Fox (British and Irish TV channel)

Fox (stylised as FOX) was a British pay television channel serving the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Fox Networks Group, a unit of Disney International Operations. It launched on 12 January 2004 as FX289, then changed its name to FX in April 2005 (similar to the American FX), and rebranded to FOX in January 2013. Featuring a mix of comedies and drama series, the channel's programming targeted adults from 18 to 35 years old.

It was announced on 17 May 2021 that Fox would cease broadcasting in the UK and Ireland on 1 July 2021. Most of its content was moved to Star on Disney+. The channel ceased broadcasting as planned on that day.

The channel launched on 12 January 2004 branded as FX289, in reference to its Sky EPG number. In its early years, it mainly broadcast films from the 20th Century Fox library.

The channel was rebranded as FX as it moved in the Sky EPG on 21 April 2005. As FX, the channel targeted a demographic of mainly males. Unlike its American counterpart, it promoted and aired both Fox-produced and non-Fox-produced shows. It had a similar format to its American sister channel, with a schedule consisting largely of Fox-produced shows, including comedies such as Arrested Development, Family Guy, American Dad! and King of the Hill, and dramas such as Millennium, The Shield, The X-Files, and NYPD Blue. Non-Fox-produced shows rerun or receiving their UK premiere on the channel include The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, Babylon 5, Carnivàle, Highlander, JAG, NCIS, Sleeper Cell, E-Ring and Huff, Nip/Tuck, Generation Kill, True Blood, Mob City and Dexter. The channel also produced original content such as the sketch show No Signal!

On 12 September 2005, a two-hour timeshift service - FX +, was launched on Sky Digital. This was followed up with the launch of FX +1 two years later on 10 December 2007. However, the launch of that network led to some confusion as FX + had not been changed to reflect this, leading to two networks having similar names (FX +, FX +1) and viewers assuming a mistake or a double-over of the channel. FX +1 was deemed to be a "filler" network, being launched by Fox to hold up the space for another network.

On 8 April 2008, it was announced that FX HD would launch on 21 April, replacing FX +1. The channel ran from 7:00pm-2:00am, and broadcast as a commercial-free service broadcasting entirely separate schedule from the SD feed, only broadcasting programmes originally made in high-definition. The channel's launch was delayed by a week to the 28th, due to "technical problems at the transmission end", and launched at 10:00pm on that day. On 1 September 2008, FX + became a one-hour timeshift service.

On 24 April 2009, FX HD became a simulcast of FX, broadcasting HD content when possible but only broadcasting between 7:00pm and 2:00am every day. The channel also joined Virgin Media's digital cable TV lineup on channel 158 on 30 July 2009.

On 5 January 2010, FX HD increased its broadcast hours to match its SD counterpart.