Fox Sports (Australia)

Fox Sports (Australia)
Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as well as Fox Sports News, Fox Cricket, Fox League, Fox Footy, Watch AFL and Watch NRL. Fox Sports channels such as Fox Netball are available via Foxtel or Kayo. The group's main competitors are beIN Sports, ESPN, Optus Sport and Stan Sport. Unlike Fox Sports (United States) the group is not owned directly by the Fox Corporation. However News Corp which holds a 65% stake in Foxtel is Fox Corporation's sister company.
History
Early years
Launch
Fox Sports started life as the Premier Sports Network (later just Premier Sports) as the only fully operational local channel at the launch of Australia's first pay-television service, Galaxy. Premier Sports' backers included American company Prime International, which later became part of Liberty Media. The service was launched at 16:00 on 26 January 1995 in Sydney, and made a name for itself, securing the rights to Australia's cricket tour of the West Indies. Previously Australian cricket tours had been covered on the Nine Network on free-to-air, and Nine tried to stop the broadcast under Australia's anti-siphoning rules, which state that certain popular sporting events cannot be screened exclusively on pay television. PSN signed a deal with Network 10 to share the broadcast rights.
Foxtel launch
When Foxtel launched its cable service later that year, PSN was included as part of the package. Between 1995 and 2010, Fox Sports aired National Basketball League (NBL) games. On 1 March 1996, PSN was relaunched as Fox Sports Australia, to coincide with the new Super 12 rugby union competition and the proposed launch of the Super League.
In 1997 a secondary channel was launched on Foxtel to carry broadcasts of the new Super League competition. Fox Sports and its chief competitor, Sports Australia shared the rights to NRL broadcasts as a result of the legal settlement in the Super League war. The channel on Foxtel was later relaunched as Fox Sports Two, at first broadcasting from Friday through Monday each week, and later expanding to a full 24-hour, 7-day service in 2002.
2000s
Optus launch
When Optus Vision dropped the C7 Sport service in March 2002, they started carrying the Fox Sports channels. These were referred to by Optus as "Optus Sports 1" and "Optus Sports 2" in Optus promotional material; on-air programming referred to the channels as simply "Sports One" and "Sports Two", although programming such as the nightly Fox Sports News bulletins retained the Fox name. Optus dropped the "Optus Sports" name in October 2002.
Fox Sports Two was generally used to cover bigger events that require large amounts of air time, such as the 1998 Winter Olympics, Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the 2004 European Football Championship. It now specialises as a 24/7, dedicated Rugby league channel, Fox League.
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Fox Sports carried an additional eight channels dedicated to Games events. These were available to customers at an additional charge.
Fox Sports was the exclusive broadcaster of the A-League from its first season in 2005 until 2020. In 2006, an A$120 million deal between the Football Federation Australia and Fox Sports was reached after the end of the first season. Under the deal, Fox Sports had exclusive rights from 2007 to all Socceroos home internationals, all A-League and Asian Cup fixtures, World Cup qualifiers through the Asian Football Confederation, and all AFC Champions League matches.
The deal to cover the A-league live and exclusive reaped big rewards for Fox Sports, its ratings were very strong in the 2006-07 season and the 2007 A-league grand final became at the time, Fox Sports' highest ever rating event.
Ratings for football have generally been very good. The Socceroos first game of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, attracted 345,000 viewers, while their quarter-final drew an average of 419,000 – at the time, an all-time record for Australian Pay TV. This record was broken on 1 April 2009, when the Socceroos defeated Uzbekistan to put them very close to qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This match was watched by an average of 431,000 people.
In 2007, Fox Sports reached a deal to broadcast 4 games live and exclusive from the AFL each week. This includes the exclusive only Sunday twilight match. In addition they will broadcast Friday night games live into New South Wales and Queensland via channel 518 at no extra charge – normally used for pay-per-view service Main Event. When channel 518 is used in this way it is promoted as Fox Sports Plus on-air.
The channel is being used increasingly to show live events when Fox Sports has a clash involving its main 3 channels. On Saturday 17 March 2007, for example, Fox Sports broadcast a match from the 2007 Cricket World Cup (Ireland v Pakistan) live on 518, as it was committed to football, rugby union and another cricket match on its main 3 channels.
