FXX is an American
basic cable
Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948. By 1989, 53 million U.S. households received cable television subscriptions, with 60 percent of all U.S. households doing so in 1992. with Data by SNL Kagan shows that about 58 ...
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
owned by the
Walt Disney Television unit of
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
through
FX Networks, LLC. It is the partner channel of
FX, with its programming focusing on original and acquired comedy series and feature films for a primary
demographic
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
of men aged 18–34.
FXX launched on September 2, 2013, at 7:00 a.m. ET/6:00 a.m. CT, replacing
Fox Soccer
Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian ...
.
The channel is best known for setting the record for the longest continuous
marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
in the history of television. The marathon featured every episode of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' that had been released at the time and ''
The Simpsons Movie
''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman and stars the show's regular cast of Dan Caste ...
'' over the course of twelve days.
This record has since been broken by
VH1 Classic.
As of September 2018, approximately 86.6 million households in the United States (93.9% of those with cable) receive FXX.
History
Development
In January 2013, it was reported by various media outlets that sports-focused channel
Fox Soccer
Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian ...
would be shut down and be replaced with a general entertainment network that would act as a brother service to
FX; while FXX was a possible name from the start, another name proposed for the new net was FX2. The decision appeared to stem from
Fox Sports' loss of U.S. television rights to English
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
soccer matches, rights it shared with
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
;
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
had secured U.S. rights to the league in October 2012, a deal that took effect at the start of the
2013–14 season. Also likely having an effect on Fox Soccer's future was the eventual conversion of two other Fox Sports specialty channels on August 17, 2013, when the motorsports-oriented
Speed
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...
became the new general-interest
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...
and the extreme sports-heavy Fuel TV converted to
Fox Sports 2
Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American List of sports television channels, sports-oriented pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based a ...
(Premier League broadcasts on NBC began that same day).
On March 28, 2013, News Corp.'s FX Networks outlined plans to launch FXX on September 2 which would replace the Fox Soccer channel. The new network would be available in approximately 74 million American homes. FX President John Landgraf said FXX would complete "a suite of three channels" targeting three different demos: FX would aim for viewers 18–49, FXX would seek viewers 18–34, and
FXM — the movie network — would go for viewers 25–54. He would oversee all three channels.
In the months leading up to the launch, Fox was generally coy about definitively confirming where FXX would be placed on cable/satellite channel lineups, though Fox officials had indicated off the record that the plan was to indeed replace Fox Soccer with the new network.
Fox Soccer's conversion to FXX took place on the morning of September 2, 2013, leading out of a final airing of Fox Soccer's ''
Being: Liverpool'' with an hour block of
paid programming (which featured a FXX disclaimer card at the front) at 6 a.m. (ET), followed by the proper launch an hour later at 7 a.m. ET.
Launch
The launch clip had
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
's
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...
about to score a goal (two scenes taken from the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
matches on April 3, 2012 and March 12, 2013) broken up by
Frank Reynolds (
Danny DeVito) of ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...
'' coming through a leather couch (representing a television screen being "ripped") being "birthed" in the nude (a scene taken from the 2009 Christmas special episode "
A Very Sunny Christmas"), suggesting the "birthing" of FXX; this led into the
pilot episode
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
of ''
Parks and Recreation
''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...
'', the start of an all-day marathon airing of the series. As a result of the rebranding, Fox Soccer's remaining event rights, including
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
and
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
matches, have moved to Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, or in some cases
Fox Soccer Plus.
The channel was intended by Fox to be part of the basic cable lineup, but it started on many providers (including
Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator wi ...
,
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
,
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...
,
Verizon FiOS, and
Charter Communications) in its previous placement within a specialty sports package (along with the costs which come with those packages), a holdover from the channel's previous iteration as Fox Soccer. The vast majority of providers have since moved it to reasonable basic channel positions over time, often next to FX where possible.
A
Canadian version of FXX launched on April 1, 2014.
