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The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in
all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in l ...
as FOX, is an American
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
broadcast television network owned by
Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and additional offices at the Fox Network Center in Los Angeles and the Fox Media Center in Tempe. Launched as a competitor to the
Big Three television networks In the United States, there are three major traditional commercial broadcast television networks — CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcasting Company), and ABC (American Broadcasting Company) — that due to their lon ...
(
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
) on October 9, 1986, Fox went on to become the most successful attempt at a
fourth television network In American television terminology, a fourth network is a reference to a fourth commercial broadcast (over-the-air) television network, as opposed to the Big Three television networks that dominated U.S. television from the 1950s to the 1980s: A ...
. It was the highest- rated free-to-air network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2012 and again in 2020, and was the most-watched American television network in total viewership during the 2007–08 season. Fox and its affiliated companies operate many entertainment channels in international markets, but these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U.S. network. Most viewers in Canada have access to at least one U.S.-based Fox affiliate, either over the air or through a pay television provider, although Fox's National Football League broadcasts and most of its prime time programming are subject to
simultaneous substitution Simultaneous substitution (also known as simsubbing or signal substitution) is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in Canada to dis ...
regulations for
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
providers imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to protect rights held by domestically based networks. Fox is named after the film studio that was originally called
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, and (indirectly) after the producer William Fox, who had founded one of the film studio's predecessors, Fox Film, before it was merged with another company in 1935. After it was purchased by
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
's Australian conglomerate
News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...
, the hyphen between "Century" and "Fox" was removed. (In 2013, its corporate sibling was split off as a stand-alone entertainment conglomerate, known as 21st Century Fox, which was acquired in 2019 by
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
.) Fox is a member of the North American Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters.


History


Origins

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
(now 20th Century Studios) had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing several syndicated programs. Following the demise of the DuMont Television Network in August 1956, after it became mired in severe financial problems, the
NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several f ...
was launched as a new "fourth network". 20th Century Fox would also produce original content for the NTA network. The film network effort would fail after a few years, but 20th Century Fox continued to dabble in television through its production arm, TCF Television Productions, producing series (such as ''
Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...
'', '' Batman'' and ''
M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...
'') for the three major broadcast television networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS).


1980s: Establishment of the network


Foundations

The Fox network's foundations were laid in March 1985 through
News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...
's $255 million purchase of a 50% interest in TCF Holdings, the parent company of the 20th Century Fox film studio. In May 1985, News Corporation, a media company owned by Australian publishing magnate
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
that had mainly served as a newspaper publisher at the time of the TCF Holdings deal, agreed to pay $2.55 billion to acquire
independent television stations An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
in six major U.S. cities from the
John Kluge John Werner Kluge (; September 21, 1914September 7, 2010) was a German-American entrepreneur who became a television industry mogul in the United States. At one time he was the richest person in the U.S. Early life and education Kluge was bo ...
-run broadcasting company
Metromedia Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMon ...
: WNEW-TV in New York City,
WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA sh ...
in Washington, D.C.,
KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...
in Los Angeles,
KRIV-TV KRIV (channel 26) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet KTXH (channel 20). ...
in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...
-TV in Chicago, and KRLD-TV in
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. A seventh station, ABC affiliate
WCVB-TV WCVB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on TV Place (off Gould Street near the I-95/ MA 128/Highland Avenue ...
in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, was part of the original transaction but was spun off to the Hearst Broadcasting subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation in a separate, concurrent deal as part of a
right of first refusal Right of first refusal (ROFR or RFR) is a contractual right that gives its holder the option to enter a business transaction with the owner of something, according to specified terms, before the owner is entitled to enter into that transactio ...
related to that station's 1982 sale to Metromedia. (Two years later, News Corporation acquired WXNE-TV in that market from the
Christian Broadcasting Network The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series '' The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' ...
and changed its call letters to
WFXT WFXT (channel 25) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Cox Media Group. Its studios are located on Fox Drive (near the Boston-Providence Turnpike) in Dedham, and its ...
.) Radio personality
Clarke Ingram Clarke Ingram is a United States radio personality and programming executive. Ingram is best known in his home market (and hometown) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Career Ingram was formerly the program director of two Pittsburgh stations, top 40 ...
suggested that the Fox network is a revival or at least a linear descendant of DuMont, since Metromedia was founded when DuMont spun off its two remaining owned-and-operated stations, WNEW-TV (then known as WABD) and WTTG, as DuMont Broadcasting (it later changed its name to Metropolitan Broadcasting before becoming Metromedia). Additionally, the former base of DuMont's operations, the DuMont Tele-Centre in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, eventually became the present-day Fox Television Center.


