As Fox

In February 2003, it was announced that Fox would start broadcasting on Cabovisão from March 1, one of the cable companies that existed at the time, as an exclusive channel to the platform. Cristina Gomez, director-general of Cabovisão, explained to the Lusa news agency that the channel was "a unique experience in Portugal", combining "the greatest hits from the Fox studio, some Portuguese movies and the most important television series". The primary target was defined as viewers in the 18-45 age range, with the aim of leading the entertainment segment in Portugal, similar to what happened in Latin America and Japan, despite of the reduced coverage of Cabovisão, which had 17% of the share of the pay-TV operators at the time, against 80% from TV Cabo.^[3] The channel promised television series already broadcast in Portugal, as well as some new series that were exclusive to the channel at the time: The Simpsons, The X-Files, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Alien Nation, Batman, L.A. Law, The Pretender and Lou Grant. From the start, the channel would broadcast 18 hours a day, from 9am to 3am.^[1] Usually, most of these hit series were shown on late night slots on terrestrial networks. Portugal was a key market for the European expansion of the brand, primarily due to the fact that Portuguese viewers have long since been used to watch television series in their original soundtrack with subtitles.^[4]

On September 27, 2004, the channel premiered Las Vegas.^[5]

The channel's reach increased in May 2005, when it launched on the TV Cabo platform in its then-new Funtastic Life package.^[6] The channel was temporarily available to analog subscribers before moving to Funtastic Life as an exclusive in June 2005. Regional director-general of FOX International Channels Sónia Jackson said that it and the newly-launched FOX Life would "attract customers to the digital network".^[7] The fact that it was exclusive to the Funtastic Life package was merely strategic.^[8] Within more than three years from launching, the channel's ratings increased significantly, becoming the fourth most-watched cable network, behind AXN, SIC Notícias and Canal Panda. The launch on TV Cabo in 2005 enabled the channel to be measured by Marktest. The channel had increased from 1,400 viewers at launch to close to 12,000 in October 2006 alone. That same month, the average number of viewers that accessed the channel for at least one second stood at 620,000, which at the time was a record high.^[9]

The channel broadcast the finale of Lost almost simultaneously with the US broadcast on the early hours (5 to 7am) of May 24, 2010. The simulcast had audio problems on the HD feed. The episode repeated on June 1.^[10]

For Carnaval 2015 (which fell on February 17), the channel premiered the TV version of Porta dos Fundos. Fox set the date as National Hangover Day, and aired the first episode sideways on purpose, to target "hungover viewers".^[11]

As Star Channel

On November 27, 2023, Disney has announced that Fox would rebrand to Star Channel on 7 February 2024. The visual concept is of a "luminous shooting star" that will guide the viewers through its programming.^[12] The programming will remain mostly unchanged.^[13][14][15]

Current programming

Source:^[16]

• CSI
• CSI:Miami
• Chicago P.D.
• Elsbeth
• FBI
• FBI: International
• FBI: Most Wanted
• Fire Country
• Magnum P.I.
• NCIS Hawaii
• NCIS: Los Angeles (Investigação Criminal: Los Angeles)
• One Day at a Time
• Safe
• Tracker
• The Equalizer
• The Irrational

In addition to the above, the channel also airs feature films on weekends.

Former programming

• The 4400^[17]
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Alaska Daily
• American Dad!^[17]
• The Americans
• Angel^[17]
• Being Human (Humanos)^[18]
• Blindspot
• Bones (Ossos)^[18]
• Breakout Kings (Os Reis da Fuga)^[19]
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy, Caçadora de Vampiros)^[18]
• Burn Notice (Espião Fora-de-Jogo)^[17]
• Californication^[19]
• Camelot^[19]
• The Cell^[18]
• The Chicago Code^[19]
• The Cleaner^[19]
• The Cleveland Show^[18]
• Covert Affairs (Agente Dupla)^[19]
• Crusoe (Crusoé)^[18]
• Day Break^[20]
• The Dead Zone^[20]
• The Defenders (Defesa à Las Vegas)^[19]
• Defying Gravity (Gravidade Zero)^[18]
• Dexter^[18]
• The Equalizer
• The Dresden Files^[20]
• Eureka^[18]
• Family Guy^[17]
• The Finder
• Flashpoint^[18]
• The Forgotten^[19]
• Fringe^[18]
• Futurama^[17]
• The Gates^[19]
• Ghost Whisperer (Em Contacto)^[21]
• The Glades^[19]
• Harper's Island (A Ilha)^[18]
• Hawaii Five-0 (Hawai: Força Especial)^[19]
• Heroes^[17]
• Homeland (Segurança Nacional)^[21]
• House^[17]
• How I Met Your Mother (Foi Assim que Aconteceu) (formerly on Fox Life)^[21]
• Huff
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Nunca Chove em Filadélfia) (formerly on FX)
• John Doe^[17]
• The Killing
• Las Vegas^[17]
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Lei & Ordem: Unidade Especial)^[21]
• Lie to Me^[18]
• Life on Mars^[18]
• The Listener^[19]
• Lost (Perdidos)^[18]
• Major Crimes (Crimes Graves)
• Malcolm in the Middle (A Vida é Injusta)^[18]
• Mental^[18]
• Miami Medical^[19]
• Modern Family (Uma Família Muito Moderna)
• Moonlight^[17]
• Nikita^[19]
• Persons Unknown (Desconhecidos)^[19]
• The Pretender^[20]
• Prison Break^[18]
• The Prisoner (O Prisioneiro)^[18]
• Saturday Night Live^[18]
• Saved^[17]
• Scandal
• Scrubs (Médicos e Estagiários)^[18]
• SEAL Team
• Shameless (No Limite)
• The Simpsons (Os Simpsons)^[17]
• Smallville^[19]
• Southland^[18]
• Spartacus^[19]
• Stargate Atlantis^[20]
• Touch
• V^[19]
• The Walking Dead^[19]
• The West Wing (Os Homens do Presidente)^[19]
• White Collar (Apanha-me se Puderes)
• The X-Files (Ficheiros Secretos)^[19]