2013–2019: Beginnings
In October 2013, oil company
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
sued Fox for
trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may o ...
of its
service mark
A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in the United States and several other countries to identify a service rather than a product.
When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. ...
, the interlocking X of its
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
fuel brand. The network disputed the company's claim that there was the possibility of confusion, with a spokesperson explaining that "we are confident that viewers won't tune into FXX looking for gas or motor oil and drivers won't pull up to an Exxon pump station expecting to get ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...
''." The parties agreed to dismiss the suit in October 2015.
On November 15, 2013, FXX acquired
broadcast syndication
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...
rights to the
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
series ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''. Original contracts had previously stated that syndication rights for the series would not be sold to
cable until the series conclusion in deference to the local broadcast stations throughout the United States which had carried the series in syndication since the fall of 1993. However, all parties had not projected the series' longevity, nor of the technological advances since 1993.
The series premiered on August 21, 2014, starting with a twelve-day
marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
. This featured the first 552 episodes (every single episode that had already been released at the time) aired chronologically, including ''
The Simpsons Movie
''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman and stars the show's regular cast of Dan Caste ...
'', which FX Networks had already owned the rights to air. The first day of the marathon was the highest rated broadcast day in the history of the network so far, the ratings more than tripled those of regular prime time programming for FXX. Ratings during the first six nights of the marathon grew night after night, with the network ranking within the top 5 networks in basic cable each night.
It was said to be the longest continuous marathon in the history of television, until
VH1 Classic broke FXX's record with their nineteen-day marathon of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
''.
On December 17, 2014, the network announced it would launch a late-night animation block on January 22. The block would feature fare originally developed and produced by ''
Animation Domination High-Def Studios'' for Fox. It would launch with eight new episodes of ''
Lucas Bros. Moving Co.
''Lucas Bros. Moving Co.'' is an American adult animated television series created by The Lucas Brothers. It originally premiered on Fox on November 23, 2013 as part of Animation Domination High-Def, and was renewed for two additional seasons on ...
'' and ''
Stone Quackers
''Stone Quackers'' is an American adult animated television series created by Ben Jones. The series premiered October 27, 2014 on FXX as part of their Animation Domination High-Def block.
Despite the Animation Domination High-Def block originall ...
''. “We are insanely excited to partner with FXX and help them create a new block of programming for the network,” said ADHD Studios president Nick Weidenfeld.
For
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
2016, FXX launched a 13-day, 600-episode run of ''The Simpsons'' in honor of the show's 600th episode. The marathon would include the first four episodes of ''The Simpsons 28th season (of which was then-current as the season was still being aired by Fox) and ending with the episode "
Treehouse of Horror XXVII".
On July 15, 2017, a
2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup
The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF, and 24th CONCACAF regional championship ove ...
soccer game featuring the
U.S. men's national team aired on FXX due to sports programming conflicts with Fox and Fox Sports 1; ''The Washington Post'' noted that the match was likely placed on FXX rather than Fox Sports 2 due to its broader carriage, as it is available in nearly as many households as FS1, and on basic tiers on some providers.
2019–present: Acquisition by Disney
As part of
21st Century Fox
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...
's
acquisition by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, FX Networks was integrated into the newly renamed
Walt Disney Television unit on March 20, 2019.
On April 8, 2019, FX Networks announced its acquisition of off-network rights to ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'', starting with its sixteenth season, and ''
Bob's Burgers
''Bob's Burgers'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011. The show centers on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—who r ...
'', starting with its ninth season. ''Family Guy'' began airing on FXX on April 16, while ''Bob's Burgers'' made its debut on September 24, 2019. FXX shares the rights to ''Family Guy'' with new sister networks
Freeform and
FX.
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...
's
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim
Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
and
TBS originally held the cable rights to the prior seasons of both shows; their rights to older seasons of ''Family Guy'' expired on September 18, 2021, at which point reruns became exclusive to FX Networks and Freeform, with the rights to ''Bob's Burgers'' similarly coming under FX Networks' full control in 2023.
