 | |
| Headquarters | Houston, Texas |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | 21st Century Fox(Fox Networks Group) |
| Sister channels | Fox Soccer Plus |
| History | |
| Launched | November 1, 1997 (1997-11-01) |
| Closed | September 2, 2013 (2013-09-02) |
| Replaced by | FXX Fox Soccer Plus (namesake) |
| Former names | Fox Sports World (1997–2005) Fox Soccer Channel (2005–2011) |
Fox Soccer (formerlyFox Soccer Channel &Fox Sports World before that) was an American televisionspecialty channel specializing insoccer, owned by21st Century Fox, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcastrugby andAustralian rules football, but in its final years it was devoted strictly to soccer.
Due to Fox consolidating its cable sports rights on the new general-interest channelsFox Sports 1 andFox Sports 2, and following the loss of United States television rights to broadcastPremier League soccer events toNBC,[1] Fox Soccer was replaced on September 2, 2013, byFXX, an entertainment sister network toFX.[2] The vast majority of the remaining sports programming from Fox Soccer has been moved to Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, which launched on August 17, 2013.[3]Fox Soccer Plus, a spin-off channel which launched in 2010, continues to operate.[4]
Launched on November 1, 1997, when it was originally known asFox Sports World, the channel took its final name February 7, 2005, later dropping the word "channel" from its name on August 1, 2011, Fox Soccer offered its own game programming for United States soccer leagues through arrangements with outside production companies.
Most of Fox Soccer's coverage which originated outside theCONCACAF region (North America, Central America, Caribbean) consisted of picking up international broadcast feeds to which Fox Soccer had the U.S. broadcast rights. The A-League broadcasts were produced byFox Sports (Australia). The English coverage generally came to Fox Soccer direct fromIMG, Input Media and The Media Company, which produce the Premier League and FA Cup/England national team world feed broadcasts and Fox Soccer News reports respectively.
The network's soccer coverage was not limited to game play; Fox Soccer aired reruns ofDream Team, aBritishsoap opera that aired in the UK on Fox Soccer's corporate cousinSky One until 2007 and focused on a fictional Premiership team. The channel also televised a live soccer talk-show,Fox Football Fone-in, featuring viewer calls and predictions for that weekend'sPremier League matches. During the Premier League term, Fox Soccer also produced and aired a couple of studio-based shows surrounding its game coverage.[5]
In 2006, Fox Soccer announced that they had dropped coverage of sports other than soccer. Amongst the leagues dropped wereSuper Rugby (rugby union), theAustralian Football League (the principalAustralian rules football league), and the AustralianNational Rugby League. The Super 14 games resided onSetanta Sports USA until it went off the air in early 2010, while ESPN offers the AFL. In return, Setanta gave Fox Soccer the rights to some national team matches that would not otherwise air live. After Setanta's demise in the US, News Corporation acquired most of Setanta USA's former rights and created the newFox Soccer Plus as a second broadcast outlet.
Fox Sports World originally filled out its schedule with an eclectic mix of programming; among the sports featured (either in anthology form or actual events) weremotorsports (prior to News Corporation's acquisition of SPEED, nowFox Sports 1),cricket,pool,darts, andextreme sports. It also aired the Final Four of theEuroleague inbasketball; that league is now more extensively covered byNBA TV. Cricket, pool and darts currently see American coverage onWillow andONE World Sports, which also now broadcasts someSky Sports programming.
Until the middle of 2012, the morning hours on non-game days (when the English and European afternoon is timed to in the United States) and some odd afternoon half hours were slotted withpaid programming time until additional loops ofFox Soccer News andSky Sports News were placed in those slots.
The720p high definition simulcast of Fox Soccer launched in January 2010. The signature promo voice of the network was Jimmy Hodson.
The channel focused on soccer throughout the world. In the final year, the network's rights included; (all rights have moved toFox Sports 1 andFox Sports 2)
Fox Soccer picked up the feed from its corporate cousin,Sky Sports News in theUnited Kingdom. In 2007, Fox Soccer began running the feed live at 2 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. Eastern Time (the 7 p.m. edition moved toFox Soccer Plus effective September 2010). This arrangement dates back to its days as Fox Sports World, and offers updated soccer news throughout the day (along with coverage of other international sports such asrugby,cricket and Britishhorse racing.), along with the morning rundown of English newspaper sports pages.
