Foxtel is set to replace the W Channel with a new premium drama channel called SoHo.
Expected to be available on the basic tier the channel’s hottest title is tipped to be the new Aaron Sorkin drama The Newsroom, along with other library titles from HBO and Showtime including previous seasons of Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, True Blood.
Showcase is expected to retain first run seasons of other Showtime and HBO content.
The Newsroom has been hotly contested for Australia. Originally due to air on Showcase, TEN was also chasing the series. It is now expected to premiere on SoHo.
Aside from The Newsrom, first run HBO I’ll be staying with Showtime as indicated.
Great, will this mean first run HBO shows will now be wrecked with forced commercial breaks and on-screen clutter pop-ups and watermark stains? Only going to drive people further away to you know where to download instead. Pay TV and Free to Air needs to make TV attractive again, and not so last century treating people as marketing targets and consumers instead of as viewers. If only HBO direct from the USA was available in this country?
Trust they don’t get rid of FX our now favourite channel on Foxtel,also pleasantly suprised with Al Jazeera, want an informative channel, shows how much we don’t get shown or told by the 7,9 and the truly awful 10 nightly news
Why replace a channel when they can add one instead?
I’d rather lots of channels with shows repeated, than fewer channels with less selection of shows, because they need to squeeze them in.
Annoys me too that a lot of the good TV Shows go to Showcase … part of the Movie package :/
now I won’t have to watch the W channel on the down low
@ Qubec – FX isn’t a Foxtel owned channel, but rather the first Fox International Channels (FIC) entertainment channel to launch in Australia (with Foxtel buying the trademarks from FIC for FOX8 and FOX Classics; AETV for CI, History, A&E and Bio; Turner for Arena; etc.) In my opinion, Foxtel own too many channels and they should be sold to their international counterparts to allow more competition.
They’ve been needing to reposition W for years, it’s long since changed from a female channel to a general drama channel. Foxtel should be using this opportunity to make some large changes to all their entertainment channels (TV1, Arena, Fox8, 111 Hits, FX, Fox Classics) and really decide what each channel’s identity and core brand is. Lock in content and leave it on the channel.
Of course it hasn’t all the facts. It’s a speculative piece. Foxtel yet to announce. Patience, my pretties.
I’ve really liked watching the likes of The Closer and Awake on W! I hope things like that remain. And I am looking forward to Boss!
Very thin story missing a lot of facts. An explanation of what SoHo is (a NZ brand) and how Foxtel plans to utilize it would help.
What will they do with Jeopardy, Smash, Army Wives, Wentworth and The Young and The Restless ??
My elderly mother follows The Young and The Restless on W. It is a show she has watched faithfully for over 30 years. Will this daytime show be retained by W????? Is there any way I can find out whether or not they are going to drop it? If they do, hopefully one of the other channels will pick it up.
You can expect FOX8 to stop TB once SoHo is in.
So True Blood will now be on Showcase, Fox8 and SoHo?
@ David – I know this brand launched in NZ earlier this year but is it used in other countries? Also, is there any news on what will happen to the W programming that doesn’t fit the new format? In sure FX would love to have Burn Notice, White Collar, The Listener, The Glades, etc.