The Fox International Channels broadcast subsidiary of media company 21st Century Fox has rebranded the Setanta Africa channels under the Fox Sports banner following last year’s deal to acquire the pay-television sports broadcaster, which operates in the sub-Saharan region of the continent.
Today’s announcement will mean that two new channels, Fox Sports and Fox Sports 2, will replace Setanta Sports and Setanta Action, respectively. They will launch in August to coincide with the start of the 2014-15 European football season.
Setanta Sports and Setanta Action were originally integrated into the sub-Saharan sports channel offering, Setanta Africa Services, following its takeover by FIC in October. The new Fox Sports channels will be available to more than one million households throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
The Fox Sports channel will focus mainly on football offering rights including France’s Ligue 1, the Netherlands’ Eredivisie, the English Championship, Belgium’s Pro League, North America’s Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX. It will also provide delayed coverage of league and cup matches from club channels, Barça TV, Chelsea TV, Manchester City TV, and the Milan Channel.
Fox Sports 2 will provide a broader sports rights selection including Euroleague Basketball, motor-racing’s Formula E and DTM touring cars, and Australian rugby league competition the NRL.