Beginning of the network

In October 1985, 20th Century Fox announced its intentions to form a fourth television network that would compete with ABC, CBS, and NBC. The plans were to use the combination of the Fox studios and the former Metromedia stations to both produce and distribute programming. Organizational plans for the network were held off until the Metromedia acquisitions cleared regulatory hurdles. Then, in December 1985, Rupert Murdoch agreed to pay $325 million to acquire the remaining equity in TCF Holdings from his original partner,
Marvin Davis Marvin H. Davis (August 31, 1925 – September 25, 2004) was an American industrialist. He made his fortunes as the chair of Davis Petroleum and at one time owned 20th Century Fox, the Pebble Beach Corporation, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the ...
. The purchase of the Metromedia stations was approved by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) in March 1986; the call letters of the New York City and Dallas outlets were subsequently changed respectively to
WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagsh ...
and
KDAF KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex with programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in nea ...
. These first six stations, then broadcasting to a combined reach of 22% of the nation's households, became known as the
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...
group. With the sole exception of KDAF (which was sold to
Renaissance Broadcasting Renaissance Broadcasting, founded in 1982 by Michael Finkelstein, was a company that owned several UHF television stations, it was sold to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997. The company was headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. History Renaissan ...
in 1995, at which time it became a charter affiliate of
The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...
), all of the original owned-and-operated stations ("O&Os") are still part of the Fox network today. Like the core O&O group, Fox's affiliate body initially consisted of independent stations (a few of which had maintained affiliations with ABC, NBC, CBS, or DuMont earlier in their existences). The local charter affiliate was, in most cases, that market's top-rated independent, however, Fox opted to affiliate with a second-tier independent station in markets where a more established independent declined the affiliation (such as
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
and
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
). Largely because of both these factors, Fox in a situation very similar to what DuMont had experienced four decades before had little choice but to affiliate with UHF stations in all except a few (mainly larger) markets where the network gained clearance. The Fox Broadcasting Company, or "FBC" as it was known back then, officially debuted with a
soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it widely ...
at 11:00 p.m.
Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...
and
Pacific Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
on Thursday, October 9, 1986. Its inaugural program was a late-night talk show, ''
The Late Show The Late Show may refer to: Books * ''The Late Show'' (book), a 2017 book by Michael Connelly Film * ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film * ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl Music * ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Loc ...
'', which was hosted by comedian
Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...
. After a strong start, ''The Late Show'' quickly eroded in the ratings, it was never able to overtake NBC stalwart ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
''. By early 1987, Rivers (and her then-husband Edgar Rosenberg, the show's original executive producer) quit ''The Late Show'' after disagreements with the network over the show's creative direction, the program then began to be hosted by a succession of guest hosts. After that point, some stations that affiliated with FBC in the weeks before the April 1987 launch of its prime time lineup (such as
WCGV-TV WCGV-TV (channel 24) was a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, which operated from 1980 to 2018. In its latter years, it was owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV; it had common ownership with ...
in
Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
and
WDRB WDRB (channel 41) is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Block Communications alongside Salem, Indiana–licensed dual CW/ MyNetworkTV affiliate WBKI (channel 58). Both ...
-TV in
Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...
) signed affiliation agreements with the network on the condition that they would not have to carry ''The Late Show'' due to the program's weak ratings. Shortly before the official launch of FBC on April 5, 1987, under original Fox Entertainment President Garth Ancier, the network underwent a re-branding to the much shorter "Fox". According to an interview Ancier gave at that time, it was legendary ad man Jay Chiat who suggested to network executives that, rather than create a brand from scratch, the network ought to use the “Fox” heritage of the previous 80 years and the “searchlight” iconography to link Fox Broadcasting to 20th Century Fox. The network had its "
grand opening An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.
" when it expanded its programming into prime time on April 5, 1987, inaugurating its Sunday night lineup with the premieres of the sitcom '' Married... with Children'' and the sketch comedy series ''
The Tracey Ullman Show ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following '' Married... with Children'', and ran until May 26, ...
''. The premieres of both series were rebroadcast twice following their initial airings (at 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Eastern/Pacific, respectively) that night, which
Jamie Kellner Jamie Kellner is an American former television executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a division of Time Warner which includes TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network. Kellner took over the post in 2001 ...
, who served as the network's president and Chief Operating Officer until his resignation in January 1993, stated would allow viewers to "sample FBC programming without missing '' 60 Minutes'', '' Murder, She Wrote'', or the 8 o'clock movies". Fox added one new show per week over the next several weeks, with the drama ''
