 | |
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Melbourne |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 16:9 (576i,SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Foxtel Networks |
| Sister channels | Foxtel Networks channels |
| History | |
| Launched | 30 June 1996[1] |
| Closed | 1 September 2020; 5 years ago (2020-09-01) |
| Replaced by | Fox Comedy |
| Links | |
| Website | thecomedychannel.com.au |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Foxtel Go | Channel 121 |
The Comedy Channel (promoted on air ascomedy) was an Australian subscription television channel available onFoxtel, andOptus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020.[2]
A joint venture betweenArtist Services (20%),Australis Media (40%), andFoxtel (40%),[3] the channel began broadcasting on the Galaxy platform, and became available on Foxtel on 1 August 1996.[1] After the collapse of Australis in 1998, Foxtel's share of the channel increased to 80%.[3] The channel became fully owned by Foxtel after it purchased Artist Services' (nowITV Studios Australia, formerly Granada Australia) 20% stake in August 2002.[4][5]
In 2006–2007, the channel moved headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, into the studios vacated byFox Footy Channel.[6] Until the launch ofComedy Central in 2016, The Comedy Channel was the only channel in Australia specifically dedicated to comedy around the clock. It primarily featuresstand-up comedy,sitcoms,animated comedy series,sketch comedy, comedy films, andtalk shows.
Started on 11 March 2008 but the comedy shows are now airing on The Comedy Channel on 11 March 2008. The block returned withRobot Chicken andHarvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, in March 2008, withAqua Teen Hunger Force joining the programming on 1 July.The Boondocks also airs on the same channel although it is not under the Adult Swim banner and instead airs separately.Moral Orel has premiered on Australian television.Titan Maximum also premiered on 6 January 2010.Frisky Dingo joined the Comedy Channel’s "Animania" line-up as of 21 July 2010.Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job premiered on 26 January 2011 along withChildrens Hospital which unlike the American broadcast, aired completely uncensored with profanity intact. The new incarnation also premiered a lot of other Adult Swim shows includingMoral Orel,Titan Maximum,Robot Chicken: Star Wars,Frisky Dingo,Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job andChildrens Hospital (airing uncensored with profanity intact), along with the latest additions but aired at a different time,Metalocalypse andThe Venture Bros, the latter making it the third show withAqua Teen Hunger Force andHarvey Birdman to have been aired on both the old and the new block. Some series that aired on Adult Swim have been released toRegion 4 DVD byMadman Entertainment, including shows that have never been shown on Australian television before, such asMetalocalypse,Minoriteam,12 oz. Mouse,Xavier Renegade Angel. TheAqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters has also been quietly released to DVD.[7]
Comedy Channel personalities includeFrank Woodley, who hostsAussie Gold;Tim Ross andMerrick Watts, who together hostThe Merrick & Rosso Show;Cameron Knight, who amongst other things for the Comedy Channel hostedStand Up Australia; andH.G. Nelson, who hostsComedy Slapdown.Short & Curly featured the voice of John McManus, before he became better known under his stage nameRove McManus.
The Comedy Channel transferred from 4:3 to Widescreen 16:9 broadcasting on Thursday 1 April 2010 at 5:30am as part of Foxtel's plan to convert all of its channels to widescreen before the end of 2010.[8]
On 31 July 2020, it was announced that Comedy would cease broadcasting in September, alongside sister networkFox Hits, show title “thanks for watching Press (i) for info”, on this message “Thank you for watching”, and both channels merged onto the Fox Hits channel space asFox Comedy. Its current-day programming was dispersed acrossFoxtel'sFox8 andFox Showcase, as well asViacomCBS' free-to-air10 Shake.[9]
The two-hour special was filmed and commissioned by Foxtel.