(Corrects to remove reference to “Transformers” rights in seventh and eighth paragraphs of story published on July 9.)

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable-television provider, and Cablevision Systems Corp. said they aren’t interested in carrying the new Epix premium movie channel.

“It’s a bad idea,” Stephen Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer, said in an interview at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. “I haven’t heard of anyone that’s interested.” Consumers already have an adequate number of choices, he said.

Cablevision Chief Executive Officer James Dolan said in a separate interview at the conference that he’s “in perfect agreement” with Burke. Cablevision is the fifth-biggest U.S. provider of cable-TV service.

Epix, owned by Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., was created after the three studios failed to reach new agreements to show their movies on CBS Corp.’s Showtime pay channel last year. Epix, which pits Sumner Redstone’s CBS and Viacom against each other, has yet to announce pickup by cable systems ahead of its planned October debut.

“We are in advanced discussions with a number of distribution partners and remain very confident that we will have agreements with them in place at our launch in October 2009,” Mark Greenberg, head of Epix, said in an e-mailed response to the cable companies’ comments.

Epix plans to provide films and original series on pay TV systems and the Internet. Burke said he hasn’t looked at a preview of Epix that was put online to entice cable and satellite TV companies to carry the channel.

‘Iron Man’

The network will have rights to films such as “Iron Man,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” It will go head-to-head with pay channels including Showtime, Time Warner Inc.’s HBO and Liberty Media Corp.’s Starz.

Cablevision, based in Bethpage, New York, rose 20 cents to $17.82 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Viacom, based in New York, rose 19 cents to $21.98. Lions Gate, run from Santa Monica, California, gained 12 cents to $5.77. Philadelphia-based Comcast fell 11 cents to $13.39 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

MGM is controlled by Providence Equity Partners Inc. and TPG. Sony Corp. and Comcast have 20 percent stakes, with the remainder belonging to DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andy Fixmer in Sun Valley, Idaho, at afixmer@bloomberg.net; Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 21, 2009 21:29 EDT