21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural television series that aired on the Fox network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-loo ...
'' and comedies '' Mr. President'' and '' Duet'' completing its Sunday schedule. On July 11, 1987, the network rolled out its Saturday night schedule with the premiere of the supernatural drama series ''
Werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...
'', which began with a two-hour pilot movie event. Three other series were added to the Saturday lineup over the next three weeks: comedies '' The New Adventures of Beans Baxter'', ''
Karen's Song ''Karen's Song'' is an American sitcom starring Patty Duke that aired on Fox from July 18 to September 12, 1987. Plot Forty-year-old divorcee Karen Matthews (Patty Duke) cautiously begins dating 28-year-old Steven Foreman ( Lewis Smith). Her daug ...
'', and '' Down and Out in Beverly Hills'' (the latter being an adaptation of the film of the same name). Both ''Karen's Song'' and ''Down and Out in Beverly Hills'' were canceled by the start of the 1987–88 television season, the network's first fall launch, and were replaced by the sitcoms '' Second Chance'' and ''
Women in Prison This article discusses the incarceration of women in correctional facilities. As of 2013 across the world, 625,000 women and children were being held in penal institutions, and the female prison population was increasing in all continents.< ...
''. In regards to its late night lineup, Fox had already decided to cancel ''The Late Show'', and had a replacement series in development, '' The Wilton North Report'', when the former series began a ratings resurgence under its final guest host, comedian
Arsenio Hall Arsenio Hall (born February 12, 1956) is an American comedian, actor and talk show host. He hosted the late-night talk show, ''The Arsenio Hall Show'', from 1989 until 1994, and again from 2013 to 2014. He has appeared in ''Martial Law'', '' Com ...
. ''Wilton North'' lasted just a few weeks, however, and the network was unable to reach a deal with Hall to return as host when it hurriedly revived ''The Late Show'' in early 1988. ''The Late Show'' went back to featuring guest hosts, eventually selecting
Ross Shafer Ross Alan Shafer (born December 10, 1954) is an American comedian, network television host, and motivational and leadership speaker/consultant. He has authored nine business books, won a stand-up comedy competition, and earned six Emmys as a ne ...
as its permanent host, only for it to be canceled for good by October 1988, while Hall signed a deal with Paramount Television to develop his own syndicated late night talk show, ''
The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...
''. Fox aired the 39th Primetime Emmy Awards and would air the next five editions. Although the network had modest successes in ''Married... with Children'' and ''The Tracy Ullman Show'', several affiliates were disappointed with Fox's largely underperforming programming lineup during the network's first three years,
KMSP-TV KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetw ...
in
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
and
KPTV KPTV (channel 12) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States. affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Vancouver, Washington–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations ...
in
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, both owned at the time by Chris-Craft Television, disaffiliated from Fox in 1988 (with KITN (now
WFTC WFTC (channel 9.2) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the MyNetworkTV programming service to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet ...
) and
KPDX KPDX (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Vancouver, Washington, United States, serving the Portland, Oregon area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is the only major commercial station in Portland that is licensed to the Washingto ...
respectively replacing those stations as Fox affiliates), citing that the network's weaker program offerings were hampering viewership of their stronger syndicated slate. At the start of the 1989–90 television season, Fox added a third night of programming, on Mondays. The season heralded the start of a turnaround for Fox. It saw the debut of a
midseason replacement In American network television scheduling, a mid-season replacement is a television show that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between December and May. Mid-season replacements usually take place after a ...
series, ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', an animated series that originated as a series of
shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ...
on ''The Tracey Ullman Show'', ranked at a three-way tie for 29th place in the Nielsen ratings, it became a breakout hit and was the first Fox series to break the Top 30. ''The Simpsons'', at 30 years as of 2018, is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. In 1989, Fox also first introduced the documentary series '' Cops'' and crime-focused magazine program '' America's Most Wanted'' (the latter of which debuted as a half-hour series as part of the network's mainly comedy-based Sunday lineup for its first season, before expanding to an hour and moving to Fridays for the 1990–91 season). These two series, which would become staples on the network for just over two decades, would eventually be paired to form the nucleus of Fox's Saturday night schedule beginning in the 1994–95 season. Meanwhile, ''Married... with Children'' which broke ground from other family sitcoms of the period as it centered on a dysfunctional lower-middle-class family, whose
patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
often openly loathed his failures and being saddled with a wife and two children saw viewer interest substantially increase beginning in its third season after, in an ironic twist,
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
homemaker
Terry Rakolta Terry Lynn Rakolta (née Stern) is an American former anti-obscenity activist, best known for leading a boycott against the Fox Broadcasting Company sitcom '' Married... with Children'' in 1989.A Mother Is Heard as Sponsors Abandon a TV Hit (March ...
lodged a boycott to force Fox to cancel the series after objecting to risque humor and sexual content featured in a 1989 episode. ''Married...''s newfound success led it to become the network's longest-running live-action sitcom, airing for 11 seasons.


