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The Walking Dead to launch FX channel

Cult zombie series The Walking Dead will finally air in Australia when FX launches ad-free on Pay TV in late February.

New Pay TV channel FX will launch on Sunday February 26 on Foxtel.

The entertainment channel, from Fox International Channels, will finally see the launch of long-awaited zombie series The Walking Dead.

Seasons one and two of will premiere back-to-back, with double, ad-free episodes from 8:30pm AEDT Tuesday February 28 with a sneak peek of the feature length pilot airing on Sunday February 26 at 8:30pm AEDT.

TV Tonight readers have voted The Walking Dead the “International TV show we need to see on Aussie TV” for two years in a row.

FX will also roll-out Jason Priestley’s comedy Call Me Fitz, Timothy Olyphant’s drama series Justified and epic western Hell On Wheels.

Karin Simoncini, Managing Director of FOX International Channels Australia said, “We are 100 percent committed to delivering premium quality entertainment to Australian viewers on FX. The star calibre and award winning values in all our shows are impeccable, especially with the addition of Jason Priestley and Timothy Olyphant to our line-up.

“We’re very excited to be unveiling a line-up of new series that have enjoyed huge ratings success around the world and much-deserved critical accolades. Australian viewers will really be able to immerse themselves in the characters and stories across FX’ entire programming slate.

FX has previously promised to screen the latest shows to air on the same day and date as the USA.

FX was previously available on Foxtel prior to a rebranding as W Channel.

The HD channel will be available on subscription television channel 123 on Foxtel. Austar viewers are advised to “stay tuned for more details.”

CALL ME FITZ
Jason Priestley stars as Richard “Fitz” Fitzpatrick In “Call Me Fitz”. Fitz is a handsome, morally bankrupt used-car salesman whose consequence-free life is complicated by the arrival of do-gooder Larry (Ernie Grunwald), another salesman who claims he is Fitz’s conscience. “Call Me Fitz” is a twisted family dramedy that poses the question: can a man change? More importantly, when he’s having this much fun, do we really want him to? This is Jason Priestley as you’ve never seen him before. The first two seasons of “Call Me Fitz”, at 13 episodes each, will air every Wednesday at 9:30pm AEDT premiering February 29.

JUSTIFIED
Timothy Olyphant stars in the lead role of US Marshal Raylan Givens. Givens is a modern day 19th century-style lawman, enforcing his brand of justice in a way that puts a target on his back with criminals and places him at odds with his bosses in the Marshal service. When his superiors question if a killing in Miami was justified, he is sent back to his hillbilly hometown of Harlan, Kentucky. Here, he must not only face the demons of his past but also distrustful superiors and hostile locals as he attempts to hand out justice though the barrel of a gun. The first two seasons of Justified, at 13 episodes each, will air from February 27 every Monday at 8:30pm AEDT, preparing Australian viewers for the premiere of the third season around the same time it debuts in the US.

THE WALKING DEAD
Based on the graphic novels of the same name, The Walking Dead is an epic, survival adventure series from the director of The Shawshank Redemption and the producer of The Terminator and Aliens. After waking from a coma in an abandoned hospital, police officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) finds the world he knew gone – ravaged by a zombie epidemic of apocalyptic proportions. Nearby, on the outskirts of Atlanta, a small encampment struggles to survive as ‘the dead’ stalk them at every turn. Can Rick and the others hold onto their humanity as they fight to live in this terrifying new world? Amidst dire conditions and personal rivalries, will they ultimately survive one another?

HELL ON WHEELS
Set against the backdrop of post-Civil War America, Hell On Wheels stars Anson Mount as Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate soldier bent on exacting revenge on the corrupt Union soldiers who raped and killed his wife. His journey takes him west to Hell on Wheels, a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time. Hell On Wheels premieres Sunday February 26 at 10:00pm AEDT, with new episodes every Monday at 9:30pm AEDT from February 27. The series has been renewed for a second season and is currently in pre-production.

40 Responses

  1. Watched series 1 and 2. not a bad premise but you can see where the budget corners have been cut. don’t know how long it can be sustained though. the plotlines are dragged out.

  2. As I’ve said several times, Austar subscribers get the rough end of the pineapple and have for some time. Around the same monthly subscription cost but less channels and the Foxtel model comes with their IQ box as standard (no extra cost). If Austar subscribers want that same technology (except its called MyStar) they have to hand over an extra $15 or so a month. Pls pls pls Foxtel, hurry up and take over Austar!!!!

  3. So Justified was originally supposed to air on GO right? So I assume this means nein sold its first run rights to Foxtel like it did with every other program – Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, The Secret Circle the list just gets longer and longer they really do seem determined to die the death of 1000 cuts.

  4. @Josh & Knowfirst – This is the reason I’ve resisted getting MyStar or going to HD. Why should I pay more for something reported by many as unreliable. My LG works fine to record both FTA and Austar and doesn’t cost me a cent extra each month to hire. They even tried to give me a free 3 month trial but I’ve resisted, still using the same digital STB I have for the last 10 years. I cut of the magazine a year ago, and the FoxSports channels to reduce costs.

    I just wish we could get the channels Foxtel has and not have to pay more for the privilege. The sooner the take over Austar the better IMO, they maybe I can get a newer/better STB.

    David when you’re back from your break maybe we need a story on the current state of play between Austar and Foxtel?

  5. @ Knowfirst – I realise why it is that Austar have the FTA channels in their EPG positions and the very unreliable STB MyStar HD (having one myself and unable to receive any FTA channels). But what I am saying is, all Foxtel would have to do is send an update to its STB’s to change the EPG numbers of the FTA channels to free up room for more channels. And honestly, Foxtel can’t have good business sense if they think it is a good idea to have FTA channels amongst their pay-TV channels seems though it would reduce their viewer numbers. The best choice is to move the FTA channels to EPG numbers away from the rest of the pay-TV channels (if not in the >100s like Austar, why not 300s, or do as I suggested and place the SD and HD channels on the same EPG number and make use of the 200’s). Although what Foxtel have done with placing FTA channels amongst pay-TV channels is like the U.K., it is about time they start using the U.S. as their roll model seems though the SD/HD swap is utterly stupid (a Sky U.K. idea).

  6. Ahh Josh – the only reason Austar uses 006 et al is because they use a FTA tuner in their MySuck to show regional FTA. This however does not make up for the fact their MySuckHD reboots, and reboots, and loses recordings, and reboots again.

    As an ex Austar sucker, I’m so, so, so, so glad to be now in a Foxtel area. The reason Foxtel put Seven, Nine and Ten in those places was so that their channels would be closer to the FTA’s so that more people would find them when channel browsing.

    I honestly think Foxtel should have had a FTA tuner in the iQ2… maybe that will happen down the track.

  7. Wow, The Walking Dead sounds like a fresh new show… until you realize it’s been over a Year since the first season screened in the US and the second season is halfway done.

  8. Sorry, but too little, too late foxtel and whoever is responsible for this massive delay in showing it here and also the dvd/blu-ray release(which has been delayed a number of times, but, ho hum, pick it up from amazon, season 1).
    You wonder why people use “other means” to get their tv viewing, being shafted by studios, time and time again. Another example of this is Dexter season 6, and the stupid reasoning by showtime not airing it until 6 weeks after the US, in the case of TWD, 12 + months(maybe more).

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