2010s
In 2010 Fox Sports coverage of National Rugby League games held 73 out of the top 100 programs of any type aired on Foxtel. In February 2012, the Premier Media Group changed its name to Fox Sports Pty Limited.
In February 2012, Premier Media Group changed its name to Fox Sports, with CEO Patrick Delany explaining "The change from Premier Media to Fox Sports provides a stronger reflection of the core business of the company in its name, which is, and will continue to be, sport."
On 2 November 2012, News Corp took control of Consolidated Media Holdings after a $2 billion merger was approved by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Federal Court and Consolidated Media Holding shareholders, making News Corp 100% owner of Fox Sports Pty Ltd. In April 2018 News Corp Australia moved the ownership of the company to one of its subsidiaries Foxtel a joint venture with Telstra.
On 5 March 2013, Fox Sports unveiled its new headquarters at Gore Hill in Sydney. It was announced that the main studio would be named the Clive Churchill Studio after rugby league immortal Clive Churchill, as the studio will house NRL coverage. Technical innovations were the main highlight, with CEO Patrick Delany unveiling the FoxKopter, the FoxMobile Segway, Ref Cam and Cornerpost Cam. Fox Sports also launched a new corporate logo in line with its global affiliate broadcasters.
On 3 September 2014, Fox Sports announced that SPEED and Fuel TV would be rebranded as Fox Sports 4 and Fox Sports 5 on 3 November 2014, of which both will be available in HD. In addition, it was announced that FOX Sports News would launch a HD feed on the same day, taking FOX Sports' suite to 7 channels, all available in HD.
On 23 February 2017, Fox Sports More+, a new channel for live, pop-up events was launched.
Fox Sports News
Channels
Fox Sports News: Channel 500. On 3 November 2014, Fox Sports News launched a HD simulcast. In addition, it moved from channel 513 to channel 500.
Fox Cricket: Channel 501. Branded as Fox Sports 1 prior to 23 February 2017, then branded as Fox Sports 501 from 23 February 2017 to 17 September 2018.
Fox League: Channel 502. Branded as Fox Sports 2 prior to 23 February 2017, then branded as Fox Sports 502 from 23 February 2017 to 27 February 2017.
Fox Sports 503: Channel 503. Branded as Fox Sports 3 prior to 23 February 2017.
Fox Footy: Channel 504. Branded as Fox Sports 504 prior to 17 February 2012.
Fox Sports 505: Channel 505. Branded as Fox Sports 4 prior to 23 February 2017. Although Fox Netball broadcasts live on Fox Sports 505 as a pop-up channel.
Fox Sports 506: Channel 506. Branded as Fox Sports 5 prior to 23 February 2017.
Fox Sports More+: Channel 507. Although broadcast 24/7, the channel only acts as a pop-up channel with only occasional programming.
Fox Sports 508: Channel 508. On 21 February 2022, the Fox Sports Ultra HD channel 508 was removed to allow for an increased offering of Ultra HD Sports content from 11 March 2022 with the commencement of the NRL and AFL seasons.
Fox Sports UHD 1: Channel 591.
Fox Sports UHD 2: Channel 592.
Fox Sports UHD 3: Channel 593.
Fox Sports UHD 4: Channel 594.
Former channels
Fox Sports 501: Channel 501. Also available in HD. Replaced by Fox Cricket.
Fox Sports 502: Channel 502. Also available in HD. Replaced by Fox League.
Fox Sports 504: Channel 504. Also available in HD. Replaced by Fox Footy.
Fox Sports Plus: Launched on 6 September 2012, the channel showed what live and upcoming sports were available via Viewer's Choice on Fox Sports 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The channel ceased broadcasting on 9 February 2017, and was replaced on 23 February 2017 by Fox Sports More+.