1990s: Rise into mainstream success and beginnings of rivalry with the Big Three

Fox survived where DuMont and other attempts to start a fourth network had failed because it programmed just under the number of hours defined by the FCC to legally be considered a network. This allowed Fox to make revenue in ways forbidden to the established networks (for instance, it did not have to adhere to the
Financial Interest and Syndication Rules The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as the fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States in 1970. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three television networks from mon ...
that were in effect at the time), since during its first years it was considered to be merely a large group of stations. By comparison, DuMont had been saddled by numerous regulatory barriers that hampered its potential to grow, most notably a ban on acquiring additional stations, during an era when the FCC had much tighter ownership limits for television stations (limiting broadcasters to a maximum of five stations nationwide) than it did when Fox launched. In addition, Murdoch was more than willing to open his wallet to get and keep programming and talent. DuMont, in contrast, operated on a shoestring budget and was unable to keep the programs and stars it had. Most of the other startup networks that launched in later years (such as The WB,
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
and
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
) followed Fox's model as well. Furthermore, DuMont operated during a time when the FCC did not require television manufacturers to include UHF capability.McDowell, W
Remembering the DuMont Network: A Case Study Approach
College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Southern Illinois University. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
In order to see DuMont's UHF stations, most people had to buy an expensive converter. Even then, the signal quality was marginal at best compared to the signals of VHF stations . By the time Fox launched, cable allowed UHF stations to generally be on an equal footing with VHF stations. Although Fox was growing rapidly as a network and had established itself as a presence, it was still not considered a major competitor to the established "Big Three" broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. From its launch, Fox had the advantage of offering programs intended to appeal toward a younger demographic adults between 18 and 34 years of age – and that were edgier in content, whereas some programs that were carried by the "Big Three" networks attracted an older-skewing audience. Until the early 1990s, when Fox expanded its programming to additional nights and outside prime time, most Fox stations were still essentially formatted as independent stations – filling their schedules with mainly first-run and acquired programming, and, during prime time, running either syndicated programs or, more commonly, movies on nights when the network did not provide programming. Few Fox stations carried local newscasts during the network's early years, unlike the owned-and-operated stations and affiliates of its established rivals. Those that did were mostly based in larger markets (including some of the network's O&Os) and retained newscasts that had aired for decades. Even then, these news operations were limited to one newscast per day, following the network's prime time lineup. On September 6, 1990, Fox reached an agreement with TCI (the nation's largest cable company at the time) in which TCI systems in markets that were not served by an over-the-air Fox affiliate at the time would become charter affiliates of a cable-only national feed of the network known as
Foxnet Foxnet was an American cable television channel that was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group division of News Corporation. Serving as a national feed of the Fox Broadcasting Company (known simply as Fox), the service was intended for American t ...
. The cable-only network launched on June 6, 1991, bringing Fox programming to smaller markets that did not carry a default Fox affiliate at the time; it would manage to reach a total of 1.3 million subscribers by 1992. As Fox gradually headed towards carrying a full week's worth of programming in prime time through the addition of programming on Thursday and Friday nights at the start of the 1990–91 season the network's added offerings included the scheduling of ''The Simpsons'' opposite veteran NBC sitcom ''
The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...
'' as part of Fox's initial Thursday night lineup that fall (along with future hit ''
Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for ...
'', which would become the network's longest-running drama, airing for ten seasons) after only a half-season of success on Sunday nights. The show performed well in its new Thursday slot, spending four seasons there and helping to launch ''
Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...
'', another Fox comedy that became a hit when it debuted in August 1992. ''The Simpsons'' returned to Sunday nights in the fall of 1994, and has remained there ever since. The sketch comedy series ''
In Living Color ''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in ...
'', which debuted in April 1990, created many memorable characters and launched the careers of future movie stars Jim Carrey,
Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film ''Ray'', for which he won the A ...
,
Damon Wayans Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year long stint on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live.' ...
, Marlon Wayans,
Keenen Ivory Wayans Keenen Ivory Desuma Wayans (born June 8, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers. Wayans first came to prominence as the host and the creator of the 1990–1994 Fox sketch comedy ...
, guest stars Chris Rock and
Tim Meadows Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...
, and both members of the show's dance troupe, the "Fly Girls", Rosie Perez and Jennifer Lopez. The series also gained international prominence after Fox aired a special live episode in January 1992 as an alternative to the halftime show during Super Bowl XXVI, which was broadcast on CBS, marking the start of Fox's rivalry with the "Big Three" networks while popularizing the counterprogramming strategy against the Super Bowl telecast. The early and mid-1990s saw the debuts of several soap opera-style prime time dramas aimed at younger audiences that became quick hits, which, in addition to ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', included its adult-focused spin-off '' Melrose Place'' (which initially had a mediocre ratings performance, before viewership rose significantly midway through its first season following
Heather Locklear Heather Deen Locklear (born September 25, 1961) is an American actress famous for her role as Amanda Woodward on ''Melrose Place'' (1993–1999), for which she received four consecutive Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Television ...
's addition to the cast) and family drama ''
Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by ...
''. The early and mid-1990s also saw the network launch several series aimed at a
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
audience, which, in addition to ''Martin'', included the sitcom ''
Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who shared personal and profes ...
'' and police procedural ''
New York Undercover ''New York Undercover'' is an American police drama that aired on the Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to February 11, 1999. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torre ...
''.


