by Thinus Ferreira
Eight years after the FX television channel and production brand was ripped away in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa, it will suddenly be back in mid-2022 as part of the ongoing corporate madness of King George, when FX will now re-appear and hold its own space on Disney's Disney+ video streaming service.
In September 2014, Fox International Channels (FIC) dumped the FX channel that was available on StarTimes' StarSat satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and on StarTimes in the rest of Africa.
FX was completely removed, and Fox Crime was turned into Fox Life (Fox Life was since then also killed off by Fox Africa).
At the time, Fox Africa bosses told TVwithThinus that FX, that had edgy content and shows, was removed because FX as a channel and a brand "wasn't known well enough in Africa".
Since FX was removed 7 years ago, absolutely no marketing or promotion went into FX to make it more known, so for FX to suddenly come back to Africa in mid-2022 makes absolutely no sense - it's only happening because of Disney's corporate takeover of 21st Century Fox (that included FX Networks, that FX belongs to).
Because of an American decision for Disney's global streaming services and ambitions, FX that continues as a linear TV channel and content in the United States, is now essentially being "revived" for Africa.
Disney will launch its Disney+ streaming service in South Africa sometime around June 2022.
Disney+ contains various app tiles like Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star - all containing different collections of content making it easier for people to pick a "category" and to find relevant content within these tiles that they might want to watch.
Disney bosses in America now wants to lift out FX to give this brand more prominence.
The result is that FX shows and FX as a "content channel" will feature much more distinctly within Disney+ globally (and in South Africa when Disney+ is launched in the country in mid-2022).
"FX's award-winning adult programming is vital to our services both domestically and internationally and we want to shine a brighter light on the brand within our excellent and rapidly growing portfolio of general entertainment programming for adult audiences," Rebecca Campbell, Disney's chairman, international and direct-to-consumer, said in a press statement on Monday, announcing that FX and FX content will be featuring more prominently within Disney+.
All FX content will now be organised under an FX section on any Disney streaming platform in America, as well as outside the United States, like Disney+.
The result is that South Africans that watched FX as a linear TV channel, will now again see FX content - and branded as FX content - when Disney+ launches in South Africa in mid-2022 - 8 years after FX went away.
"We realised a decade ago that FX would soon no longer be primarily a location, but rather a branded mark of quality that would travel across multiple distribution platforms," John Landgraf, FX CEO says in a statement.
"For 20 years, we have worked tirelessly to make the FX mark synonymous to the consumer with original programming that is distinctive and excellent as well as entertaining."
"This change furthers the natural evolution of FX and we are grateful to the company and our partners at DMED for their belief and investment in FX branded programming. We are confident that the FX brand, wherever the consumer finds it, will continue to deliver the highest quality programs any service has to offer."
In 2022, FX plans to double its programming output and aims to produce 30 shows (25 scripted and five unscripted).
FX says that in addition to producing shows through its FX Productions (FXP) arm, FX will increase its collaboration with Disney Television Studios-20th Television, ABC Signature, the Onyx Collective and Searchlight.
Currently, the FX library comprises more than 170 seasons and 1 800 episodes of TV shows.
FX is a division of Disney General Entertainment, led by chairman Peter Rice, which creates original entertainment and news programming for Disney's streaming platforms and cable and broadcast networks.
