Fox on the box as Murdoch channel hits Britain

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A new tentacle will be added to Rupert Murdoch's global media empire next month with the launch in Britain of a television channel from Fox, a name hitherto associated with the flag waving patriotism of its US news network.

The new venture, FX, is modelled on the American cable network of the same name, and its diet of crime, comedy and cult drama is aimed at advertiser-friendly young men. It is Fox's first significant foray into the British television market: until now, its only presence was the Fox Kids channel. Fox News is also available to Sky customers, but has not been tailored for a British audience.

The launch of the channel on January 12 has raised questions about Mr Murdoch's strategy: it appears to compete, at least in part, with his struggling Sky One channel, run by BSkyB, in which Mr Murdoch's News Corporation has a 35% stake. But Sky and Fox both deny that they are in the same marketplace.

Fox has been researching the British television landscape over the past year, and considered launching a version of its main general entertainment network, which is already in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan and Latin America. But it was felt that the mass market was too crowded, and Fox decided instead to launch FX, which is focused more tightly on men aged between 25 and 44.

To those who fear that the arrival of Fox in Britain will herald an unrelenting diet of downmarket trash, the company responds with an assurance that it intends to "take men seriously". Instead of the "tits 'n' ass" on channels like Granada's Men and Motors, FX says it will show high quality drama and comedy.

Its launch schedule is made up exclusively of US imports - the channel does not have the budget to make its own shows. FX's programme line-up includes reruns of The X-Files, The Shield police drama currently shown on Five, and a plan to show the acclaimed crime show NYPD Blue from the first series. New programmes include Navy NCIS, based around the unit that investigates crime in the US navy; and a new series from the comic magicians Penn and Teller.

But there is not a complete absence of smut: The Man Show is described in publicity material as "a woman-free zone unless they're wearing bikinis and bouncing on trampolines", and G-String Divas is also billed on the FX website as appearing in the launch line-up.


Market research, he said, showed men were fed up with one-dimensional, laddish programmes. "We got one overriding feeling, which was that men felt they were being patronised. There was quite a wide group of people who resented that."

In public, bosses at Sky in London remain bullish about FX's launch. But the channel already has problems: its audience share fell to a nine-year low in September, and its channel controller, Sara Ramsden, resigned.

The new controller, James Baker, is hoping to resurrect its fortunes with acquisitions such as the hit US drama Nip/Tuck, described as a Six Feet Under for the plastic surgery industry and shown in the US on FX; the third series of the cult thriller 24, also a Fox show in the US, secured after the BBC pulled out of negotiations; and Cold Case, the most watched new drama in the US this season, which follows a detective who is assigned to re-examine crimes that have never been solved.

A spokesman for Sky One said: "FX is not viewed here as direct competition at all. Sky One is quite a different proposition. We are looking to bring clever, stylish programming, with big, high-quality shows. We can confidently say for the first time in a few years that we really do have the best from the US." Mr Thorp said: "FX has been discussed over a long period of time, it's a niche proposition. Sky One is a big, broad-based entertainment channel and our aim is to complement it."

But observers believe Sky has much work to do. Mike Hilton, analyst at UBS Warburg, said last week: "Sky One has been a very disappointing channel and they need to sort it out. They need to think about the whole concept and strategy."