Fox League is an Australiansubscription television channel dedicated to screeningrugby league (both domestic and international) matches and related programming. It is owned byFox Sports Pty Limited and is available throughout Australia onFoxtel. The channel was launched on 27 February 2017.[1]
On 27 November 2015, theAustralian Rugby League Commission announced thatFox Sports had secured the rights to air allNational Rugby League games excluding theNRL Grand Final (which continues to be aired onNine Network) live for the 2018–22 seasons.[2] Additionally, it was announced that the current rights agreement had been altered to allow Fox Sports to also have the live rights for all games excluding the Grand Final for the 2016 and 2017 seasons,[3] however, a dedicated yet-to-be-named NRL channel to showcase these rights would not launch until the 2017 season.[2]
In February 2017 it was announced the new channel would be calledFox League and would officially launch on 27 February 2017.[4] Ultimately,Fox League replacedFox Sports 2 on channel 502.[5][6]
In 2017, the NRL preliminary finals had 418,000 and 407,000 viewers.[7] In 2020, Fox League began carried in Canada on the pay streaming serviceDAZN.
Network executives announced a number of key hosting personnel at the public launch of the station on 16 February 2017.[12][13]
Network personalities and the media attended the launch for Fox League's 2018 programming slate on 20 February 2018. Further key hosting personnel were announced, in addition to some pre-existing roles from 2017.[14]
Outside ofAustralia,New Zealand and thePacific Islands, Fox League operates Watch NRL, a globalstreaming network. The network streams all games live, including State of Origin and the Grand Final, unlike its domestic counterpart, who broadcasts these games on delay.
