Foxtel announces new FOX channels, renews Real Housewives of Melb.
Foxtel hits refresh with 4 new channels and a show renewal.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription, Top Stories
- FOX ONE to feature contemporary series
- FOX FUNNY & FOX HITS replaces 111 FUNNY
- FOX CRIME replaces TVH!TS
- Binge channel to be removed
- Arena joins Lifestyle suite
- The Real Housewives of Melbourne renewed
Foxtel has announced an overhaul of its entertainment channels from November which sees four FOX-branded channels and a refresh of its Lifestyle franchise.
From 7 November, four new FOX-branded entertainment channels will launch: FOX One, FOX Funny, and FOX Crime in HD, plus FOX Hits in SD.
They join existing channels FOX Showcase, FOX8 and FOX Classics, together with FOX branded sports channels.
Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany said: “FOX is a breakthrough global entertainment brand known for surprising and shaking things up. These new FOX-branded TV channels allow us to take control of our entertainment programming based on bold channel personalities that keep things fresh and aligned to what our customers want from us. They will also deliver great outcomes for our advertisers.
“The channels are unapologetically and unmistakably Foxtel. They are exclusive to us and make it even easier for our customers to access our huge range of television, from the latest international and local drama series to the most popular crime and comedies.
“They add to our existing flagship FOX-branded channels and will be home to thousands of hours of the best live and on demand TV. There is no other collection of channel brands like it on Australian television or streaming platforms.”
FOX One will be a new flagship channel along-side FOX Showcase and FOX8 and home to the latest premium US network and cable series and contemporary hits including Ballers, Chicago Fire and Mayans M.C. and new season premieres including Prodigal Son, legal drama All Rise and the explosive War of the Worlds.
FOX Funny will showcase the latest contemporary comedy including The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, The Office, 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother.
FOX Hits is a new comedy channel that will deliver classic comedy favourites from the 80s and 90s such as Friends, Will and Grace, Frasier and Malcolm in the Middle.
FOX Crime is a new channel featuring the best crime series on television including NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI and Bones.
The Foxtel Lifestyle Group, which recently came under the control of Wendy Moore has undergone a brand revision which now also includes Arena channel.
“Our female audiences are incredibly important and this wholesale revision and revitalisation of the Lifestyle Group doubles-down on delivering more value through relevant and contemporary programming for Australian women and their families,” said Delany.
“We know that seeing your own lives and dreams beam directly to your home is a powerful motivator. Our Lifestyle channels have built a strong emotional connection with women by inspiring them with what’s on-trend and what’s possible.
“We know however that life is about the perfect mixture of sugar and spice. Part of viewer enjoyment and well-being involves indulging their guilty pleasures.
“This is where the repositioning and refresh of the Arena channel fits in as the home of risqué reality, glamour and salacious gossip and drama. This will see the channel air a fresh, new series of Australia’s Real Housewives of Melbourne in 2020.”
From 25 September, a brand refresh for Lifestyle will be accompanied by the arrival of Find Me a Beach House and the return of Love It or List It Australia and The Great Australian Bake Off.
- Lifestyle bringing local and international experts into Australian homes including Selling Houses Australia, Grand Designs Australia, Love It or List It Australia and new series Find Me a Beach House starring Deborah Hutton.
- Lifestyle Food celebrating the variety and cultural beauty of food including The Great Australian Bake Off, Masterchef UK and Hell’s Kitchen.
- Lifestyle Home, the ultimate destination for 24/7 home and property entertainment including Love It or List It, A Place in The Sun and Coast v Country.
- Arena, the home of guilty pleasures, glamour and fame featuring The Real Housewives franchise, Project Runway and Vanderpump Rules.
The channel changes follow yesterday’s announcement that BBC Earth will launch on 10 October.
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- Tagged with The Real Housewives of Melbourne
18 Responses
I’ve been begging for more HD feeds and channels for years so I should be happy, but unfortunately this announcement is a mixed basket. Rebranding TVHITS as Fox Crime seems smart given that’s been it’s focus since 2015, and the content is well deserving of a HD feed. Splitting 111funny into two is a nifty idea given these channels seem to be consistent raters. But giving Fox Hits a HD feed before Comedy Channel is insulting. And Fox One being the “new flagship channel…and home to the latest premium US network and cable series and contemporary hits” sounds identical to FOX8 and Fox Showcase so it seems a marketing blunder with there not enough differentiation between the 3.
Did you know Comedy Channel is sent to the UK and broadcast by Sky, in HD ?? Check the Wikipedia article!
Showcase is in the drama pack and the Comedy Channel is in entertainment plus. So if Fox One with some Showcase rejects and Funny, with more recent sitcoms, are in the entertainment package there may some net gain in shows customers with only that package. Though Foxtel haven’t stated which packages the channels will be in it ,so is hard to be sure.
My expectation is that at least Fox One will be in the drama package to replace Binge. This will therefore mean if you want to continue to watch Chicago Fire and other shows in basic channels through Foxtel, you would need to upgrade if you don’t have the drama package. Possibly some of the other replacement channels (not new channels) but would be a bit surprised. But hey, its Foxtel so who knows. If they were all going to be included in basic, they would have announced it now.
Yawn, you know they’re failing hard to get new subscribers when they have to re-brand channels constantly. maybe don’t over charge an under deliver.
So the Comedy Channel and Boxsets names are staying as they are while Binge is getting axed altogether? Is there going to be a new extra channel or will there still be the same amount of channels in the end?
I wish Foxtel would bring back TCM
But to go back on topic as stated above are there really any new channels more like renaming to me
Geez after these “changes” Fox Crime/Hits/Funny I’m ringing up and trying to get a price reduction.
Would have thought they added a few 4k channels!
So just a bit of rearranging. “New” channels that are just replacements. And still just repeating they have been repeating for the past 15 years. There are so many other older shows they could get and show but no, more repeats of Big Bang theory and friends.
With The Big Bang Theory already playing multiple times a day on The Comedy Channel, I’m surprised Foxtel is going to air it on yet another channel as well. That plus 9GO! means episodes could be airing on 3 channels at the same time!
Rearanging deckchairs on a sinking ship.
Why do they persist with SD only channels, so last century.
Is UKTV ever going to be reinstated as HD?????
Both Netflix and Stan offer SD only options. Clearly there’s a market for it.
In the case of FOX Hits, perhaps they didn’t have the available bandwidth on the satellite transponders for those channels to fit in an HD version.
Is there really any benefit in watching a 1980s show shot in 4:3 NTSC in HD?
Hi David. Any idea what this means for people on the $10 Foxtel Mini Pack? I don’t start it until September 20th but the guy on the phone said I get Fox8, 111, TVH!TS and a few other channels.
Wouldn’t FOX HITS be replacing TVH!TS?
TVH!TS has just been crime shows only for quite a while now. FOX Hits will be comedy.
So they are basically taking existing content and stretching it across two channels to replace ‘111’, because there wasn’t enough double\triple plays and replays of the same episode throughout the day. FOX Hits should also be in HD seeing as shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Fraiser, Raymond, Will & Grace, and Malcolm in the Middle have all either been converted to HD, or the series migrated to HD during it’s original run.