Since May 2005, FOX Reality Channel has tried to satisfy American TV viewers' appetite for reality TV 24/7 by featuring a wide array of envelope-pushing original series such as "Solitary 2.0", "The Academy", "Battle of the Bods" and the just concluded "Househusbands of Hollywood", along with off-network & syndicated shows such as "Average Joe", "Outback Jack", "Joe Millionaire", "The Mole", "The Amazing Race", "American Idol", "So You Think You Can Dance", "Don't Forget the Lyrics!", "Real TV", "Ex-treme Dating" & "Blind Date" to name some of the shows that aired. Just 2 days before Vivica A. Fox hosts "The Really Awards", honoring the best & most outrageous moments of the genre, this Saturday night at 9p, FOX Reality's parent company News Corp. has announced plans to cease operations completely as of March 31st, 2010, according to a network spokesman.
"With the changing cable landscape, we've made a strategic decision to shift some resources and refocus on emerging channels. However, FOX Reality Channel will remain on our lineup for at least the next several months," the spokesman said in a statement.
A party outside of FOX Cable Networks is in advanced conversations to participate in the new venture, which will include a complete rebranding of the network, according to the Web site theWrap.com, which first broke the news of FOX Reality's demise. It's unclear what the new channel will be called, let alone what kinds of programming will be featured.
Interestingly enough, the last channel to undergone such a format change came in January 2008, when TimeWarner turned Court TV into truTV. While live courtroom coverage still airs weekday mornings & early afternoons, the rest of the day & night is original "reality" programming on truTV, which you can find on DIRECTV 246 or at trutv.com if you're unsure where you can find it on a cable system in your area.
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