New Boutique Channel Announced For Foxtel

Foxtel have today announced new 'premium drama' channel SoHo, which will replace the existing female-focused W channel.

Set to launch Monday 20 August at 8.30pm, SoHo will open with the Australian premiere of Aaron Sorkin's much-anticipated HBO drama The Newsroom. The channel will also feature the Australian premieres of Damages in the final season five and Boss season two, which premiered on W earlier this year. The channel will be available to subscribers of the basic Foxtel package.

Foxtel said that SoHo will also look to Australian productions and will premiere Wentworth in 2013.

Foxtel's Executive Director Television Brian Walsh said today, “The Newsroom has become the most anticipated and analysed drama of the new US season. It premiered as HBO's third most watched series' launch to date and has already been renewed for a second season."

He said it, "exemplifies the calibre of the Australian and international programming on Foxtel's new SoHo channel... SoHo evolves from the W channel as we felt there was a demand to develop a pure drama schedule dedicated to discerning television fans and available to all subscribers.

“The new SoHo channel complements the total Foxtel drama offering, across other channels such as showcase, UKTV and FX, and reinforces our commitment to being the home of the best television drama from around the world.” 

Over weekends that will look to run box-sets of "celebrated" shows. Shows will be shown in high definition where available.