Luring the NFL and affiliation switches

Despite having a few successful shows like the science fiction drama ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
'', Fox still lacked credibility among viewers. Even those working in television thought of the network as "the one that has that cartoon show" (''The Simpsons''). More than 85% of affiliates in 1993 were UHF stations. Fox became a viable competitor to the older networks when it won broadcast television rights to the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
away from
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. In December 1993, Fox signed a contract with the NFL to televise games from the National Football Conference—which had been airing its games on CBS since
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
—starting with the 1994 season. The initial four-year contract, which Fox bid $1.58 billion to obtain—while CBS offered $295 million per year to retain the rights—also included the exclusive U.S. television rights to Super Bowl XXXI in
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
. The network also lured
Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...
,
John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pl ...
, Dick Stockton,
Matt Millen Matthew George Millen (born March 12, 1958) is a former American football linebacker and executive. Millen played 12 years in the National Football League for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins, ...
, James Brown,
Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...
, and behind-the-scenes production personnel, from
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...
to staff its NFL coverage. Shortly afterward, News Corporation began striking affiliation deals with, and later purchasing, more television station groups. On May 23, 1994, Fox agreed to purchase a 20% stake in New World Communications, a television and film
production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...
controlled by investor
Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman and investor. MacAndrews & Forbes, MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, Liquorice (confect ...
that had just recently entered into broadcasting through its 1993 purchase of seven stations owned by SCI Television. As a result of Fox acquiring a 20% minority interest in the company, New World signed an agreement to switch the affiliations of twelve stations (eight CBS affiliates, three ABC affiliates
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WGHP">of which were subsequently placed in a blind trust and then sold directly to Fox due to conflicts with FCC ownership rules], and WDAF-TV, one NBC affiliate) that it had either already owned outright or was in the process of acquiring from Taft Broadcasting, Citicasters and Hearst Television, Argyle Communications at the time to Fox starting in September 1994 and continuing as existing affiliation contracts with their existing major network partners expired. That summer,
SF Broadcasting SF Broadcasting was an American media company that owned and operated four television stations; the company operated from its founding March 1994, four months before its purchased stations owned by Burnham Broadcasting, until its merger with Sil ...
, a joint venture between Fox and
Savoy Pictures Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. was an American independent motion picture company in operation from 1992 to 1997. Among Savoy Pictures' noteworthy feature films were ''A Bronx Tale'', '' No Escape'', ''Last of the Dogmen'' and ''Serial Mom''. ...
that was founded in March 1994, purchased four stations from Burnham Broadcasting (
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NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliates In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or ...
and one ABC affiliate); through a separate agreement, those stations would also switch to Fox between September 1995 and January 1996 as existing affiliation agreements lapsed. These two deals were not the first instances in which a longtime "Big Three" station affiliated with Fox: the network scored its first major coup when it moved its Miami affiliation from charter affiliate WCIX (which became a CBS owned-and-operated station, now
WFOR-TV WFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WBFS-TV (channel 3 ...
) to NBC affiliate
WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television. WSVN's studios are located on 79th Street Causeway ( SR 934) in North ...
in January 1989, the result of a three-station affiliation swap spurred by NBC's purchase of longtime CBS affiliate
WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (ch ...
. Through the expansion of its news programming and a refocused emphasis on crime stories and sensationalistic reporting under
news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ...
Joel Cheatwood, that switch helped the perennial third-place WSVN become a strong competitor in the Miami market, and its scheduling (if not format) established the later template of how news departments which had their station switch from a Big Three network to Fox would operate and schedule their newscast output. The NFC contract, in fact, was the impetus for the affiliation deal with New World and SF Broadcasting's purchase of the Burnham stations, as Fox sought to improve local coverage of its new NFL package by aligning the network with stations that had more established histories and advertiser value than its charter affiliates. The deals spurred a series of affiliation realignments between all four U.S. television networks involving individual stations and various broadcasting groups such as those between CBS and Group W (whose corporate parent later bought the network in August 1995), and ABC and the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
(which owned
three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
affiliates In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or ...
that switched to either ABC or NBC as a result of the New World deal) affecting 30 television markets between September 1994 and September 1996. The two deals also had the side benefit of increasing local news programming on the new Fox affiliates, mirroring the programming format adopted by WSVN upon that station's switch to the network (as well as expanding the number of news-producing stations in Fox's portfolio beyond mainly charter stations in certain large and mid-sized markets). With significant market share for the first time ever and the rights to the NFL, Fox firmly established itself as the nation's fourth major network. Fox Television Stations would acquire New World outright on July 17, 1996, in a $2.48 billion stock purchase, making the latter's twelve Fox affiliates owned-and-operated stations of the network; the deal was completed on January 22, 1997. Later, in August 2000, Fox bought several stations owned by Chris-Craft Industries and its subsidiaries
BHC Communications BHC Communications, Inc. was the holding company for the broadcast property of Chris-Craft Industries. BHC stands for "broadcasting holding company". History The firm was originally incorporated in 1977 as BHC, Incorporated by Chris-Craft Ind ...
and United Television for $5.5 billion (most of these stations were UPN affiliates, although its Minneapolis station KMSP-TV would rejoin Fox in September 2002 as an owned-and-operated station). These purchases, for a time, made Fox Television Stations the largest owner of television stations in the U.S. (a title that has since been assumed by the
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
, one of the network's largest affiliate groups).


