It’s been a mainstay of the service since it first launched in 1995, but now Foxtel is preparing to say a final goodbye to the animation classic, The Simpsons.
The ‘end of an era’ for Foxtel comes after streaming service Disney+ became the exclusive Australian home for new episodes of The Simpsons in late 2021.
The Simpsons has been a key programming title for Foxtel’s Fox 8 channel for the past 27 years.
To commemorate the departure of The Simpsons the channel is currently broadcasting a 25-day non-stop marathon of the series leading up to it’s New Year’s Eve finale.
In addition to The Simpsons, Foxtel subscribers are also set to lose access to access to a number of additional popular animation titles from January 1st including: Family Guy, Bobs Burgers, Futurama and American Dad.
Foxtel is attempting to soften the blow for subscribers by advising they can still access the complete library of The Simpsons and other animation titles via the Disney+ app which is easily accessible on iQ set-top-box devices.
The Seven Network currently maintains free-to-air rights to some older seasons of The Simpsons franchise with episodes airing on its 7Flix multichannel.
Well Fox 8 won’t be worth Watching anymore, every time I check into a hotel first thing I do is put fox 8 and Simpsons on.
No more Fox8 or our beloved Simpsons for this family!! We live in a remote area where internet is limited and we just don’t have the download allowance to stream Disney+ Netflix along with everything else!! Not happy with your decision Foxtel
Dump Simpsons but keep a fake wrestling show, how cringe only have Foxtel to watch the shows you are dumping, #gowokegobroke
I doubt Foxtel / FOX8 had any say in the decision – sounds more like Disney+ reclaiming the rights to what’s theirs as existing agreements expire. Interesting FOX8 haven’t advertised the fact they’ve lost Family Guy etc (as I suspected) – only the Simpsons… and their ads trying to soften the blow by saying it’ll be available through Disney+ are a bit misleading in that they don’t actually specify you need a Disney+ subscription to view them.