FOX (TV Channel)

**Fox** (stylised as **FOX**) was a British pay television channel serving the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Fox Networks Group, a unit of Disney International Operations. It launched on 12 January 2004 as **FX289**, then changed its name to **FX** in April 2005 (similar to the American FX), and rebranded to FOX in January 2013. Featuring a mix of comedies and drama series, the channel's programming targeted adults from 18 to 35 years old.

It was announced on 17 May 2021 that Fox would cease broadcasting in the UK and Ireland on 1 July 2021. Most of its content was moved to Star on Disney+, as part of the mass rebrand of Fox Networks Group. The channel ceased broadcasting as planned on that day.

Alongside, CNX, SYFY and Adult Swim, FOX was one of the inital main inspirations behind CSN, as it started partly as a revival of FOX UK, programming shared between the 2 include, Family Guy, American Dad!, King of the Hill, The Shield and Breaking Bad.

## History

### FX289 (2004–05)

The channel launched on 12 January 2004 branded as **FX289**, in reference to its Sky EPG number. In its early years, it mainly broadcast films from the 20th Century Studios library.

### FX (2005–2013)

The channel was rebranded as **FX** as it moved in the Sky EPG on 21 April 2005. As FX, the channel targeted a demographic of mainly males. Unlike its American counterpart, it promoted and aired both Fox-produced and non-Fox-produced shows. It had a similar format to its American sister channel, with a schedule consisting largely of Fox-produced shows, including comedies such as *Arrested Development*, *Family Guy*, *American Dad!* and *King of the Hill*, and dramas such as *Millennium*, *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*, *Nip/Tuck*, *Generation Kill*, *True Blood*, *Mob City* and *Dexter*. The channel also produced original content such as the sketch show No Signal!

### Fox (2013–2021)

FX was rebranded as Fox at 9:00 p.m. GMT on 11 January 2013 with the beginning of the tenth season of *NCIS*. With this change, the target demographic switched to both men and women aged between 18 and 35 years old. 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 planned to commission up to 50 hours of original UK content by the end of the year, expecting to spend between £5m and £10m.

Fox was removed from the BT YouView platform on 1 March 2016. BT stated in an e-mail to customers that Fox had "changed the way they offer their TV channels to TV providers." Following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, including Fox Networks Group International, the channel falls under ultimate ownership of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International.

In February 2019, the channel rebranded for the first time in more than four years. The rebrand included a new on-air identity which is more modern compared to earlier logos and idents.

### Closure

On 17 May 2021, Disney announced that Fox would be closing at the end of June, with all of the channel's content moving to Star hub of Disney+. "On 30 June, the Fox channel in the UK will close," announced a spokesperson for the broadcaster. "Many titles will become available on Star on Disney+ and will be announced in the near future. We appreciate the support of our UK fans and can't wait to keep sharing the best stories with you. Star on Disney+ serves as the home of movies and television from Disney's creative studios, including Disney Television Studios (20th Television and ABC Signature), FX Productions and 20th Century Studios."

The channel closed on 1 July 2021, with its website redirecting to Disney+. The final programme that was scheduled to be shown on Fox was *The Republic of Doyle*, season 5, episode 12: "Sleight of Hand" at 4:00 to 5:00am on Fox HD/SD and from 5:00 to 6:00am on Fox +1. One hour of teleshopping was broadcast on each channel before a screen card stating the channel had closed was shown, though the teleshopping was not on the EPG listings on Fox +1.
On Sky, Fox was on channel 124. On 1 July 2021, after Fox's closure, Sky Nature was moved from channel 130 to channel 124. Its secondary channel was not moved, which remained on channel 893.

## 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; *Jo* from France; *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 announced that a variety of Adult Swim programming would air on the channel including adult animated sci-fi comedy *Rick and Morty*, starting Thursday, 10 September of that year. On 10 September 2015, Adult Swim moved to Fox along with truTV, airing Rick and Morty and Mr. Pickles as its first day line up. As of 2016, it aired on Fridays from Midnight to 1:00 a.m.

### Final programming

* *American Dad!* (airs on CSN)
* *American Horror Story*
* *APB*
* *Atlanta*
* *Bless This Mess*
* *Bones*
* *Bull*
* *Damien*
* *Family Guy* (airs on CSN)
* *Gang Related*
* *L.A.'s Finest*
* *Mr Inbetween*
* *NCIS*
* *NCIS: New Orleans*
* *Next*
* *Outmatched*
* *Republic of Doyle*
* *Talking Dead*
* *The Family*
* *The Fix*
* *The Grinder*
* *The Mentalist*
* *The Orville*
* *The Walking Dead*
* *Those Who Kill*
* *War of the Worlds*

### Former programming

* *11.22.63*
* *24: Legacy*
* *Aqua Teen Hunger Force (airs on CSN)*
* *Baskets*
* *Body of Proof*
* *Braquo*
* Breaking Bad (airs on CSN)
* *Brockmire*
* *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*
* *Burn Notice*
* *Constantine*
* *Cops*
* *Da Vinci's Demons*
* *Deep State*
* *Dexter*
* *Dream Corp LLC*
* *Emergence*
* *Falling Skies*
* *False Flag*
* *Futurama*
* *Huff*
* *King of the Hill (airs on CSN)*
* *Law & Order: Criminal Intent*
* *Legion*
* *Leverage*
* *Louie*
* *Low Winter Sun*
* *Lucifer*
* *Marvel's Agent Carter*
* *Medium*
* *Minority Report*
* *Monk*
* *Murder in the First*
* *No Signal!*
* *Outcast*
* *People of Earth*
* *Perfect Harmony*
* *Prison Break*
* *Rick and Morty* (aired on CSN)
* *Shots Fired*
* *Stan Against Evil*
* *The Cleveland Show* (aired on CSN)
* *The Closer*
* *The Gifted*
* *The Passage*
* The Shield (airs on CSN)
* *The Venture Bros.*
* *Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories*
* *True Blood*
* *Tyrant*
* *Wayward Pines*
* *Wolf Creek*
* *Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell (airs on CSN)*

## See Also

* CSN
* Family Guy
* Breaking Bad
* CSMovies
* SYFY
* CNX