The Comedy Channel

History

A joint venture between Artist Services (20%), Australis Media (40%), and Foxtel (40%), the channel began broadcasting on the Galaxy platform on 30 June 1996, and became available on Foxtel on 1 August 1996. After the collapse of Australis in 1998, Foxtel's share of the channel increased to 80%. The channel became fully owned by Foxtel after it purchased Artist Services (now Granada Australia) 20% stake in August 2002.

In 2006-2007, the channel moved headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, into the studios vacated by Fox Footy Channel. Until the launch of Comedy Central in 2016, The Comedy Channel was the only channel in Australia specifically dedicated to comedy around the clock. It primarily features stand-up comedy, sitcoms, animated comedy series, sketch comedy, comedy films, and talk shows.

Comedy Channel personalities include Frank Woodley, who hosts Aussie Gold; Tim Ross and Merrick Watts, who together host The Merrick & Rosso Show; Cameron Knight, who amongst other things for the Comedy Channel hosted Stand Up Australia; and H.G. Nelson, who hosts Comedy Slapdown.

The Comedy Channel transferred from 4:3 to Widescreen 16:9 broadcasting on Thursday 1 April 2010 at 5:30am as part of Foxtel's plan to convert all of its channels to widescreen before the end of 2010.

In July 2010, the channel dropped its late night talk shows, leading to disappointed viewers. However, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has since returned to a late night timeslot.

Original programming

Acquired programming

Original programming

Acquired programming