up spending roughly the cost of the typical annual British television licence just to gain access to Torchwood.
On the other hand, some — but by no means all — US cable customers had "Starz OnDemand" as a free part of their cable internet service during the Miracle Day season, and therefore paid nothing more to see it.
The American Starz has no tie to the British digital television channel of a similar name.
