As of Nov. 2, Hollywood Suite will bid farewell to its U.S. studio-based branding and relaunch as four, decade-focused channels devoted separately to movies from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s (or “00s”).

The relaunch will see the specialty-channel suite’s four properties rebranded and the programming reorganized by decade. While previously, films were organized and branded by studio (WarnerFilms, MGM Channel, Sony Movie Channel and AXN Movies), it will now be chronological.

The move is part of Hollywood Suite’s strategy to hit the ground running when a la carte channel pricing becomes available, Julie Kumaria, senior director of marketing, Hollywood Suite, told Playback Daily.

“We’re getting ahead of that curve,” Kumaria said. “The CRTC regulations around pick-and-pay open up the opportunity for us to promote each channel and sell each channel individually.”

As well as enhancing each channel’s distinctiveness, the company also wanted to unify the company’s logo across the four channels. The new logo (pictured) was created with a post-pick-and-pay world in mind, to give a cohesive visual to the branding.

“I think, if we were in an environment where we were a logo on a page, we wanted to ensure that there was instant recognizability and people didn’t have to wonder what something meant. For us, it’s about making that simplified, unified approach on the branding side that will help us in that environment,” said Kumaria.

Rather than simply dividing the promotion of the service’s four-channel package, though, the Hollywood Suite team also saw the impending unbundling as a chance to realign the way it connects with its audience – even though the movies available through the service will not change.

“The relaunch will give us a little more flexibility to build more of an emotional brand with our viewers and subscribers,” Kumaria noted.

Although the incoming CRTC regulations necessitated the rebrand, research from the company found that its audience identified more with decade-based branding than with the studio branding, said company president David Kines.

“The studio brand gave some recognition to the package, but there was no differentiation between the four channels, whereas with ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, you see immediately what the difference is between each channel. It improves our differentiation in an a la carte world,” said Kines.

In a marketplace where “choice” is the operative word, making Hollywood Suite’s service as customizable as possible was also the key to the company’s new direction, noted Kumaria.

“As the BDU’s start to introduce the skinny basic and they offer more choice, Hollywood Suite wants to ensure that we’re giving our customers the opportunity to really select from us as well,” she said.