Fox Footy
Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Melbourne based studios and available throughout Australia on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel is a revival of the former Fox Footy Channel, which was in operation between 2002–2006. The channel recommenced prior to the 2012 AFL season after a new broadcast agreement was reached between the former Premier Media Group, Austar, Foxtel and the Australian Football League (AFL).[1]
Fox Footy | |
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Launched | 17 February 2012 |
Owned by | Fox Sports Pty Limited |
Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Slogan | We're a FOX Sporting Nation |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Sister channel(s) | Fox Sports Fox Cricket Fox League Fox Sports News |
Availability | |
Satellite | |
Foxtel | Channel 504 (SD/HD) Channel 206 (SD) Channel 444 (4K) |
Cable | |
Foxtel | Channel 504 (SD/HD) Channel 206 (SD) |
Optus TV | Channel 504 (SD) Channel 206 (HD) |
IPTV | |
Foxtel Now | 'Footy Play': Channel 504 'Footy Play +:' Channel 550 |
Streaming media | |
Foxtel Go | Channel 504 |
Kayo Sports | Channel 504 |
As of January 2018, the Round 7, 2011 clash between the Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions remains the highest-rating AFL game ever on Fox Footy, recording a national subscription TV figure of 354,745 viewers.[2]
History
It was announced on 28 April 2011 that the channel would be revived for the 2012 AFL season. The channel returned exclusively on Foxtel and its broadcasting partners, under the proposed new name of "Fox Sports AFL",[3] which was later changed back to its original name "Fox Footy". The channel relaunched at 5:00 pm AEDT on Friday 17 February 2012 with the first NAB Cup round-robin match between Hawthorn, Richmond and North Melbourne.
Fox Footy has live broadcast rights to all Marsh Community Series matches, all AFLW home and away matches, all AFLW Finals matches including the Grand Final, all AFL home and away matches and all AFL Finals matches until the AFL Grand Final which is shown on delayed with the game being screened exclusively live on Seven. All matches are broadcast live to air in Standard, High Definition and selected matches in 4K Ultra HD with no commercial breaks during play. When two live matches are being played simultaneously, Fox Sports 503 broadcasts one of the matches.
From the start of the 2012 AFL season, Fox Footy had become the most watched Pay-TV network in Australia.[4] In 2017, the AFL preliminary finals had 556,000 and 441,000 viewers.[5]
Programming
Programs
Former Programs
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EventsGamesAll AFL premiership matches are broadcast live, with no ads during game-play, excluding the AFL Grand Final, which is delayed by three hours due to the Seven Network owning the exclusive broadcast rights. Most NAB Challenge matches are broadcast live.
Special events
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Personnel
Coverage of certain matches including Friday nights and public holidays is picked up from the Seven Network. The pre-match and post-match show, are removed from the Fox Footy broadcast (those segments only air on the original Seven broadcast), and the official Seven logo is concealed.
Commentators
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RegularsThe following are not match commentators, but appear regularly on Fox Footy panel shows:
FormerThe following are former Fox Footy/Fox Sports match commentators
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References
- Every game, every week...live|Frost Global
- QClash sets TV record - afl.com.au. Published 9 May 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
- FOXTEL to Deliver Most Comprehensive Live AFL Coverage Ever Archived 3 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- 2017 TV: the final word - TV Tonight, 2 February 2018