Fuel TV is a sports-orientated streaming service focusing on the culture of extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, surfing, BMX and FMX.
Originally launched as a weekly regional music and extreme sports broadcast in September 2001. Fuel TV aired on America WB affiliate WFLI-TV (channel 53, now a CW affiliate) in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the Saturday evening programming slot.
In late 2003 News Corporation bought out the Fuel TV trademark and concept from founder Alistair Gosling and became a part of the Fox-Sports Network. As a cable and satellite channel, Fuel TV featured extreme sports programs ranging from original series, exclusive events, licensed films and creative interstitials.
After 10 years, the Fuel TV channel was re-branded as Fox Sports 2 in August 2013 following the seamless transition of Speed to Fox Sports 1. The extreme action sports network Fuel TV transformed into a purely online streaming network as FUEL.TV.
More recently in 2019, Fuel TV Australia and the Seven Network signed an agreement to create a 24/7 streaming channel which runs on the 7plus platform. It also has dedicated weekend block programming on 7mate.
History
Origin
Alistair Gosling, the founder and CEO (at the time) of Extreme, an Extreme Sports channel and Extreme International the Sports TV distribution and production company, first put forward the concept of an exclusive action-sports television program in early 2000. Gosling floated the concept to Chris Braly, an independent producer on the WB affiliate network WFLI-TV, who eventually aired Fuel TV on channel 53 on 8 September 2001 as a regional music and extreme sports broadcast.
The appeal, particularly in younger viewers, and subsequent rise of extreme action sports programs in the early 21st century lead to the continuation and growth of Fuel TV on regional television in America. The program increased in popularity over its years on the WFLI network, increasing from its original 6 hour Saturday evening programming block, to a 4-hour show every Saturday and Sunday Morning.
Fox Sports Takeover
David Sternberg, a producer at Fox Sports Net, eventually approached Gosling upon seeing the increasing viewership of Fuel TV with the focus of expanding the coverage of extreme sports to a wider audience. Fuel TV eventually aired its last episode on WFLI in September 2003 and became a full-time satellite and cable channel on News Corporations Fox Network.
From 2003 Fuel TV aired numerous original reality programs, including FirstHand, Drive Thru Australia, Camp Woodward and many more, which documented extreme sport stories and events. The television channel on Fox also aired live sporting events such as X-Games, Supercross 450 and namely the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In 2011, Fuel TV became the official cable home of the UFC as part of a broader agreement between Fox and The Mixed Martial Arts Promotion. By mid 2012 Fuel TV's programming consisted solely of combat sports such as MMA, boxing, as well as fighting analysis shows like UFC Tonight and The Undercard, and reruns of reality programs from Fox's sister channel Speed. It also showed live coverage of all ASP World Tour men's surfing events. It was also used as an "overflow" channel for Fox Sports Australia when all three main Fox Sports are being used for other obligations and they have a fourth, motorsport/extreme sport obligation, which get shown on FUEL TV live, and delayed on Fox Sports.
By 2013 Fuel TV had moved away from its original concept as an extreme action sports outlet towards a mainstream, worldwide live-sports channel. The 2012-13 Premier League was aired on Fuel TV along with English Super League (Rugby League) matches.
Shift to Streaming
In early 2013 the Fox Network made the decision to rebrand both its sport channels to “better align with its future growth goals”. Fox's primary sport channel, Speed, was rebranded as Fox Sports 1 simultaneously with Fuel TV's rebranding as Fox Sports 2.