During the international off-season from May–August 2010 the 2am simulcast of the 7am GMT hour was replaced with a tape-delayed broadcast ofSky News at Ten from SSN & Fox Soccer sister networkSky News, which features a comprehensive recap of the day in sports; likely this was due to2010 World Cup highlights exclusivity by American rightsholderESPN, in addition to Sky Sports News converting their operations tohigh definition. The 2am simulcast of Sky Sports News was restored in August 2010 with the start of the European season.
All simulcasts of Sky Sports News were discontinued on July 1, 2013, as Fox Soccer began their wind-down of operations, with Fox apparently deciding not to carry the program over to either Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, or Fox Soccer Plus.
From September 2002 to August 16, 2012, Fox Soccer's flagship studio program wasFox Soccer Report (originallyFox Sports World Report), anchored by Michelle Lissel, Eoin O'Callaghan and Asa Rehman, with former Scottish amateur footballerBobby McMahon, produced by theShaw Media–ownedFox Sports World Canada at the studios ofCKNDWinnipeg.
After Fox Sports World ceased operations in April 2012, Fox Soccer made similar arrangements with the Canadian sports channelSportsnet for a replacement program. The Sportsnet-producedFox Soccer News began airing August 17, 2012, with hostsBrendan Dunlop,Kara Lang, Ben Ennis, and analystThomas Rongen; McMahon also moved to Sportsnet and continued withFox Soccer News, providing continuity betweenFox Soccer Report andFox Soccer News. It aired nightly at 10 p.m. Eastern (or after a live prime-time match – though highlights of that game would not be included because the show is taped), with a few re-airs overnight and during the morning.
With the launch of Fox Sports 1, the program was replaced by an in-house soccer news program,Fox Soccer Daily, on August 19, 2013 (Sportsnet continued to produce and air the prior program asSoccer Central), though that show was canceled by the end of the year. It was replaced with NFL playoff and NASCAR-focused programming and eventually, a video simulcast ofMike Francesa's radio program.
Fox lost the U.S. television rights to broadcastPremier League soccer events toNBC,[1] and the ItalianSerie A, FrenchLigue 1 andEFL Championship rights tobeIN Sports.[11] As a result, Fox Soccer was replaced on September 2, 2013, byFXX, an entertainment sister network toFX.[2] All of the remaining sports programming from Fox Soccer was moved toFox Sports 1 andFox Sports 2, which launched on August 17, 2013.[3] FXX's primary focus is on comedies (resulting in FX and FXX maintaining a genre-based format similar to that ofTBS andTNT) and features original and acquired comedy series, though feature films and some drama series are also broadcast on FXX – with first-run episodes of some of the channel's original series being carried over to the channel from FX.
Fox Soccer's run ended with a final full run ofBeing: Liverpool on September 2 from midnight–6am ET (with an FXX disclaimer card before the program), leading into FXX airing thepilot episode ofParks and Recreation an hour later at 7am ET, with paid programming with an FXX disclaimer card in front of each paid program in the hour between. The channel properly transferred from Fox Soccer to FXX an hour later, when a clip ofFC Barcelona'sLionel Messi about to score a goal (two scenes taken from the UEFA Champions League matches on April 3, 2012, and March 12, 2013) was broken up byFrank Reynolds (Danny DeVito) ofIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia coming through a leather couch (representing a television screen being "torn" through) being "birthed" in the nude (a scene taken from the 2009 Christmas special episodeA Very Sunny Christmas), suggesting the "birthing" of FXX.[12] The last live international event carried was a UEFA Champions League match betweenCeltic F.C. andFC Shakhter Karagandy fromCeltic Park on August 28. The last live match to be carried by the network altogether was theNational Women's Soccer League final betweenPortland Thorns FC and theWestern New York Flash on August 31.
