FX (TV network)

FX (short for Fox Extended) is a television channel by subscription US, owned by Walt Disney Company through FX, Networks, LLC Its programming is geared primarily toward the adult and adolescent audience. Its contents include television series, sporting events and action films.

It is based in Los Angeles, California. Originally released on June 1 of 1994, the network's original programming aspires to the standards of premium cable channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz in regards to mature themes and content, high-quality writing, direction, and acting. Some of its sister channels are FXX and FXM.

Early years (1994-97)
FX (originally stylized as "fX" from 1994 to 1997), was born in the United States on June 1, 1994, with its base of operations in an apartment complex in Manhattan, where some live programs were broadcast. The channel focused on the original programming, which was broadcast live daily from the "fX Apartment". The content of the channel's programming focused on sitcoms, series and films from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

One difficulty the channel had in its early days was that the first fX signal was unavailable on Time Warner Cable, one of the major cable systems in New York, where its programming originated. TWC would not carry the channel until September 2001.

The channel prided itself on its interactivity with viewers. FX, in 1994, was one of the first to adapt on the Internet, receiving email and World Wide Web as feedback methods. Most programs would present instant responses to questions sent by email. Select viewers could spend a day in the "apartment" and participate in all the shows on the channel. Within the channel's syndicated programming blocks, channel hosts frequently appear during commercial breaks to read news headlines, respond to viewer emails about the episode that aired, or to promote upcoming programming. . But the live shows gradually disappeared, one by one, until only "Personal fX" remained. By the time all live programming (with the exception of Personal fX) was abandoned, the channel focused entirely on its classic television shows until its relaunch in mid-1997.  Personal FX  remained on FX until on May 1, 1998. FX left the "apartment" in the summer of 1998 and the channel's operations were joined with the other Fox-owned cable channels.

Renewal (1997-2001)
In early 1997, fX was relaunched as "FX: Fox Gone Cable", redirecting the target audience of the canal towards men from 18 to 49 years old. For the first few years after its relaunch, FX was known for little more than the rebroadcast of its sister network Fox shows such as The X-Files and Married... With Children, as well as 20th Century Fox productions. The channel also added Major League Baseball games to its programming at the time (at one point sharing rights with its sister Fox Family), and eventually expanded its sports programming to include NASCAR races in 2001.

From 1997 to 2013, FX was used to broadcast sports competitions such as the Major League Baseball, College football, the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Busch Series, the UEFA Champions League and UFC. In 2013, the sports channels FS1 and FS2 were launched, so FX stopped broadcasting sports.

In the summer of 1998, FX released three original series: "Bobcat Big Ass Show," "Instant Comedy" with The Groundlings, and "Sin City Spectacular" by Penn and Teller. All three series were canceled the following year. Shortly after its relaunch, the slogan "Fox Gone Cable" was removed. In 1999, new original shows were added with the debut of shows like  Son of the Beach (a Baywatch parody that starred in Timothy Stack and was produced by Howard Stern) and The X Show (a male-oriented nightly panel talk show).

Successes in programming (2002-08)
Beginning in 2002, the channel emerged as a major force in original cable programming, gaining acclaim and notoriety in drama-type programming. That year, FX debuted in the crime drama "The Shield", which became a hit. This trend continued the following year with Nip / Tuck, a drama about two plastic surgeons and  Rescue Me by Dennis Leary, about the lives of a fire crew from the New York City Fire Department after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Both shows were praised by critics, and achieved equal success with viewers. Rescue Me was one of the few television series to receive an order for an additional season prior to the broadcast of its most recent season: In June 2009, FX renewed the 18-episode sixth season show, although the fifth season was not had released at the time.

Unlike many broadcast networks, FX has chosen to take risks with its programming and push about what can be shown on television; As a result, most (but not all) of the channel's original shows are assigned to the TV-MA ratings, often for heavy profanity, sexual and / or violent content. Opinions on these programs are mixed; Some organizations, such as the Parent Television Council and the American Family Association, have asked advertisers to boycott these programs because of their graphic content. The shows have also been critically acclaimed for their strong storylines and characters.

Capitalizing on the success of the hit documentary Super Size Me, the filmmaker Morgan Spurlock released a new series, 30 Days, which debuted on FX in June 2005. The series places subjects in situations uncomfortable for them for 30 days, such as making millionaires work with a minimum wage, and Christmas living in a Muslim community.

In the summer of 2005, FX debuted two new comedy series, Starved, about the daily lives of four friends with eating disorders living in New York City, AND It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, about the generally very politically incorrect comic misfortunes of four people who own a bar in the titular city. Both shows show frank sexual dialogue and strong language, and were released as "The Dark Side of Comedy". Starved was derided by groups that tried to publicize the eating disorders and was canceled after its first season due to low ratings. Conversely, Sunny quickly reached a high audience, and was renewed for a second season within days of her first season finale. Fox aired an edited version of Sunny for a three-episode series in the summer of 2006, in an effort to further promote the series.

