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SoHo to launch with The Newsroom on Foxtel

Foxtel will launch its new SoHo channel on August 20 with the Australian premiere of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.

Foxtel will launch its new SoHo channel on Monday August 20, at 8.30pm with the Australian premiere of Aaron Sorkin’s anticipated new drama The Newsroom, starring Jeff Daniels as the anchor of a fictional cable news service.

It replaces the W Channel and will be available to all Foxtel subscribers on the basic Get Started package.

SoHo will also feature Damages season 5, Boss season 2, The Glades season 3 and next year the premiere of Australian drama, Wentworth.

HBO series The Newsroom is the brainchild of Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and screenwriter of The Social Network and Moneyball. Starring alongside Daniels are Sam Waterston (Law and Order), Emily Mortimer and Dev Patel plus Jane Fonda as the CEO of the news network’s parent company.

Foxtel Executive Director Television Brian Walsh said “With its stellar cast and pedigree, The Newsroom has become the most anticipated and analysed drama of the new US season. It premiered as HBO’s third most watched series’ launch to date and has already been renewed for a second season.

The Newsroom is an outstanding television event which exemplifies the calibre of the Australian and international programming on Foxtel’s new SoHo channel.”

“SoHo evolves from the W channel as we felt there was a demand to develop a pure drama schedule dedicated to discerning television fans and available to all subscribers,” Mr Walsh said.

“The new SoHo channel complements the total Foxtel drama offering, across other channels such as showcase, UKTV and FX, and reinforces our commitment to being the home of the best television drama from around the world.”

SoHo Channel Manager Penny Win said “SoHo will provide Foxtel’s diverse audience with intelligent, dramatic and distinctive storytelling.”

“SoHo’s weekday schedule will feature exclusive and premiere series and weekends will include Box Set blocks as SoHo runs entire seasons of celebrated shows.”

The majority of SoHo’s programming schedule will be telecast in high definition; however some series were only produced in standard definition. W Channel’s The Young and the Restless will move to Arena on August 20th.

What does the name SoHo mean?
The name conveys the sophisticated and international pulse of Foxtel’s new drama channel, capturing the best of the US and high quality UK programming. The Soho districts of both London and New York are synonymous with contemporary living. So too is this new channel destination.

Snapshot of SoHo’s August/ September slate
Australian premieres from international sources will be
The Newsroom (HBO) starting Monday, August 20;
The Glades Season 3 (Twentieth Century Fox Television, Innuendo Productions, Grand Productions), starring Australian actor Matt Passmore, starting Monday, August 20;
Damages Season 5 (Sony Pictures Television, KZK Productions) starting Thursday, August 23
Boss Season 2 (Lionsgate Television, Grammnet Productions, Category 5 Entertainment) starting Wednesday, September 5.

16 Responses

  1. @ Swosha – it is not Foxtel that determines what programs are on it’s various channels but rather the channels themselves (except of course those owned by Foxtel Networks). Arena has gradually gotten more and more of it’s international counterpart’s (Bravo) content as well as taking on various other content that has been bounced from channel to channel till it has gotten a very female-dedicated genre going. W has changed that many times the only way to get it straight is to reinvent it which is a great idea by Foxtel Networks. Unfortunately in the case of Bones and Law & Order, each network buys programs that they think will get them ratings as that is what gets them money, but don’t bother to think about what us the audience want on what channel. And be glad we are not like the U.S. with multiple channels showing the same show – if you search “law and order” on the TV Guide website schedule you will have to wait hours for a result as there are that many viewings.
    But I completely agree with your comments on endless repeats of animations during the Olympics being rubbish programming and that ABC News 24 shouldn’t be charged for.

  2. I have mentioned is quite a while ago but Foxtel needs to scrap the Box Office movies and put the new movies straight on to the movie channels.This would be very sensible

  3. and where the hell is another season of SLiDE? and why do I have to deal with 14 days of nothing but the simpsons, family guy etc while the olympics are on??? during the dehli games they recycled the same eps day in day out. it was crap. and another thing, why is ABC news 24 in the HD package? how can foxtel charge people for it when it is a fta channel???

  4. i think foxtel need to re-invent there hole network of channels. it annoys me when i see a show like bones on fox8 then older eps on another channel. or law & order on tv1 111hits and W and probably on 13th street (which is a stupid name for a channel)

    I think they need to be more specific with there channel’s its so difficult at times to keep up with what’s new and what’s not.

    why is wrestling on fox8? why isn’t there a channel just dedicated to shows like the simpsons, south park, family guy etc. why is two and half men on fox8 and not on FX the new “blokes” channel.

    whenever there is a new aussie show on foxtel its a guessing game as to were it will be shown. why not an AU channel for new and old aussie shows and movies.

    there are more channels dedicated to old stuff then there is new. they have thousands of shows, 100’s of channels, but everything is recycled way to much and when the show starts to lose ratings they move it to another channel.

    come on foxtel, with what we pay to have the network you should be offering better quality and better channels.

  5. Earlier I got a reply on Facebook from W saying that all the shows I listed below will continue on SoHo which is terrific news even though I don’t know how they fit with this new genre they are pursuing.
    @ Ashton – I think you are referring to the fact that Foxtel will no longer purchase movies for Box Office and On-Demand from Movie Network Channels and Premium Movie Partnership (Showtime Australia) and instead go directly to the movie studios. This, however, has nothing to do with Foxtel dropping Movie Network Channels and Showtime, and I doubt it will ever happen unless another network launched in it’s place (e.g. HBO, Encore, etc.). Here is the TV Tonight article on Foxtel’s movie deal: http://tvtonight.com.au/2012/06/foxtel-to-renegotiate-movie-deals.html

  6. I have to ask the same question, for those of us who don’t have Pay TV, when is The Newsroom coming to FTA? I thought I heard a rumour it could be going to TEN?? I could see such a show helping fix up their Super Sunday line up.

  7. @Josh777 – I’m not sure about Showtime but I’ve read that Foxtel is planning to get rid of Movie One and deal direct with movie studios rather than going through MNC.

  8. Will all Foxtel’s drama spend go through SoHo now? They are launching with Wentworth – the Prisoner remake. Sheesh – aren’t there any new ideas out there? It feels like another Satisfaction – not exactly the modern, contemporary SoHo/W woman I would’ve thought.

  9. @ Ashton – what do you mean Foxtel are getting rid of Showtime next year? It is the best movie network in Australia so why would Foxtel drop it (not to mention the fact that Foxtel’s 25% owner News Corp. owns 20% of Showtime Australia – The Premium Movie Partnership – so I doubt they would drop their own channel)?

  10. I was reallly hoping this would end up on FTA as I’ve been excited by what I’ve seen and read about it, well done to SoHo but sad for me personally.

  11. Sounds like a great idea, but I’m not so sure on the name. And what is going to happen to half the series that don’t fit this new theme? Burn Notice, White Collar, Leverage, and in my opinion The Glades even though it is staying? And does it mean they will keep shows such as The Listener, Rizzoli & Isles, Smash, etc. that aren’t the best fit for this new theme but as close as it’s going to get?

  12. So with Foxtel maybe getting rid of Showtime next year, does that mean all content on Showcase will move to SoHo and be available to all customers?

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