Evolving programming

Fox completed its prime time expansion to all seven nights on January 19,
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
, with the launch of two additional nights of programming on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (The method of gradually adding nights to the programming schedule that began with the network's April 1987 prime time launch was replicated by The WB and UPN when those networks debuted in January 1995), making it the fifth broadcast network (behind the Dumont network) to air programming on a nightly basis. September 1993 saw the heavy promotion and debut of a short-lived
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
series that incorporated science-fiction elements, '' The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.'' However, it was the supernatural investigative drama that debuted immediately following it on Friday nights, ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
'', that would find long-lasting success, and would become Fox's first series to crack Nielsen's year-end Top 20 most-watched network programs. After several other failed attempts at late night programming following the cancellation of ''The Late Show'' (most notably, the quick failure of ''
The Chevy Chase Show ''The Chevy Chase Show'' was an American late night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Chevy Chase that aired in 1993 on Fox. The series was canceled after five weeks on the air. History Creation and pre-production Fox originally asked coun ...
'' in 1993), Fox finally found success in that time period with the debut of ''
MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reuni ...
'' on October 14, 1995; the sketch comedy series became a solid competitor to NBC's ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...
'' for over a decade and was the network's most successful late night program as well as one of its most successful Saturday night shows, running for 14 seasons until 2009. An attempt to make a larger effort to program Saturday nights by moving ''Married... with Children'' from its longtime Sunday slot and adding a new but short-lived sitcom (''
Love and Marriage "Love and Marriage" is a 1955 song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen. It is published by Barton Music Corporation ( ASCAP). Frank Sinatra versions "Love and Marriage" was introduced by Frank Sinatra in the 1955 televi ...
'') to the night at the beginning of the 1996–97 season backfired with the public, as it resulted in a brief cancellation of ''America's Most Wanted'' that was criticized by law enforcement and public officials, and was roundly rejected by viewers, which brought swift cancellation to the newer series. ''Married...'' quickly returned to Sundays (before moving again to Mondays two months later); both it and ''Martin'' would end their runs at the end of that season. The Saturday schedule was revised in November 1996, to feature one new and one encore episode of ''Cops'', and the revived ''America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back''. ''Cops'' and ''AMW'' remained the anchors of Fox's Saturday lineup, making it the most stable night in American broadcast television for over 14 years; both shows eventually were among the few first-run programs remaining on Saturday evenings across the four major networks after decreasing prime time viewership – as more people opted to engage in leisure activities away from home rather than watch television on that night of the week led ABC, NBC and CBS to largely abandon first-run series on Saturdays (outside
newsmagazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...
s, sports and burned off prime time shows that failed on other nights) in favor of reruns and movies by the mid-2000s. ''America's Most Wanted'' ended its 22-year run on Fox in June 2011, and was subsequently picked up by Lifetime (before being cancelled for good in 2013); ''Cops'', in turn, would move its first-run episodes to
Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...
in 2013 after 23 seasons (ending its original run on Fox as the network's longest-running prime time program) and had been cancelled in 2020, leaving sports and repeats of reality and drama series as the only programs airing on Fox on Saturday evenings. During the 1997–98 season, Fox had three shows in the Nielsen Top 20 (in terms of total viewers); ''The X-Files'' (which ranked 11th), ''
King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' (which ranked 15th) and ''The Simpsons'' (which ranked 18th), all of which aired on Sunday nights. Building around its flagship animated comedy ''The Simpsons'', Fox would experience relative success with animated sitcoms in prime time, beginning with the debut of the Mike Judge-produced ''King of the Hill'' in 1997. '' Family Guy'' (the first of three adult-oriented animated series from Seth MacFarlane to air on the network) and '' Futurama'' (from ''Simpsons'' creator
Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
) would make their debuts in 1999, however, they were canceled in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Due to strong DVD sales and highly rated cable reruns on Cartoon Network's
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
, Fox later decided to order new episodes of ''Family Guy'', which began airing in 2005. ''Futurama'' would be revived with four direct-to-DVD films between 2007 and 2009 and would return as a first-run series on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
, where it ran from 2010 to 2013. Less successful efforts included ''
The Critic ''The Critic'' was an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers a ...
'', starring ''Saturday Night Live'' alumnus
Jon Lovitz Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in '' The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in '' A League of ...
(which Fox picked up in 1994 after it was cancelled by ABC, only for the series to be cancelled again after its second season), and ''
The PJs ''The PJs'' is an American adult animated stop-motion black sitcom created by Eddie Murphy, Larry Wilmore, and Steve Tompkins. It portrayed life in an urban public housing project, modeled after the Cabrini–Green housing projects in Chicago. ...
'' (which moved to The WB in 2000, after Fox cancelled that series after its second season). Other notable shows that debuted in the late 1990s included the quirky
David E. Kelley David Edward Kelley (born April 4, 1956) is an American television writer, producer, and former attorney, known as the creator of '' Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Picket Fences'', ''Chicago Hope'', ''The Practice'', '' Ally McBeal'', ''Boston Publi ...
-produced live-action
dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
'' Ally McBeal'', the short-lived game show ''
Greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as und ...
'', and the period comedy ''
That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television period teen sitcom that aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin, ...
'', the latter of which became Fox's second-longest-running live-action sitcom, airing for eight seasons. Throughout the 1990s and into the next decade, Fox launched a slate of cable channels beginning with the 1994 debuts of general entertainment network FX and movie channel FXM: Movies from Fox (now
FX Movie Channel FX Movie Channel (FXM) is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Television division of The Walt Disney Company. It is the sister channel of FX and FXX. The channel's programming consists ...
), followed by the debut of Fox News Channel in August 1996. Its sports operations expanded with the acquisition of controlling interests in several
regional sports network In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region. ...
s (including the
Prime Network Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, ope ...
and
SportsChannel SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...
) between 1996 and 2000 to form
Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
(which launched in November 1996), its 2000 purchase of Speedvision (later Speed Channel, which was replaced in the United States by
Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...
in August 2013, however, it continues to exist in other North American and Caribbean countries as
Fox Sports Racing Fox Sports Racing is a motorsports-oriented cable network owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of Fox Corporation. The network launched on August 17, 2013 as a replacement of the former cable network Speed for North American markets outsi ...
), and the launches of Fox Sports World (later
Fox Soccer Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australi ...
, which was replaced by
FXX FXX is an American basic cable channel owned by the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company through FX Networks, LLC. It is the partner channel of FX, with its programming focusing on original and acquired comedy series and fe ...
in September 2013) and Fox Sports en Español (now
Fox Deportes Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español and stylized in all caps as FOX Deportes) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States ...
) in the early 2000s.


