Sci Fi went live at 6 am on 1 December 2006. SF originally used the same branding and packaging as the United States Sci Fi channel of the same name but had its own schedule and programming. It aired popular shows such as
Doctor Who,
The X-Files,
Buffy,
Charmed, the original and reimagined
Battlestar Galactica series,
Medium, and the
Star Trek and
Stargate franchises. Sci Fi switched broadcasting from
4:3 to
16:9 aspect ratio on 1 December 2008. Sci Fi +2 went to air on 15 November 2009. On 18 July 2012, it was announced that as of 23 July 2012 Sci Fi would be rebranded as SF, using a world exclusive branding On 16 August 2013, it was announced that SF's carriage agreement with Foxtel was set to expire in December 2013, and that negotiations had failed to create a new carriage deal. With Foxtel being the sole subscription TV provider in Australia, this meant that it was expected that SF, and its sister channel TV1, would close. Foxtel announced that a science-fiction dedicated channel would replace SF and would continue to offer the main content currently on offer. SF later announced they were exploring options in which they could continue operations, such as launching their service on IPTV,
Crackle, or
Apple TV services. On 30 September 2013, it was announced that
Syfy (Australia) (a
NBCUniversal wholly owned and operated channel) would replace SF on Foxtel as of 1 January 2014. Ultimately, SF closed at midnight on 31 December 2013. ==Press coverage==