The service, which was developed internally by FIC’s programming and creative teams, originally launched in 2009 in Italy on Sky Italia. It has since expanded into Sub-Saharan Africa via TopTV in South Africa and continues to grow its footprint with launches planned for 2011 in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.

The programming mix includes oldies but goodies like Starsky&Hutch, Kojak, Battlestar Galactica, Magnum PI, Miami Vice and M*A*S*H.

In Europe, the channel has quickly become one of the most watched among Sky Italia’s 32-strong bouquet of entertainment brands, and ended January 2011 as the eighth most watched entertainment network on the platform, reaching the sixth position in total day among the commercial target.

Fox Retro puts an ultra-modern spin on vintage television. As a general entertainment channel devoted to series, it broadcasts the beloved shows that de?ned the 70s and 80s and which helped shape pop culture today. Packaged with a contemporary graphic attitude, FOX Retro is today’s destination for fans of yesteryear’s hits.

In June 2010, Fox Retro took home the gold for Best Network Package Design at the Promax/BDA Promotion & Marketing and Design Awards in Los Angeles.

In January 2011, the channel yielded one of the highest values of Average Time Spent among all Sky Italia subscribers in the 15-54 primetime demo (34 minutes), scoring particularly high in its 35-44 core target.

For the month, the channel won 1% Share of total TV and 4.5% of Share of pay in Total Day. In second prime time – the channel’s best time slot – it reached 2% share of total TV and 10% of share on Sky.

This marks a year-on-year growth of +39% in total day, and a considerable increase of 116% in total individuals (122% in the 15-54 demo) for the primetime (9PM/11PM) slot.

Thandi Davids, the Regional Director: Broadcasting & Sales for Fox International Channels, South Africa and Africa, said: “Fresh from conquering Europe, we want to bring global experiences and vintage television brands into Africa. Our success in South Africa - the second market internationally to launch channel – has given us great optimism for our plans to expand on the continent.”

“Golden oldies never go away, the Fox Retro formula of bringing the past back to the future has already proven popular with television viewers all over the world,” she said.

Elouise Kelly, VP Marketing for TopTV, said: “Although all three of the Fox Channels do incredibly well on the TopTV platform, Fox Retro continually comes up as one of the favourites. It would seem our subscribers still enjoy the wholesome family entertainment that Fox Retro’s golden oldies continue to provide.”