The channel was created in 2002 after News Limited won the television broadcast rights to the AFL for the 2002 to 2006 seasons.

Fox Footy typically repeated all matches after they were played, although often with the commentary of the free-to-air network that presented it live originally.

Foxtel CEO Kim Williams stated "It's not financially viable to continue operating a 24-hour-a-day (Australian rules) football channel when we can only get three live games a week and not on the terms we have sought.

The channel relaunched on Friday 17 February 2012 with the first NAB Cup round-robin match between Hawthorn, Richmond and North Melbourne broadcast that night.

Football personalities and commentators who signed or re-signed to be a part of the relaunched channel included Eddie McGuire (who commentates one non-Collingwood match a week and hosts his own talk show), Gerard Healy, Paul Roos, Jason Dunstall, Dwayne Russell, Brad Johnson, Alastair Lynch, Tony Shaw, Liam Pickering, David King, Danny Frawley, Mark Ricciuto, Glen Jakovich, Anthony Hudson and Dermott Brereton.