 Times Mirror announced the formation of Spotlight on March 12, 1981.Although it was intended to act as a direct competitor to existing movie-focused premium channels Cinemax, The Movie Channel and Home Theater Network, Spotlight was primarily developed to compete with dominant pay cable service HBO, which – like Spotlight – was owned by a media company with cable system interests, as parent company Time Inc. had owned the American Television & Communications Corp. (eventually integrated into Time Warner Cable and later Charter), the second-largest American cable television provider at the time (format-wise, HBO's programming contrasted from Spotlight, with a general interest format that mixed movies with specials and some limited original series within its lineup).Times-Mirror operated the channel as part of its cable programming unit, the Times Mirror Satellite Programming Company.