In a sign of the growing importance of international markets for U.S. programmers, Fox International Channels (FIC) has announced that the Fox entertainment channel now reaches more than 200 million homes internationally.
The milestone indicates that nearly two thirds of its total reach is now outside the U.S. and highlights the company's push to expand the channel's reach, which grew from 140 million last year to more than 200 million now.
The Fox general channels are now found in 125 countries, in 31 languages from 49 feeds, the company reports. The FOX expansion in Europe in the last year included a launch in The Netherlands, and rebrands in the UK, Norway, Russia, Greece and the Balkans.
"Not only did we increase our total number of homes beyond 200 million in the past year, but our ratings increased on every Fox channel FIC operates," explained FIC CEO Hernan Lopez in a statement.
The channel has also made progress in the social media world, where it has more than 100 million Facebook fans and Twitter followers and it is currently in the process of rolling out a portfolio of digital products across the world offering authenticated catch-up services and social apps.
Overall FIC's portfolios of channels, which includes Fox, National Geographic Channel, Fox Life and Fox Sports, now reaches a cumulative 1.6 billion homes around the world.
That expansion is increasingly having an impact on the U.S.
Separately, FIC announced on Oct. 1 that it has partnered with Keshet International on the U.S. adaptation of Keshet’s newest Israeli scripted drama series Shkufim (False Flag).
"Our partnership with Keshet and Peter Landesman, who both have strong track records for telling compelling stories, is an exciting addition to our original development slate," said Sharon Tal Yguado, executive VP of original development and scripted programming at FIC. "Peter, with his background in investigative journalism, understands the complexity of the story and has come up with a version that will connect deeply with audiences both in the U.S. and globally."
