Home TV News Disney To Close The Fox UK Channel, With Content Moving To Disney+/STAR

Disney To Close The Fox UK Channel, With Content Moving To Disney+/STAR

by Dave Elliott

Disney To Close The Fox UK Channel, With Content Moving To Disney+/STAR

Ever since Disney launched the Disney+ streaming service in the UK, there has been something of a question mark hanging over the future of the FOX linear broadcast channel. Today we have an answer, as the mouse house announces FOX UK will be shutting its doors from the end of June after 17yrs on air.

“On 30 June the Fox channel in the UK will close,” announced a spokesperson for the broadcaster. “Many titles will become available on Star on Disney+ and will be announced in the near future. We appreciate the support of our UK fans and can’t wait to keep sharing the best stories with you. Star on Disney+ serves as the home of movies and television from Disney’s creative studios, including Disney Television Studios (20th Television and ABC Signature), FX Productions and 20th Century Studios.”

Ever since Disney acquired FOX in 2019, the UK channel has been a bit of an oddity. Whilst the Murdoch run FOX Corp retained the FOX Channel in the USA, FOX UK moved to the ownership of Disney, so despite them having the same name, they were two totally separate entities. However, even before the buyout, FOX UK was never a mirror image of the US channel, actually airing many titles from other US networks, such as ‘Bull’ and ‘NCIS’ from CBS, and ‘The Walking Dead’ from AMC. It’s not 100% clear what will happen with some of those shows now FOX UK is shutting down, however, is believed that ‘The Walking Dead’, which is due to return later this year for a final 11th Season, will move on to STAR on Disney+.

With the launch of the streaming service last, Disney had already started to move away from linear broadcasting in the UK. Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior were all closed last September, with most of the content moving to Disney+. That only leaves the various National Geographic channels as Disney’s sole linear output in the UK.

Disney+ costs £7.99, or £79.90 annually, and also includes STAR, the additional service that brings a variety of “mature” content from across Disney-owned brands. The service is available via Sky Q and on various smart TVs and online.

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