Fox (UK and Ireland)

Fox
Launched 12 January 2004
Owned by 21st Century Fox
Picture format 576i (SDTV 16:9)
1080i (HDTV)
Audience share 0.35%
0.06% (+) (September 2015 (2015-09), BARB)
Slogan 'First on Fox'
'The best. First.'
Country United Kingdom
Ireland
Formerly called FX289 (2004–05)
FX (2005–2013)
Timeshift service Fox+
Website www.foxtv.co.uk
Availability
Satellite
Sky Channel 124 (SD/HD)
Channel 165 (+)
Channel 188 (SD)
Cable
Virgin Media Channel 157
Channel 158 (+)
Channel 199 (HD)
Virgin Media Ireland Channel 126
Channel 166 (+)
Channel 176 (HD)
IPTV
TalkTalk TV Channel 316
Freewire Channel 146
Streaming media
Sky Go Watch live (UK and Ireland only)
Now TV Watch live (UK only)
Virgin TV Anywhere Watch live (UK only)

FOX UK is a television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by 21st Century Fox. It launched on 12 January 2004 and was originally known as FX (in line with the American channel of the same name). Featuring a mix of animated comedies and American drama series, the channel's age demographic is adults aged 18 to 35 years old.[1]

History

FX289 (2004–05)

FX logo (2011-2013).

The channel launched on 12 January 2004 and was originally branded as FX289, in reference to its Sky EPG number.[2]

FX (2005–2013)

In April 2005, the channel was rebranded as FX as it moved in the Sky EPG.[3] As FX, the channel targeted a demographic of mainly males between 18 and 49 years old.[4] Unlike FX in the USA, it promoted both FX-produced and non-FX-produced shows. Some of the most popular shows to air on the channel included Family Guy and American Dad!. It had a similar format to its American sister channel, with a schedule consisting largely of Fox-produced shows, including comedies such as Family Guy and King of the Hill, and dramas such as The Shield, The X-Files and NYPD Blue. Non-Fox-produced shows rerun or receiving their UK premiere on the channel include The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, Babylon 5, Carnivàle, Highlander, JAG, NCIS, Sleeper Cell, E-Ring and Huff, Generation Kill, True Blood and Dexter.

Fox (2013–present)

The channel was rebranded as Fox at 9:00pm GMT on 11 January 2013 as part of an attempt to broaden its schedule.[5][6][7] The target demographic of Fox is both men and women aged between 18 and 35 years old.[1] New programmes added to the schedule included Louie, The Ricki Lake Show, Men at Work, Da Vinci's Demons and the second season of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, while many of the programmes that featured on FX continued to broadcast such as The Walking Dead, Dexter, True Blood, Falling Skies, Family Guy and NCIS. Fox also plan to commission up to 50 hours of original UK content by the end of the year, expecting to spend between £5m and £10m.[8]

Removal from BT TV

Fox was removed from the BT YouView platform on 1st March 2016, BT stated in an e-mail to customers that Fox had "changed the way they offer their TV channels to TV providers."[9]

Timeshift

Fox operates a one-hour timeshift named Fox+ (not to be confused with Latin American group of premium channels of the same name). The channel originally launched as a two-hour timeshift service and was joined on Sky by FX +1 on 10 December 2007. The branding of sister timeshift channel FX + had not been changed to reflect this, causing confusion due to the two being very similar in name (FX +, FX +1), with viewers assuming a mistake or a double-over of the channel.

On Monday 28 April 2008, FX +1 ceased broadcasting and its slot was replaced with FX HD. On 1 September 2008, to coincide with Sky's EPG reshuffle, FX + became a 1-hour timeshift. The channel was rebranded as Fox+ (not to be confused with Latin American group of premium channels of the same name) on 11 January 2013, in line with the main channel.

Fox HD

Fox HD is a high definition television channel, which launched on Monday 28 April 2008 at 10:00pm in the UK and Ireland as FX HD. It initially broadcast a completely separate schedule from the standard definition channel, with only HD content and without ads.

FX HD was originally due to launch on 21 April 2008,[10] but as stated on the FX Forums the date was pushed back to 28 April 2008 due to "technical problems at the transmission end".[11]

On 24 April 2009, FX HD become a simulcast of FX, broadcasting HD content when possible but only broadcasting between 7:00pm and 2:00am every day. On 5 January 2010, FX HD increased it broadcast hours to match its SD counterpart.

The channel also joined Virgin Media's digital cable TV lineup on channel 158 on 30 July 2009.[12]

The channel was rebranded as Fox HD on 11 January 2013, in line with the main channel.

Programming

As well as British and American programming, the channel has aired a number of international programmes. These include Last Man Standing and The Nominees from Australia; Charlie Jade, a co-production between Canada and South Africa; and the Flemish series Matrioshki, which was shown with subtitles.

Original content has also aired on the channel, including No Signal! which aired from February to April 2009.

For several weeks from 5 December 2005, FX carried a strand of programming from the Fox-owned American channel Fuel TV. The strand was identified as FX Presents Fuel TV, and made use of Fuel TV's US branding graphics. The strand ran for an hour from 10:00a.m., and was repeated in the early hours of the following morning. In August 2015, FOX UK announced that a variety of Adult Swim programs would air on the channel including adult animated sci-fi comedy Rick and Morty starting Thursday September 10 of that year.[13]

Current programming

Upcoming programming

References

  1. 1 2 "FOX". Fox International Channels. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Chapman, Iain (7 September 2004). "FX289 to undergo design revamp". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  3. ↑ Jay, Alan (14 April 2005). "FX moves EPG positions on Sky". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "FX". Fox International Channels. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  5. ↑ O'Reilly, Lara (15 November 2012). "FX rebrands to Fox". Marketing Week. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  6. ↑ Howell, Jordan (11 January 2013). "FOX brand arrives in the UK tonight – first look". imediamonkey®. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Martinovic, Paul (11 January 2013). "FX becomes FOX: New promo video, idents released". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  8. ↑ White, Peter (10 January 2013). "Fox to spend millions on original UK content push". Broadcast. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  9. ↑ http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/bt-customers-about-to-lose-two-tv-channels-fox-to-blame
  10. ↑ Welsh, James; Wilkes, Neil (8 April 2008). "FXHD to launch this month". Digital Spy.
  11. ↑ "FX HD to launch on the 21st? Is this correct please?". FX. 4 September 2008. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012.
  12. ↑ "Virgin Media and Channel 4 bring 4HD to millions of TV screens". Virgin Media. 29 July 2009.
  13. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a661888/adult-swims-rick-and-morty-are-coming-to-fox-uk.html#~pmSF1xSBb2ITwM

External links

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