Fox Networks Group Announces First-Ever Simultaneous Cross-Network Global Premiere Event For "COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY" On Sunday, March 9

LOS ANGELES and WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fox Networks Group (FNG) announced yesterday that COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY will debut simultaneously across multiple U.S. Fox networks, including Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), National Geographic Channel, FX, FXX, FXM, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo and FOX Life on Sunday, March 9 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). This first multi-network launch event for Fox Networks Group, along with the series debut on Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels International, will make COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY available on 220 channels in 181 countries, with an overall footprint of more than half a billion homes.

"COSMOS is the kind of rich, epic storytelling that we hope will not only be phenomenal entertainment, but also ignite curiosity and move a generation to take a deeper interest in science and the larger world from which we come," said Peter Rice, Chairman and CEO, Fox Networks Group. "Seth, Ann, Neil and the entire team behind COSMOS have created one of the most incredible experiences ever imagined for television, and we're supporting it with the biggest launch we've ever orchestrated at Fox Networks Group."

After the cross-network premiere event, COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY will continue its epic 13-episode run, airing Sundays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX, and Mondays – with all-new bonus footage and behind-the-scenes content – on the National Geographic Channel (NGC) (10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT).

Official sponsors Samsung Galaxy® and the Chrysler brand will partner with Fox Networks Group on the cross-network premiere event of COSMOS, in addition to sponsoring the series' full 13-episode run on FOX, on National Geographic Channel and in international markets.

In addition to the 10 U.S. networks simulcasting the premiere episode, Fox International Channels (FIC) and National Geographic Channels International (NGCI), as previously announced, will premiere COSMOS on all 90 National Geographic Channels in 180 countries, as well as 120 FOX-branded channels in 125 countries, making this the largest global launch ever for a television series. Rolling out immediately after the highly anticipated U.S. premiere, international markets will begin airing the premiere episode day and date on both FOX-branded and National Geographic Channels, concluding within one week of the domestic premiere event. The additional 12 episodes will air exclusively on National Geographic Channels outside the U.S.

More than three decades after the debut of "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage," Carl Sagan's stunning and iconic exploration of the universe as revealed by science, Seth MacFarlane has teamed with Sagan's original creative collaborators – writer/executive producer Ann Druyan and co-writer, astronomer Steven Soter – to conceive the 13-part series that will serve as a successor to the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning original series.

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY is hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. As with the legendary original series, the new COSMOS is the saga of how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. The series brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge, transporting viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest – and the smallest – scale. The series invents new modes of scientific storytelling to reveal the grandeur of the universe and re-invent celebrated elements of the original series, including the Cosmic Calendar and the Ship of the Imagination. The most profound scientific concepts are presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience.

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY is produced by Cosmos Studios, the Ithaca, NY-based company Ann Druyan co-founded in 2000, and Fuzzy Door Productions, MacFarlane's company. Druyan and Steven Soter are the series' writers. Druyan, MacFarlane, Cosmos Studios President Mitchell Cannold and Brannon Braga  (the "Star Trek" franchise, "24") executive-produce the series. Jason Clark ("Ted," "42") co-executive produces. "Like" COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY on Facebook at facebook.com/COSMOSonTV. Follow the series on Twitter @COSMOSonTV and join the discussion at #cosmos.

SOURCE National Geographic Channels