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 Australia 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 and 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]

This article is about the Aussie rules television channel. For the original channel that was broadcast between 2002 and 2006, see Fox Footy Channel. For the association football channels in the United States, see Fox Soccer and Fox Soccer Plus. For Fox Football Channel, the defunct association football channel in Southeast Asia, see Fox Sports (Southeast Asian TV network) § Former channels.

Fox Footy
Fox Footy Logo
Fox Footy Logo
CountryAustralia
HeadquartersMelbourne
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format576i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
2160p (UHDTV)
Ownership
OwnerFox Sports Australia
ParentFOXTEL
Sister channelsFox Sports News
Fox Cricket
Fox League
Fox Netball
Fox Sports
History
Launched17 February 2012
Links
Websitefoxsports.com.au
Availability
Streaming media
Foxtel GoChannel 504, Channel 503
Kayo SportsChannel 504

As of the week of 24 September 2023, the channel reached 753,000 viewers, making the highest rated channel owned by Fox Sports Australia and the second highest rated subscription channel on Foxtel behind Lifestyle.[2]

History

Foxtel had previously operated the original Fox Footy Channel from 2002 to 2006, but closed the channel when Foxtel's AFL broadcast deal ended at the end of the 2006 season after failing to agreeing at the time a new agreement with free-to-air broadcasters Seven and Ten. On 8 February 2007, Foxtel had come to an agreement to broadcast 4 games a week from 2007 to 2011, up from 3 during 2002–2006 on Fox Sports channels, although it didn't include an AFL channel.

It was announced on 28 April 2011 that the channel would be revived for the 2012 AFL season, as part of the new broadcast rights deal that gave Foxtel rights to show all regular-season AFL matches live. 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 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] Beginning in 2020, Fox Footy and more Fox Sports Australia channels began carried in Canada on the premium streaming service DAZN.

The 2022 season saw some changes to the channel, with the network cutting ties with Eddie McGuire and the subsequent launch of two new programs, 'Best on Ground' and 'Face to Face' in addition to a time slot change for On the Couch. The network was rocked by further public interest during Round 1 after the termination of senior reporter Tom Morris after derogatory comments made against a colleague in a private chat were leaked publicly.

Programming

Personnel
Commentators Sarah Jones, Jonathan Brown and David King on-air in 2017

Coverage of certain matches including Friday nights, public holidays and finals is picked up from the Seven Network. Fox Footy uses Seven's video feed for the actual match, including graphics and commentary, but all surrounding footage, including pre-match, post-match, and between quarters, is replaced with Fox Footy's own coverage of the match. As of 2025, Fox will have access to clean feeds of Seven's footage for such matches, allowing Fox Footy to use their own commentary, graphics, and breakaways in all matches.

Former

The following are former commentators and panel show members


Logo history
  • 2012 - 25 February 2015
    2012 - 25 February 2015
  • 26 February 2015 – present
    26 February 2015 – present

Watch AFL

Outside of Australia, Fox Footy operates Watch AFL, a global streaming network. The network streams all games live, including the Grand Final, unlike its domestic counterpart, who broadcasts that game on delay.

See also

References
  1. Every game, every week...live|Frost Global
  2. "Viewing Reports - 2023". OzTAM. Retrieved 21 October 2023. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  3. FOXTEL to Deliver Most Comprehensive Live AFL Coverage Ever Archived 3 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. 2017 TV: the final word - TV Tonight, 2 February 2018
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