2000s: Rise to ratings leadership, the ''American Idol'' effect, and fierce rivalry with CBS

By 2000, many staple Fox shows of the 1990s had ended their runs. During the late 1990s and carrying over into the early 2000s, Fox put much of its efforts into producing reality shows many of which were considered to be sensationalistic and controversial in nature – such as ''
Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?'' is an American reality television special in which 50 women competed in a beauty pageant-style contest to marry a wealthy man whom they had never met, with the wedding being performed at the end of the ...
'', '' Temptation Island'', '' Married by America'', and ''
Joe Millionaire ''Joe Millionaire'' is an American reality dating show that premiered on Fox in 2003. The first two seasons of the series followed a group of single women, competing for the affection of a bachelor who was falsely billed as being a millionaire ...
'' (which became the first Fox program to crack the Nielsen Top 10), as well as video clip shows such as ''
World's Wildest Police Videos ''World's Wildest Police Videos'' (shortened to ''Police Videos'' in Season 4) is an American reality TV series that ran on Fox from 1998 to 2001. In 2012, Spike announced that it had commissioned 13 new episodes with the revival of the origina ...
'' and ''
When Animals Attack! ''When Animals Attack!'' is a series of television specials aired by Fox in the United States during the mid- to late-1990s. The specials compiled graphic clips of various animals attacking humans. The series was credited to the network's " alter ...
''. After shedding most of these programs, Fox gradually filled its lineup with acclaimed dramas such as '' 24'', ''
The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initiali ...
'', '' House'', and ''
Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, a ...
'', and comedies such as ''
The Bernie Mac Show ''The Bernie Mac Show'' (often shortened to ''Bernie Mac'' in syndication) is an American sitcom television series created by Larry Wilmore, that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001 to April 14, 2006. The series featured Bernie ...
'', '' Malcolm in the Middle'', and ''
Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...
''. As the decade wore on, Fox began surpassing ABC and NBC in the ratings, first in age demographics, then in overall viewership, and placed second behind a resurgent CBS in total viewership, beginning in 2002. Fox hit a major milestone in 2005 when it emerged as the most-watched U.S. broadcast network in the lucrative 18–49 demographic for the first time, largely boosted by the strength of the reality singing competition series ''
American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
''. Regarded as the single most dominant program on 21st-century U.S. television, as well as the first Fox show to lead the Nielsen seasonal ratings, ''Idol'' had peak audiences of up to 38 million viewers during the 2003 season finale and double-season average audiences of around 31 million viewers in 2006 and 2007. Subsequently, it leapfrogged over Fox's Big Three competition to become the highest-rated U.S. television program overall starting with the 2003–04 season, becoming the first reality singing competition series in the country to reach first place in the seasonal ratings. ''Idol'' remains the most recent U.S. television program to date to lead the national prime time ratings and attract at least 30 million viewers for at least two television seasons. It is the most-watched program on U.S. television by seasonal average viewership in the 2000s decade, as well as the most recent program scheduled to have successfully established a graveyard slot on U.S. television since the end of NBC's '' Friends'' in 2004 and the subsequent decline of the network's previously dominant "
Must See TV Must See TV is an American advertising slogan that was used by NBC to brand its primetime blocks during the 1990s, and most often applied to the network's Thursday night lineup, which featured some of its most popular sitcoms and drama series of ...
" Thursday timeblock. By 2005, reality television succeeded sitcoms as the most popular form of entertainment in the U.S. as a result of Fox's rise with ''Idol'' and NBC's network declines. ''House'', which aired as ''Idols lead-out program on Tuesday nights, earned international prominence in the 21st century and became Fox's first prime time drama series (and the network's third program overall) to reach the Nielsen Top 10 beginning 2006. Beginning 2004, CBS and Fox, which ranked as the two most-watched broadcast networks in the U.S. during the 2000s, have tended to equal one another in demographic ratings among general viewership, with both networks winning certain demographics by narrow margins; however, while Fox has the youngest-skewing viewer base, CBS is consistently regarded to have the oldest audience demographics among the major broadcast networks. Fox hit a milestone in February 2005 by scoring its first sweeps victory in total viewership and demographic ratings, boosted largely by its broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIX and the strengths of ''American Idol'', ''24'', ''House'', and ''The O.C''. In September 2006, as a result of the increasing number of over-the-air Fox affiliates and the increased availability of digital subchannels carrying Fox in certain markets, Foxnet was discontinued. Then, a sweeping milestone came by the conclusion of the 2007–08 season on May 21, 2008, shortly after the widely acclaimed seventh-season finale of ''American Idol'', when Fox outranked longtime leader CBS as the most-watched television network overall in the United States, attributed to the strengths of Super Bowl XLII and its NFL game coverages, ''Idol'' and ''House'' during that season. To date, Fox is the only non-Big Three network to top the overall Nielsen ratings since its inception in the 1950–51 season. In the late 2000s, Fox launched a few series that proved to be powerful hits in different respects. In 2007, the network began production on the game shows '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'' and ''
Don't Forget the Lyrics ''Don't Forget the Lyrics!'' is an international game show in the United States. The American show originally aired on Fox from July 11, 2007, to June 19, 2009, and after a year off the air, a third overall season, and first as a syndicated sh ...
''; both shows ran for a total of three seasons each, making them the longest-running game shows in Fox's history. In 2008, the supernatural mystery series ''
Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...
'' debuted to moderate ratings but earned critical acclaim during its first season on Tuesdays. Throughout its run, the series developed a large loyal fanbase that turned the show into a cult favorite. In 2009, ''
Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
'' premiered to average ratings when its pilot aired as a lead-out program of the eighth-season finale of ''American Idol'', but earned positive reviews from critics. The cast of the series has been acknowledged by
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
and Oprah Winfrey, who have each asked the cast to perform live for various national events.


