• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 21, 2020

Finally, the Fox name is now just one company: Fox Corp.

Walt Disney has finally removed the moniker of its two movie studios it acquired from the former 21st Century Fox -- now just called 20th Century Studios -- and Searchlight (previously 20th Century Fox Studios and Fox Searchlight, respectively).

The “Fox” name is left for Fox Corp., the company owning the Fox Television Network, Fox TV stations, Fox News Channel, and Fox Business, as well as other media companies.

That said, Disney is keeping one Fox-entertainment cable TV network group intact, with a similar and related Fox name: the FX Networks Group. Yes, just one letter is missing here. So pick an intended vowel to fill in. Maybe: FIX, FAX, FEX Networks, or the FUX Networks.

Legacy TV-media looks like it opted out of the name game for streamers. Companies just added a symbol, character or punctuation, as in, Disney+ and Apple TV+.

AT&T took on HBO Max, perhaps an easier identification. Apparently, no one wants to see a consumer streaming video site referred to as Disney Plus or Apple TV Plus. NBCU’s thing? It’s all bird -- or fowl.

This isn’t groundbreaking stuff: A+E Networks group was possibly the forerunner, which then riffed to its individual network, A&E. And there is the cable entertainment network E!

Perhaps both were on to something.

If we are really running out of words to brand a network, service or TV business operation, we can just go back to numbers. Fox Sports 1 (FS1) and Fox Sports (FS2) is in this mode. Before them, ESPN2 and the like. Other cable network groups have done similar numerical stuff.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of markers for those futuristic networks and streaming platforms. Consider ‘!’ ‘#’, ‘*”. If not them, TV Watch votes for the current emotive signs people are using -- emojis.

Happy face anyone? Call it TV :), right here.