Fuel TV (replaced by Fox Sports 505)
Main Event: The Main Event channel was used as an "overflow" channel when multiple live sporting events needed to be broadcast. This included Friday Night AFL in New South Wales, Queensland and Australian Capital Territory and Saturday Nights in New South Wales (excluding the Wagga Wagga market) and Canberra. It was also used nationwide for a Socceroos game in June 2007. On many occasions the Main Event channel was used when the Premier League had multiple games on the one night, although usage in this capacity is rare now that the "Viewer's Choice" system of showing multiple matches on one channel through multi-casting (pressing the "Red Button" on a Foxtel/Austar remote control). Unlike the AFL, the NRL was never broadcast into Southern Australia through Fox Sports Plus on Friday nights, leaving its Southern Australian fans having to wait until at least after midnight for a replay of the match on local free-to-air channels up until 2012.
Speed (replaced by Fox Sports 506)
Footy Play powered by Fox Sports (available on Xbox 360, Telstra T-Box, and Foxtel on Internet TV).
Sports Play powered by Fox Sports (available on Xbox 360, Telstra T-Box, and Foxtel on Internet TV until 2013, when Fox Sports 1-3 launched on these services.)
Fox Sports Ultra HD: Channel 508 in 4K Ultra HD. Channel ended on 10 March 2022 as Foxtel replaced it with "a brand-new Ultra HD sport destination" for when 4K events are broadcasting at the same time.
Programming
Current programming
The Back Page
Centre Circle
E-League (Australia)
Fight Call Out (2017–present)
Fox Fans League
Fox Sports FC
The Golf Show
GolfBarons
Inside Rugby
Inside Supercars
Supercars Trackside
Pivot
Kick Off
Matchday Saturday
Monday Night with Matty Johns (2013–present)
NRL 360 (2013–present)
Shoot Out
Supercars Life
UFC Fight Week
Former programming
Bill & Boz (2017–2019)
Inside Cricket
The Crew (2013–2015)
On the Couch with Sterlo (2013–2017)
Santo, Sam and Ed's Total Football (2013–2015)
Sports/competitions televised by Fox Sports
Current rights
Australian rules football
Australian Football League Premiership Season (Broadcasts three matches live during most weekends of the regular season whenever sister channel Fox Footy, is screening another LIVE match at the same time. Fox Sports occasionally screens other programming such as magazine and panel shows that are produced and broadcast by Fox Footy.
Combat sports
Cage Fighting Championship
Evolution
Fight Call Out (2017–present)
Fox Sports Friday Night Fights
Hammer Time
Knees of Fury
Legend MMA
Maximus Academy
UFC Fight Week
The Ultimate Fighter
Cricket
Australian national cricket team International Test Cricket (Shared with Seven Network)
Australian national cricket team One-day Internationals
Australian national cricket team Twenty20 Internationals
Australian national cricket team International Women's Test Cricket (Simulcast of Seven Network coverage)
Australian national cricket team Women's One-day Internationals (Simulcast of Seven Network coverage)
Australian national cricket team Women's Twenty20 Internationals (Simulcast of Seven Network coverage)
Australian domestic First-class Sheffield Shield final
Australian domestic List A JLT One-Day Cup
Australian domestic Twenty20 Big Bash League all 61 games (43 Shared with Seven Network)
Australian domestic Women's Twenty20 Women's Big Bash League (Simulcast of Seven Network coverage)
Home series of the England cricket team
Home series of the West Indies cricket team
Home series of the New Zealand cricket team
Home series of the South African cricket team
Home series of the Pakistan cricket team
Home series of the Sri Lankan cricket team
Home series of the Indian cricket team
Global T20 Canada
Caribbean Premier League
Hong Kong T20 Blitz
Super Smash
Indian Premier League
SA20
T20 Blast
Bangladesh Premier League
Pakistan Super League
Major League Cricket
International League T20
Darts
PDC World Darts Championship
PDC World Cup of Darts
Premier League Darts
Field hockey
Men's FIH Pro League
Women's FIH Pro League
Oceania Cup
Hockey India League
Golf
American PGA Tour (All rounds)
European PGA Tour
Champions Tour
Women's major golf championships
Asian Tour (highlights)
US Open
The Masters Tournament
