This was always a free channel, one of my wife's favorites since she is into older films. Last night she went to turn on a film to watch and the chanel gave her a screen telling her to call customer service if she wanted the channel.
It's a part of the movie pack in Tampa. Down here, as long as you have Movie Pack, you get FXM. Not sure how long it's been in that specific tier though.
I also remember that they don't air commercials, and they're airing feature films to a national audience... Can't expect that to remain free for too long in this day and age, right?