Star Channel (formerly known as Fox and Fox Channel) is a Brazilian pay television channel operated by Disney Media Networks Latin America, a part of The Walt Disney Company Latin America. The channel is mainly oriented towards family audiences, unlike its sister channel FX which is aimed at young males.
History
Fox was added to TVA in Brazil in September 1994, one year after the channel launched in Spanish-speaking countries in the region.[1] On May 4, 1998, the channel split itself from the Latin American version.[2] From March 1, 1999, the channel started selling ad slots by itself, up until then, it had entrusted its advertising services to Globosat.[3] It had also signed an agreement with DreamWorks International Television to supply television series. A further package of 40 movies was also part of the deal, valid from July 2000.[4] For the 2002 election period, the channel had special rates for advertisers in the slots reserved for political campaigns on over-the-air networks.[5] That same year, it also aired Ilha da Sedução, Brazilian version of Temptation Island, by arrangement with SBT, with Fox airing the reality show on a one-day delay.[6] The channel also aired soccer matches in 2003, as a side effect of the delays in launching the Brazilian version of Fox Sports.[7]
Between the 90s and 2000s, Fox Brazil divided its programming in theme blocks, being: Sci-Fox (action movies, often during prime time), Fox Life (female content, which ended due to the start of the linear channel, with its vacated slot being replaced by Cine Fox Delas, in the afternoon), Não Perturbe! (adult animation with shows such as Family Guy, King of the Hill, Futurama and The Simpsons), Domingo Animado (kids), Meu CineFox Sofá (movie premieres), Séries Clássicas (old series), Domingo Gargalhada (comedy series), CineFox X2 (double feature) e Mega Weekend (weekend premieres).[8] With the launch of FX in 2005, the Não Perturbe! block is moved to the new channel along with the cartoons in it, but King of the Hill, Futurama and The Simpsons remained on Fox's schedule with new episodes during prime time and reruns in alternate days and timeslots, but with Os Simpsons gaining a two-hour nightly block of episodes, from 8 to 10pm.[9]
On July 5, 2007, Fox Brazil decided to move to a 100%-dubbed format after observing a greater interest from the public in movies and shows in this format, months later it adopted a dual audio system to pander to all viewers.[10]
On June 2, 2014, Fox Latin American Channels launched Fox Brazil's HD feed as independent from National Geographic Channel's, becoming a 24-hour simulcast.[11] Its SD feed started broadcasting in 16:9 letterbox at the same time. The shared Nat Geo/Fox HD was shut down in Latin America, but in Brazil, it continued operating until November 3, 2014, being gradually replaced by Fox and National Geographic's HD feeds.[12]
On February 5, 2017, the Fox channels left Sky's line.up for a week, and due to a lack of understanding between the two companies, the channel was replaced by Discovery Science.[13] On February 11, 2017, Fox resumed broadcasting on Sky after renewing its contract with the operator.[14]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Fox_Channel_logo.svg/200px-Fox_Channel_logo.svg.png)
In November 2018, the channel was rebranded as Fox Channel, following a new patterning scheme.[15] In March 2019, it became a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company after it acquired 21st Century Fox.[16] However, Disney wouldn't take over distribution rights until May 6, 2020, after Cade decided to revise the takeover process, as the sale wasn't achieved on time.[17]
On November 27, 2020, Disney announced that they would be renaming the Fox branded channels in Latin America to Star on 22 February 2021 to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation.[18] The change did not affect its programming, causing only the renaming of its theme blocks (Fox Cine to Star Cine, Fox Cine Fun to Star Cine Fun, Cine Fox Prime to Star Cine Prime, Mega Weekend Fox to Star Mega Weekend, Fox Cine Belas to Star Cine Belas, Cine Fox Action to Star Cine Action and Disney Junior no Fox Channel to Disney Junior no Star Channel), without changing its content.[19][20][21]
On September 19, 2021, The Simpsons had its airtime reduced, ceasing to air daily and moving to a weekly timeslot, at 5pm on Sundays and 10:30pm on Mondays.[22] On January 31, 2023, the series returned to daily airings, occupying the 9pm slot (as it was before) from Monday to Friday, with a four-episode, two-hour additional block of reruns on Sundays at 1pm.[23] On August 16, the series left the channel after 29 years on air, as a strategy to impulse Star+.[24] In August 2024, after complaints, the series returned to the schedule, but in a midnight slot.[25]
On December 2, 2024, The Walt Disney Company announced that Star Channel would end in Brazil along with its sister channels (except for its ESPN channels) on February 28, 2025, due to high operational costs in the respective country, the dwindling pay TV ratings in Brazil and the Brazilian pay TV crisis.[26][27]
References
- ^ "Folha de S.Paulo - TVA terá programas pagos individualmente - 21/8/1994". www1.folha.uol.com.br. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ Canais Fox lançam sinais exclusivos
- ^ Fox assume todas as suas vendas
- ^ Canal Fox anuncia acordo com a Dreamworks
- ^ Fox monta plano comercial para período eleitoral
- ^ Fox retransmitirá "Ilha da Sedução" do SBT
- ^ Canal Fox terá mais jogos de futebol
- ^ "Fox lança nova programação com "24 Horas" à frente". TELA VIVA News (in Brazilian Portuguese). 22 February 2005. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ Fortunato, Ederli (13 August 2004). "Novo canal da Fox em janeiro de 2005". Omelete (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ "Fox passa a exibir todo a sua programação dublada em português - 05/07/2007 - UOL Televisão". televisao.uol.com.br. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "1a. Mão: NET inclui Fox HD, NatGeo HD e FX HD em junho". TV Magazine. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
- ^ "Fox anuncia a data de separação do canal Fox/Natgeo HD e versão simulcast do FX HD". O Universo da TV (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ Vaquer, Gabriel (6 February 2017). "Canais Fox são substituídos na Sky por "extra" da ESPN e batalha de robô". Na Telinha. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
- ^ "Fox e Sky chegam a acordo e canais voltam a ser exibidos pela operadora". Zero Hora. 11 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ "FOX muda nome de emissora principal e atualiza logotipos dos canais FOX Premium". TudoCelular.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Cade aprova fusão entre Disney e Fox no Brasil". O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2019-02-27. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Cade aprova fusão entre Disney e Fox, e ESPN poderá transmitir Libertadores". www.uol.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Disney Renaming Fox Channels in Latin America to Star | What's on Disney Plus". 27 November 2020. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
- ^ "Canales de FOX serán renombrados como 'Star' en febrero de 2021 - TVLaint". www.tvlaint.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-11-27.
- ^ "Disney+ Star é confirmado e deve trazer títulos adultos do Hulu ao Brasil". Canaltech (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2020-11-23. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
- ^ "Divulgada data da despedida dos canais FOX e estreia da rede STAR". VCfaz.tv. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ^ "Os Simpsons: série deixa programação diária do Star Channel". ANMTV (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "'Os Simpsons' retorna à programação diária do Star Channel". Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Os Simpsons: série animada deixa programação do Star Channel". ANMTV (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Os Simpsons ganha maratona no Star Channel". ANMTV (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-08-03. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ "Canais Disney Channel serão encerrados no Brasil em 2025; entenda - Zoeira". Diário do Nordeste (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-12-03. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ "Disney decide sair da TV paga e vai acabar com canais no Brasil em fevereiro de 2025 - 02/12/2024 - Outro Canal - F5". f5.folha.uol.com.br. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
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