The Open Championship
PGA Championship
Motorsport
Formula racing
Formula One
Open wheel
FIA Formula 2 Championship
FIA Formula 3 Championship
Indy Lights
Toyota Racing Series
Stock Cars
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Touring Cars
Supercars Championship (shared with Seven Network)
World Touring Car Cup
British Touring Car Championship
DTM
Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships
Summernats
Sportscars
Australian GT Championship
Bathurst 12 Hour (shared with Seven Network)
Michelin Pilot Challenge
Dubai 24 Hour
FIA European Truck Racing Championship
24 Hours Nürburgring
Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships
FIA World Endurance Championship
Drag racing
ANDRA Pro Series
Bikes
MotoGP (shared with Network Ten)
Superbike World Championship (shared with SBS)
British Superbike Championship
Australian Superbike Championship
Rally
British Rally Championship
European Rally Championship
European Rallycross Championship
Speedway
FIM Speedway Grand Prix
FIM Speedway World Cup
British Elite Speedway
World Series Sprintcars
Australian Sprintcar Championship
Chequered Flag
FIM Ice Speedway World Championship
Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic
World of Speedway
Motocross
AMA Motocross Championship
Australian Supercross Championship
British Motocross Championship
FIM Enduro World Championship
FIM Motocross World Championship
FIM MX of Nations
FIM Supermoto
MXTV
Netball
Suncorp Super Netball
INF Netball World Cup
Constellation Cup
Australian Diamonds
Rugby league
National Rugby League (Every Game Live, 5 games Live and Exclusive and 3 game simulcast Live with Nine in a full round). Fox Sports occasionally screens other programming such as new magazine and panel shows that are produced and broadcast by Fox League.
Holden Cup (2008–2017)
New South Wales Cup
Rugby Football League's Super League
Surfing
World Surf League (All events live)
Ten-pin bowling
Rollin' Thunder
Weber Cup
Former Rights
Baseball
Australian Baseball League (Championship series only)
Basketball
FIBA World Cup
EuroLeague
National Basketball League (All games live on ESPN, including semi-finals and Grand Final) (Shared with 10 Peach)
Women's National Basketball League (Shared with ABC)
Ice hockey
Australian Ice Hockey League (Match of the round and highlights)
Motorsport
Rally
World Rally Championship (shared with 10 Bold)
Australian Rally Championship (shared with 10 Bold)
Netball
ANZ Championship
Rugby union
Super Rugby (All games live and exclusive) (1995–2020)
Super W (All games live and exclusive) (2018–2020)
The Rugby Championship (shared with Network Ten) (1995–2020)
Wallabies internationals (shared with Network Ten) (1995–2020)
Global Rapid Rugby (shared with SBS Sport)
National Rugby Championship
Currie Cup
ITM Cup
Soccer
Hyundai A-League (All games live, Saturday night matches shared with ABC TV) (2004–2021)
Hyundai A-League Finals Series (All games live, shared with ABC TV) (2004–2021)
Australia Cup (One live match per matchday, plus both semi-finals and the final live (2014–2019)
Asian Champions League (All games involving Australian teams live, plus some others) (2021)
AFC Asian Cup (All Games, 28 games (include the Socceroos team) exclusively live) (2021)
Socceroos internationals (All games include AFC Asian cup and exclude FIFA World Cup finals games, shared with SBS Viceland (two matches only) and ABC TV for the World Cup qualification second round) (2021)
Indian Super League (2021)
Other separate International Football matches
Westfield W-League (One live match per week, plus both semi-finals and the grand final live; shared with ABC TV) (2015–2021)
Tennis
World Tennis Challenge
Moorilla Hobart International
ATP 250 Series; Open Sud de France, Quito Open, Memphis Open, Geneva Open)
WTA Tour (replays)
Hawaii Open
Availability
Fox Sports is available nationally and is available on Foxtel's My Sport package and Optus featuring Foxtel's Total Sport package.
See also
List of sports television channels
References
External links
Fox Sports Broadcast the Champions Trophy ODI Cricket Match Live in Australia
Television channels and stations established in 1995
1995 establishments in Australia
English-language television stations in Australia
Prime Sports