W Channel (Australia)

SoHo was an Australian pay television channel. Originally launched as FX in 1995 and oriented towards classic programming, it was rebranded as W. and shifted its focus to women's programming on 1 November 2003. Later, on 20 August 2012, it was again rebranded as SoHo and shifted its focus to drama television series.

The channel closed down on 4 October 2016, and was replaced by Binge.

History

In 1995, FX, then stylised as fX, was launched in Australia on Foxtel, featuring classic TV series (often branded as "Golden Years of Television").

In late 1998 fX became FX, which at the time was a channel aimed at women, unlike the international FX channels demographic, featuring shows such as The View and Donny and Marie.

The channel became available on Austar in April 1999.

In late 2000, FX was again rebranded, officially becoming "Australia's first TV channel for women".

It was relaunched as W. on 1 November 2003, shortly before digital broadcasting began. W screened original Australian programming such as ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Love My Way'', ''From Here to Maternity'' and ''Studio A with Simon Burke''. It also had Pay-TV rights to many popular US primetime drama series such as ''Pushing Daisies'' and ''The Wire'' and repeats of many other series.

Antonia Kidman, sister of actress Nicole Kidman, was the face of the W channel, for quite some time and has presented a few parenting and entertainment programs for this and other channels. W2, the timeshift channel broadcasting programs two hours later, was launched in September 2006. A website for the channel was also launched in September 2006.

W. underwent a transformation in April 2009, which included an updated logo (now simply W) and several new additions to the primetime line-up. W HD was launched on 15 November 2009, on both Austar and Foxtel.

In 2012, it was announced that SoHo was to broadcast the new Australian drama ''Wentworth'', a re-imaging of the classic television show ''Prisoner''. The series started airing on 1 May 2013.

The channel closed on 30 September 2016, with existing programs being moved to other channels. Most programs migrated to Showcase, with a handful of other titles moving to TV H!TS, Arena and FOX8.

Programming

Original programming

*''Love My Way'' (2004 on FOX8, 2005 on W Channel, 2007 on Showcase)
*''Beauty and the Beast'' (2005–2007)
*''Spirited'' (2010–2011)
*''Wentworth'' (2013–2016)
*'' A Place to Call Home'' (2013–2014 on Seven, 2015 on SoHo)

Acquired programming on SoHo

*'' A Place to Call Home'' (seasons 1 & 2)
*''Any Human Heart''
*'' Army Wives''
*'' Band of Brothers''
*''Big Love''
*'' Boardwalk Empire''
*'' Bored to Death''
*'' The Borgias''
*'' Boss''
*'' Burn Notice''
*'' The Closer''
*''Cloudstreet''
*'' Curb Your Enthusiasm''
*''Dallas''
*''Damages''
*'' Enlightened''
*''Entourage''
*'' Friday Night Lights''
*'' Game of Thrones''
*''Girls''
*'' The Glades''
*''Graceland''
*''How to Make It in America''
*''In Treatment''
*''John Adams''
*'' The Killing''
*''Labyrinth''
* ''Las Vegas''
* '' Law & Order''
* '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent''
*''Leverage''
*''The Client List''
*'' The Listener''
*'' Longmire''
*'' Love/Hate''
*''Luck''
*'' Magic City''
*'' Major Crimes''
*''Men of a Certain Age''
*'' Mildred Pierce''
*'' Nashville''
*'' The Newsroom'' (moved to showcase)
*'' Rizzoli & Isles''
*'' Shameless''
*'' Six Feet Under''
*''The Sopranos''
*''Southland''
*''Tangle''
*''Touch''
*'' Treme''
*''True Blood''
*'' Veep''
*'' Weeds''
*''The West Wing''
*'' White Collar''
*'' The White Queen''
*'' World Without End''

Acquired programming on W

*'' The Border''
*'' Boston Legal'' (moved to 111 Greats)
*''Cold Case'' (moved to 111 Greats)
*'' The Dr. Oz Show'' (moved to Arena)
*'' Dr. Phil''
*'' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (moved to LifeStyle Home)
*'' General Hospital''
*''Jeopardy!'' (moved to Fox Classics)
*''Kevin Hill''
*'' Law & Order'' (moved to 111 Greats)
*''The Mentalist'' (moved to Arena, then Fox8)
*''The Nate Berkus Show''
*''The Oprah Winfrey Show''
*'' Outrageous Fortune'' (moved to Arena)
*''Pushing Daisies''
*'' Raising the Bar''
*'' The View''
*''The Wire''
*'' Without a Trace'' (moved to 111 Greats)
*''The Young and the Restless'' (moved to Arena)

Sex and the city

Rachel Ray

Montel Williams

References

External links

Official site

{{Subscription television channels in Australia

Television networks in Australia
Women's interest channels
English-language television stations in Australia
1995 establishments in Australia
Television channels and stations established in 1995
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2016
Defunct Australian television channels
Foxtel