Fox to Remove Sports from FX, Re-Brand Speed and Fuel TV as Fox Sports 1 & 2
For those of us that don’t have Fuel TV on our cable or satellite systems, there could still be more UFC coming our way in the future, just check to see if you currently get the Speed Channel as part of your line-up.
The Sports Business Journal on Monday reported that the Fox-owned Speed Channel, as well as Fuel TV, is included in the company’s push to become a bigger player in the sports channel arena.
The plan, as it stands, is for the Speed Channel – which is available in more than 80 million homes – to be re-branded as Fox Sports 1, sometime around August 2013. Fuel TV is expected to follow suit around the same time becoming Fox Sports 2. Fuel TV is currently available in just under 38 million homes, and Fox has had trouble extending the channel’s reach in the ultra-competitive basic cable market.
The re-branded channels include the reported removal of all sports programming from FX. The channel is currently the home for The Ultimate Fighter.
Fox Sports 1 will become the home of premier Major League Baseball, NASCAR, college football, UFC, soccer and other sports programming, while Fox Sports 2 will be the next tier down for less popular or ancillary programming.
Fox Soccer is also part of the re-branding effort. That network will likely carry general entertainment programming following the launch of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.
Fox executives have yet to weigh-in on the changes, but they appear to be on the way.
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