News Corporation's Fox brand is to have its own UK-based channel for the first time, with the company's FX pay-TV channel to be rebranded.
FX, which broadcasts shows including The Walking Dead and Dexter, will be rebranded as Fox in the new year. Fox is the name of News Corp's main US TV network, which broadcasts shows including American Idol and The Simpsons.
It will be the first time a Fox brand has been used on a News Corp-owned UK channel (although US-based Fox News is also available to Sky Digital subscribers).
FX launched in the UK in 2004 targeting 25- to 44-year-old viewers, one of a number of international spin-offs of the original FX cable channel which launched in the US in 1994.
With much of its original schedule orientated around dramas such as Nip/Tuck and more recently American Horror Story: Asylum and True Blood, its new Fox incarnation will see an expansion of its comedy offering with Louie, starring Louis CK, and Men at Work.
Other new shows will include historical fantasy drama Da Vinci's Dreams, afternoon talkshow The Ricki Lake Show and new runs of Dexter and NCIS.
Jason Thorp, Fox International Channels managing director for UK and Africa, and executive vice president content Europe, said Fox was a "brand name recognised globally for delivering smart entertainment with an edge".
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