On August 29, 2019, FXX announced ''
Cake
Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...
'', a half-hour series featuring short-form adult animation and live-action content, would premiere September 25. ''Cake'' is the network's first original animated program since the aborted pilot of ''Cassius and Clay'' and the discontinuation of FXX's ''Animation Domination High-Def'' block in 2016.
Shift towards animation
On September 20, 2021, FXX began airing reruns of fellow 20th Television animated shows ''
King of the Hill'' and ''
The Cleveland Show
''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of ''Family Guy'', the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs, a ...
'', and dramatically overhauled the network lineup to air roughly 14 hours of adult animated series every day, save for airings of ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' and ''
Dave Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
'', with films only airing in the mornings and early afternoon. This later expanded to roughly 16 hours after FXX began airing ''
Futurama
''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...
'' on November 15, 2021, having acquired the off-network rights to that series from
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primari ...
's
Syfy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
(who last aired the series on November 10). FX Networks currently shares the rights to ''King of the Hill'' and ''Futurama'' with Adult Swim, while also sharing ''Futurama'' and (until 2022) ''The Cleveland Show'' with
Paramount Global
Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. I ...
's
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
.
FXX ran its first marathon of every ''Family Guy'' episode from the first 19 seasons, except "
Partial Terms of Endearment
"Partial Terms of Endearment" is the 21st and final episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series ''Family Guy''. Directed by Joseph Lee and written by Danny Smith, the episode originally aired on BBC Three in the United Kingdom on ...
", from December 25, 2021 to January 1, 2022, in a similar fashion to their previous multi-day marathons of ''The Simpsons''.
Programming
FXX's original programming consists of comedy series, such as ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...
'' and ''
Archer'' (both of which previously aired on sister network FX). The network's original series generally air on Wednesday or Thursday nights in the last hour of network primetime. As of September 2021, FXX's acquired lineup (outside programming shared with FX and FXM) consists of film telecasts in the morning and adult animated series airing in the afternoon and evenings.
Programming blocks
*
Animation Domination
Animation Domination (also called AniDom, Fox AD, and AD) is an American animated programming block which has aired in two iterations on the Fox broadcast network, featuring a lineup solely made up of prime-time animation and adult animation carr ...
– Originally broadcast on Fox as "Animation Domination High-Def", this was a late adult animation block that hosted short-form series such as ''
Axe Cop'', ''
Major Lazer
Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It originates from Kingston, Jamaica, and was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after t ...
'', and ''
Stone Quackers
''Stone Quackers'' is an American adult animated television series created by Ben Jones. The series premiered October 27, 2014 on FXX as part of their Animation Domination High-Def block.
Despite the Animation Domination High-Def block originall ...
''.
* Simpsons Sunday – A Sunday afternoon block that aired episodes of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' that have a similar theme to the episode that would air later that night on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
.
"Every. Simpsons. Ever."
FXX is the cable home of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' (excluding the ''
Tracey Ullman''
shorts), of which marathons are aired in primetime. FXX is known for their larger ''Simpsons'' marathon events in which the entire run of the series at the time is aired over a number of days.
A third marathon, the "Plus+Size Holiday Marathon," aired from December 17 to 31, 2019, and consisted of 661 episodes, excluding "
Stark Raving Dad
"Stark Raving Dad" is the first episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 19, 1991. In the episode, Homer is sent to a mental ins ...
", and the syndication premiere of ''
The Longest Daycare
''Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"'' or simply ''The Longest Daycare'', is a 2012 American animated 3D comedy short film based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. In the film, Maggie Simpson is enrolled at a new daycare fa ...
'' animated short. The marathon was a promotional event for
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
, which would become the exclusive streaming service for the series after the shuttering of FX's ''Simpsons World'' hub.
References
External links
*
*
{{Commons category, FXX
2013 establishments in the United States
FX Networks
Comedy television networks
Disney television networks
English-language television stations in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 2013
Television networks in the United States
Men's interest channels