Syfy was an Australianpay television channel dedicated to science fiction andfantasy television shows and movies. The channel was launched on 1 January 2014, replacingSF.[1][2]
On 31 December 2019, it was replaced withFox Sci-Fi.
In August 2013, it was announced thatFoxtel had failed to complete negotiations with the TV1 General Entertainment Partnership (of whichNBCUniversal was a part member) for a new carriage deal for their channelSF (an Australian science fiction channel), and would ultimately replace it with another science fiction dedicated channel once SF's carriage deal had expired.[3] It was announced in September that Syfy, wholly owned by NBCUniversal, would replace SF in early 2014.[1]
On 14 February 2017, the channel was made available in HD for Fetch TV customers.[5]
On 17 September 2017, the channel received a new logo alongside refreshed branding as part of an international overhaul of the brand by NBCUniversal.[6]
On 7 November 2019,Foxtel announced that Fox Sci-Fi would replace Syfy on 17 December 2019. The network continued on Fetch TV until the stroke of midnight on 31 December 2019.
Syfy has come under criticism from Foxtel subscribers for a number of programming related issues, specifically regarding the high number of repeats and the low quality of the Syfy programming. Significantly, Syfy Australia did not hold the rights to any of theStar Trek franchise, while itspredecessor did.[26][27][28]This has changed andDeep Space Nine,Enterprise,The Next Generation,The Original Series andVoyager has made their way onto the channel.
