NEW YORK—Fox News Channel is the latest cable network to test the subscription video-on-demand waters this year with its new Fox Nation streaming service set to launch later this year, according to network officials.
The stand-alone streaming service will debut in fourth-quarter 2018 and will take an in-depth look at the issues of the day, with exclusive daily streaming content and long-form programming only available to subscribers. The cost of the service will be announced at a later date.
Fox News Channel, which has topped the cable ratings charts for the past two years among total viewers, will also include access to 20-plus years of its archival programming not available anywhere else—as well as interaction with all of the network’s opinion hosts and personalities—as part of its new SVOD service, according to network officials.
[ESPN Plus Service Will Cost $4.99 Per Month]
Fox Nation will be based at Fox News's headquarters in New York, according to the network.
“With our traditional cable viewership at an all-time high, we are proud to announce a new digital offering geared entirely toward the FOX News superfans, who represent the most loyal audience in cable, if not all of television,” said John Finley, senior vice president of development and production for the network in a statement. “This initiative will capitalize on providing that viewer, who is among the most affluent and well educated in cable, with a highly specialized content experience on a platform they can watch anytime, anywhere.”
Fox Nation is the first announced cable news OTT service, and joins other standalone OTT services from such media companies as ESPN, Disney and CBS set to launch this year.
This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication Multichannel News.
