[Submitted via press release]
FOX SPORTS LAUNCHES TWO NEW SPORTS CHANNELS IN AFRICA
FOX International Channels increases the distribution of its leading global sports brand with the launch of FOX Sports and FOX Sports 2 in sub-Saharan Africa.
The two channels will broadcast live league football and a diverse range of sports from around the world August 2014 launch timed with the start of the new football season.
Johannesburg, July 18 2014. – FOX International Channels (FIC), a 21st Century Fox company, announced today the launch of the company’s leading global sports TV brand, FOX Sports, in sub-Saharan Africa. Two new channels, FOX Sports and FOX Sports 2, will replace Setanta Sports and Setanta Action, respectively.
The two channels are set to launch in August 2014 to coincide with the kick-off of the new 2014-15 football league season. The rebranding and re-launch of the channels consolidates FOX brands in the region, and creates the most dynamic and diverse sports network available anywhere.
Setanta Sports and Setanta Action were originally integrated into the sub-Saharan sports channel bouquet, Setanta Africa Services Ltd, following its acquisition by FIC in October 2013. As with Setanta, the new FOX Sports channels will be available to more than one million households throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
FOX Sports will replace Setanta Sports in the region. The channel will focus mainly on football, broadcasting more than 2,000 hours of content every year with LIVE coverage of the major international football leagues, including Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Belgian Pro league, English Championship, Liga MX, Major League Soccer and Coupe de la Ligue. In addition, the channel will provide delayed coverage of league and cup matches from club channels, Barça TV, Chelsea TV, Manchester City TV, and the Milan Channel.
FOX Sports will also offer daily news programming and a wide range of football-related ‘magazine’ shows and other soccer content.
Setanta Action, meanwhile, will be rebranded as FOX Sports 2, offering an alternative sports selection to bring African viewers a wide variety of international sports, including Euroleague Basketball, Formula E Motor Racing, DTM touring cars, National Rugby League, Ice Hockey, Mixed Martial Arts, Kickboxing, and Boxing. In addition, FOX Sports 2 will show extra football content, including delayed coverage of league games, as well as alternative live coverage from competitions such as the Spanish Copa del Rey and additional club channels.
“We are thrilled with the launch of FOX Sports in Africa, which is the culmination of a process that began last year with the acquisition of Setanta Africa,” said Alessandro Tucci, Senior Vice President and General Manager of FOX International Channels Africa.
“FOX Sports is the #1 global sports television brand. Now, African viewers can experience the raw excitement and emotion of the world’s major football leagues, and a huge variety of other sports, in the unique style of FOX Sports. We are as passionate about football and our other sports as the fans are.”
These launches continue the significant growth of the FOX Sports brand around the world. In the last two years alone, the brand has grown rapidly outside the US from a reach of 17 million households in 2012 to over 73 million subscribers in 88 countries broadcasting in eight different languages now.
In Africa, FOX Sports will join the FIC’s channels portfolio alongside FOX, FX, FOX Crime, FOX Movies, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Gold and BabyTV reaching over 15 million cumulative subscribers.
About FOX Sports Africa
FOX Sports Africa will be available across sub-Saharan Africa for more than one million subscribers. The channel will be distributed in English through the platforms ZAP, CV Multimedia, Zuku, MyTV, StarTimes, StarSat, Agape, Azam TV, Montage TV, Sports TV Uganda and My.T and in French in Sat Con, Mali Vision, DRTV, Blueline, Excaf, AB Sat and TV+
About FOX International Channels
FOX International Channels (FIC) is 21st Century FOX’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 300+ wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, sports, lifestyle, factual and movie channels in 44 languages across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. FIC’s core channel brands include FOX, FOX Sports, FOX Life and National Geographic Channel. FIC’s movie channels include FOX Movies, FOX Movies Premium, Star Chinese Movies and Moviecity. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high-definition extensions, reach over 1.6 billion cumulative households worldwide.