FXX

FXX is an American digital cable and satellite television channel owned and operated by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. Aimed at young men in the 18–34 age range, the channel's programming focuses on original and acquired comedy series, some dramatic programs, and feature films.

FXX launched at 7:00 a.m. Eastern/6:00 a.m. Central on September 2, 2013, replacing Fox Soccer. The channel is best known for airing the longest continuous marathon in the history of television, which featured every single episode of The Simpsons that had already been released at the time.

As of July 2015, approximately 78,498,000 households (67.4% of those with television) receive FXX.

History

Development

In January 2013, it was reported by various media outlets that sports-focused channel Fox Soccer would be shut down and be replaced with a general entertainment network that would act as a brother service to FX. The decision appeared to stem from Fox Sports' loss of U.S. television rights to English Premier League soccer matches, rights it shared with ESPN; NBC Sports had secured U.S. rights to the league in October 2012, a deal that took effect at the start of the 2013–14 season. Also likely having an effect on Fox Soccer's future was the eventual conversion of two other Fox Sports specialty channels on August 17, 2013, when the motorsports-oriented Speed became the new general-interest Fox Sports 1 and the extreme sports-heavy Fuel TV converted to Fox Sports 2 (Premier League broadcasts on NBC began that same day).

The Stig

The Stig is a character on the British motoring television show Top Gear. The Stig's primary role is setting lap times for cars tested on the show, as well as instructing celebrity guests, off-camera, for the show's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment. The character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, with the running joke that nobody knows who, or indeed what, is inside the Stig's racing suit.

The identity of the original "Black" Stig, Perry McCarthy, was exposed by a Sunday newspaper in January 2003, and confirmed by McCarthy later that year. The black-suited Stig was subsequently "killed off" that October in the series 3 premiere, and replaced in the following episode by a new White Stig who lasted through to the end of series 15.

In series 13 episode 1, the show jokingly unmasked the Stig as seven-time world champion F1 driver Michael Schumacher. In the hiatus following series 15, racing driver Ben Collins was revealed to be the Stig in a court battle over Collins' impending autobiography, titled The Man in the White Suit. In series 16, debuting in December 2010, Collins was replaced by a second White Stig, whose identity has so far remained secret.