FX Could Be Splitting into Two Networks

[JamesG]

Fox Doubling Down on FX in Bet on Cable Nets
by Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable
1/16/2013


Fox Networks is planning to split its successful FX channel into two networks as part of a larger effort to enlarge its cable footprint.

A new network, tentatively called FXX, would target younger viewers -- millennials -- with a skew towards comedy, according to media executives who have been briefed on the plans.

The network would program some of the original comedy series that now appear on FX, such as "The League" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". It would also be stocked with appropriate theatrical movies from a stockpile FX has been building in deals with nearly all of the major studios over the past few years.





The plans call for a launch in September with about 75 million subscribers. Many of those subscribers would come from the Fox Soccer channel, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

After the split, FX would continue to air the edgy dramas such as "Sons of Anarchy" and "Justified" that attract young adults and baby boomers. FX Networks, headed by John Landgraf, will also continue to produce the movie channel FXM.

A Fox spokesman declined to comment on details, saying only that the company is always examining its programming options.





By giving the entertainment networks different focuses, they might avoid cannibalizing each other's viewership and competing for programming. Splitting a network portfolio along drama/comedy lines has long been done by Turner Broadcasting, with TNT, which features drama, and its "very funny" TBS.

AMC Networks is following a similar strategy by having IFC focus on quirky comedies while its develops dramas for Sundance Channel.





Cable has been a major profit driver for News Corp., which is in the process of dividing itself into two public companies controlled by Rupert Murdoch. One company, the new News Corp., will mainly own the company's publishing assets. The other, Fox Group, would be in the TV and movie business, headed by Chase Carey, a big believer in the power of both cable and sports.

Fox is also in the process of creating a national sports cable network that would compete with ESPN, which commands high ratings and higher subscriber fees thanks to its licenses to carry professional football, baseball and basketball, as well as college football.

The network, expected to be called Fox Sports 1, will be built on what is now the racing driven channel Speed. There is also talk that the company's Fuel channel, now gaining muscle from its UFC programming, could become Fox Sports 2.





Of course, all of the changes are subject to agreements with distributors, which can opt to drop channels if the deviate from the way they are defined in their carriage agreements.

Executives from cable distributors such as Time Warner Cable and Dish Network have talked about dropping channels rather than adding them as the cost of programming rises. That could make achieving carriage more difficult for new networks or mean that less lucrative deals are coming down the pike.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...Cable_Nets.php

[icecream]

I don't have any use for one FX network, let alone two.

[Sal]

I would just call the first network F and the other one X!

[CommonTater]

I doubt we'd watch either, we don't watch FX now.

[robyrob]

no thanks, I'll be asking TW to drop them

[Tubehead]

i rember long time agothey usedot show classc like the a-team show ever since they started aring their own shows and two and ahalf man i dont watch them any more

[Regulus]

Five will get you ten FX 1 will replace its programming with shoddy "Unscripted" TV Shows (That's "Reality" shows for those of you in Rio Linda! ) while FX 2 will placed on the Highest Tier, thus requiring you to pay more to get it.

They'll probably use this as an excuse to jack up the rates even more.

[clj2]

FX has some good stuff IMO. Their dramas are fantastic -- ALL of the dramas I watch now are cable dramas (USA, FX, AMC), the network ones have gotten boring.

[broadmoor]

I sure liked FX when it was showing reruns of "Ghost and Mrs. Muir," "Rawhide," "Family Affair," and "Green Hornet." Let's see, when was that? The first six months it existed? Don't think I've watched it since.

[TMC]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/enter...lanning/63651/

The FXX move seems like an attempt to class-up the FX brand, while also raking in lucrative young male ad revenue for FXX. PLUS: Why another cable channel?

[MrCleveland]

I feel FXX should play FOX Classic Comedies as well as "The Simpsons" or anything by Seth McFarlane.

[EmoJoe]

FX is probably the best cable network, despite their annoying devotion to Charlie Sheen.

I don't know about this idea though. I hope all of the cable packages that get FX will get FXX (which, by the way, terrible name), otherwise it seems unfair to make us pay more for shows that used to be included in our plan.

[TMC]

http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/...ox-soccer.html

Over the last couple of years, Fox Soccer has been losing major properties that are to key to its programming. It first lost the secondary contract to Major League Soccer to NBC just before last season. Then last year, it lost the rights to the English Premier League again to NBC. EPL represents a major portion of Fox Soccer's schedule. When the EPL goes to NBC in August, Fox Soccer will be without the league that helped define the specialty channel dating back to 1997 when it was known as Fox Sports World.

So it comes as no surprise that Fox will kill off Fox Soccer on September 2 and convert it to an entertainment companion channel to FX, rebranding it as FXX. Fox Sports had previously announced that UEFA Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and CONCACAF games will be moving to Fox Sports 1. The new channel will also air FIFA World Cup games starting in 2015. Other programming that had been aired on Fox Soccer and sister channel, Fox Soccer Plus, will also be folded into Fox Sports 1, the anticipated Fox Sports 2 and FoxSports2Go, an online app that will be unveiled in conjunction with the August launch of FS1.

FXX will become the home of FX comedies "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "The League" as Fox hopes to attract viewers in the 18-34 demographic. FX will become more adult and continue to air dramas like "Justified" and "The Americans."

Fox Soccer was launched in 1997 as Fox Sports World and aired not just soccer, but Australian Rules Football, rugby and various other sports not available on the major networks. It rebranded as Fox Soccer Channel in 2005 eventually dropping "Channel" in 2011.

Fox Soccer was a victim of its own success. It provided wall-to-wall coverage of the sport with shows like Fox Football Fone-In, Fox Soccer News, Goals on Sunday and the innovative Relegation Sunday when it and other Fox networks covered every EPL game on the last day of the 2011-12 season. Over the last few years, ratings had gone up and fans found it as a destination. But as it began losing properties to NBC and the upstart beIN Sport, sustaining Fox Soccer as a standalone became more difficult. So Fox Soccer will die a slow death until September when it changes over. At least Fox is not getting out of the soccer business, but the channel will be missed.

[cherryade]

I imagine Fox is using the Fox Soccer Channel situation as an opportunity to launch a new cable channel, which is something that is increasingly difficult to do and is only going to get harder as time goes on.

I'd guess that their long-term plan is to turn FXX into the MacFarlane/Simpsons channel, but that requires them to regain the rights for MacFarlane's shows from TBS and Adult Swim and cancel The Simpsons, which would free them from restrictive legacy broadcast syndication contracts.

[EmoJoe]

I doubt they'll get the MacFarlane rights, TBS and Adult Swim have a tight hold on those. But I wouldn't at all bet on this leading to the cable premiere of The Simpsons once the show ends (which I actually think might be fairly soon). There was even talk of them starting an all-Simpsons channel a few years ago.