I'm the first journalist who can report this: Fox Crime is coming to MultiChoice's DStv platform as a new TV channel bring the total to 7 of the number of Fox TV channels which will be available in South Africa from July.
Fox International Channels (FIC) and MultiChoice have entered into a carriage agreement for Fox Crime which is already seen in Mozambique and Angola. MultiChoice will communicate shortly the details of the channel itself, the DStv packages it will be available on and the specific launch date.
UPDATE 17 June 14:00 - Fox International Channels Africa and MultiChoice have jointly announced that FOX Crime will start on 19 July at 19:00 on channel 126 on DStv in standard definition
Exactly a week ago I asked MultiChoice specifically about Fox Crime being added to DStv. "When we are ready to add new channels to DStv, we will make the necessary announcement," said MultiChoice.
I also asked FIC Africa which runs the various Fox channels in Africa and in South Africa specifically about Fox Crime being added.
"As always we are working on bringing new Fox channels to the African market," Thandi Davis, Fox Africa director for broadcasting and sales, responded on Wednesday.
"Our intention is to improve our Fox channel portfolio by launching more of the international channel brands that are part of the group globally and delivering the best content via the best channel brands to the continent," she said.
FIC Africa already runs FX (TopTV 110), Fox Retro (TopTV 181), National Geographic Channel (DStv 181), Nat Geo Wild (DStv 182), BabyTV (TopTV 257) and FOX (TopTV 180 / DStv 125) in South Africa.
FOX, a general entertainment TV channel which has been op TopTV for the past three years is now also available on MultiChoice's DStv service since April. FIC Africa also runs the Fox Crime, Fox Life, Fox Movies, Fox Sports, Nat Geo Adventure and Voyage channels elsewhere in Africa.
Fox Crime is programmed with a lot of library titles such as CHiPs - relating to crime, horror and investigation TV series. As such Fox Crime in South Africa will be direct competition for TV channels such as Crime & Investigation Network (DStv 170), ID: Investigation Discovery (TopTV 303 / DStv 171), CBS Reality (DStv 132) and Universal Channel (DStv 117) on DStv, and Top Crime (TopTV 303) and Fox Retro (TopTV 110) on TopTV.
I'm told that Fox Crime once it starts in South Africa, will however also make inroads with some brand-new first-run overseas content for the African territory similar to the way in which FOX and FX acquired exclusive programming for those channels like The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, Archer, The Listener, Hell on Wheels, Da Vinci's Demons and Copper. Some programming suited for FX on the American version of that Fox pay-TV channel would for instance be channeled to Fox Crime.