In 2006, FX debuted two new series, the reality series Black. White.. And the drama "Thief"; Neither series was renewed for a second season. During 2007, FX introduced three new dramas: Dirt, starring Courtney Cox; The Riches, starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver; And Damages, starring Glenn Close, Ted Danson and Rose Byrne. All three performed well in the ratings and were renewed for a second season. By 2008, FX was available in 90.6 million homes in the U.S.

FX began broadcasting a high definition channel in 720p format in 2007, which is available from most cable and satellite providers, The Standard Definition Channel, which is now standard with all FX and Fox cable networks are now scaled down at the provider from the HD feed instead of having a dedicated feed in standard definition.

Present (2008-present)


In 2008, the channel launched a new campaign under the slogan "There Is No Box". The phrase referred to how the channel's programming goes beyond the concept "the box". Also, it was a pun on creating original channel shows to compete against premium channels like HBO.

During 2008, competition with other cable channels increased, which was evident in the ratings for the second season of the series Dirt and The Riches, whose ratings decreased significantly from his freshman seasons. For a few weeks, the audience for both shows barely exceeded 1 million. Both programs were canceled in 2008 along with others that had been acquired by the channel.

On September 3, 2008, FX debuted with "Sons of Anarchy", a drama series created by Kurt Sutter, about a fictional club of foreign bikers dedicated to protecting their protected city of California from corporate developers and drug dealers; Its premiere in September coincided with that of the final season of "The Shield.", Sons of Anarchy became a commercial and critical success, having aired for seven seasons through 2014. In 2010, the series drew an average of 4.9 million viewers per week, making it the Best FX rating to date. Other new shows that premiered in 2010 included the comedy by Kenny Hotz, Testees, which debuted in October 2008 and was canceled after its first season. In August 2008, FX relaunched its website, adding streaming complete episodes of its original shows. In 2009, replays of the former ABC comedy, Spin City were removed from the programming grid (although it was reinstated early the following year).

In July 2009, FX ordered three new comedy pilots "Archer", an animated series with a spy agency, which premiered on January 14, 2010; The League, with a group of friends who are part of a Fantasy football league; and  Louie, a comedy series starring comedian and writer Louis CK, which "mixes material from stand-up with" expanded bullets "depicting moments of off-stage (comedian) experiences." The following year, FX debuted with "Willfred", a comedy series starring Elijah Wood. It is based on the Australian comedy series of the same name.

In March 2010, the channel debuted Justified, a drama series created by Graham Yost based on the Elmore Leonard short story "Fire in the Hole" (which was the original title of the series.) For their Fall 2010 lineup; In 2011, the channel debuted the boxing drama Lights Out. Both series were canceled after their first seasons; Terriers had won critical acclaim, but apparently insufficient viewers.

On October 1, 2010, the parent company News Corporation (which parted company with FX and other entertainment properties at 21st Century Fox in July 2013) removed its channels from Dish Network due to a revenue dispute on retransmission consent. FX returned to the satellite provider's line of channels on October 29, 2010, after Dish Network and News Corporation signed a long-term contract. On November 1, 2010, following a similar dispute, FX and its sister channels were restored by Cablevision, New York's cable provider, through a separate agreement.

On January 30, 2013, FX premiered the Cold War drama of the 1980s, The Americans. On June 1, 2014, FX celebrated its 20th anniversary of programming.

With the August 2013 releases of the national sports cable networks FS1 and FS2, FX is no longer serving as a regular cable outlet for Fox Sports. Despite this fact, the channel has occasionally broadcast some sports games. On March 5, 2016 FX aired a Bundesliga match between the top two teams in the league, the Bayern Munich and the Borussia Dortmund to offer a wider distribution of the match, since Fox, FS1 and FS2 had their own sports commitments at the time of the match, and the match was not broadcast on the little distributed Fox Soccer Plus (which does not broadcast on numerous providers of TV). Because this was Fox's first year of coverage of the German soccer league, and Bayern and Borussia are the two most successful teams in the Bundesliga (and have an intense rivalry known as Der Klassiker), Fox wanted to give the game a wider distribution, so the game was moved to FX in a last minute decision. In 2016, the FX channel broadcast some matches of the 2016 Copa América Centenario.

Logo
The "f" in the channel name and logo was represented in lower case enclosed in a red box to portray a relaxed type of friendship; The slim "X" stood for the roots of the channel: the crossover reflectors for the 20th Century Fox logo. This logo was present until 1997.

In 1997, the name of the network was altered to make both letters "FX" in capital black letters with yellow reflectors inside a black rectangle on the left side. In 2002 said logo receives a slight modification or variant, having the letters FX in white and the box of reflectors in apple green. In 2005 the entire logo would be completely white.

The channel's logo was updated on December 18, 2007, retaining only the FX sign in black, while removing the reflector box from the logo that had been placed. In April 2013, FX adopted the international logo (with the "F" and "X" linked together) and adopted the motto "Fearless".