Fox Life (African TV channel)

Fox Life was an African pay television channel, launched in 2016 as the regional variant of the Fox Life brand. The channel was tailored for a female audience, with TV series, reality shows, talk shows and telenovelas.

History

Fox Networks Group announced in September 2016 that it would replace Fox Crime with Fox Life from 3 October. The channel announced 954 hours of new content in an initial phase, which included US series Pitch and Atlanta.[1] The channel launched with the English dub of the Portuguese telenovela Blood Ties.[2] In September 2017, it announced the arrival of Turkish telenovelas, without even announcing a launch date. Reports had emerged that Heartbeat was going to be the first title seen, from 2 October, if the English dub was finished on time in order for the series to be sent to the channel. Shorter titles would be used first as a test, before beginning to air series with a longer length.[3] In November 2017, it launched on Cell C's subscription streaming service Black.[4]

On 7 March 2018, the channel introduced its first local production, Spirit, with psychic medium Cindy Kruger. This marked the start of a one-year plan to increase the amount of African content on the channel, beginning on 16 May with the interview-reality hybrid Game Changers, on 28 May, Chick Chat Live with the Nigerian presenter Cornelia O'Dwyer, on the same day, Dentaa Africa with Ghanaian actress Dentaa Amoateng, and on 9 July, Today's Leading Women, showcasing female entrepreneurs from Africa.[5] At the 2018 upfront in August, the channel announced Outpatients, a documentary-reality series about aesthetic medicine by Dr. Cathy Davies in Johannesburg.[6]

On 20 April 2020, the channel started a three-hour telenovela block for the afternoons.[7] On 8 September 2020, The Walt Disney Company, who acquired the channel in the previous year, announced the closure of the channel, alongside Disney XD, as part of a plan to reduce its linear television operations.[8]