2010–2017: Network's ratings collapse and revamp in network programming

At the dawn of the 2010s, new comedies ''
Raising Hope ''Raising Hope'' is an American sitcom that aired from September 21, 2010, to April 4, 2014, on Fox. Following its first season, the show received two nominations at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Martha Plimpton was nominated for Outstanding ...
'' and ''
New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...
'' gave Fox its first live-action comedy successes in years. The second season of ''Glee'' delivered that series' highest ratings during the
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
season, with viewership peaking during its Super Bowl lead-out
episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...
in February 2011 (marking the most expensive post-Super Bowl episode ever produced on U.S. television). The said show has continuously attracted worldwide media attention that it formed a large, loyal international fanbase. At the same time, Fox's live telecast of the
Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
helped the network emerge as the first U.S. television network to earn an average single-night prime time audience of at least 100 million viewers. ''American Idol'' lost its first place standing among all network prime time programs during the 2011–12 finale (falling to second that season behind ''
NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...
''), ending the longest streak at #1 for a prime time broadcast network series in U.S. television history, through its eight-year ratings domination in both the Adults 18–49 demographic and total viewership. ''Idol'' also remained in the Nielsen Top 10 for eleven years from 2003 to
2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
, and became the highest-rated non-
sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
prime time television program as well as the highest-rated reality series in the U.S. from 2003 to 2012. these records marked the longest Nielsen ratings streaks of any Fox program in these categories. The 2012 season finale of ''American Idol'' marked the end of the season-long 25th anniversary of the establishment of Fox network, helping it win in the 18–49 demographic for the eighth consecutive season, the longest such streak according to Nielsen measurement records (and still standing as of ). However, Fox suffered a collapse in viewership during the 2012–13 season; ''American Idol'' and ''Glee'' suffered steep ratings declines, while the network as a whole fell to third place (suffering an overall decrease by 22%) in total viewership and to second place in the 18–49 demographic (where it remained ) by the end of the season. The decline in ratings continued into the 2013–14 season, with Fox placing fourth among the major networks in total viewership for the first time since 2001. Subsequently, on January 13, 2014, Fox announced that it would abandon its use of the standard concept of greenlighting shows through the initial order of pilot episodes during the designated "pilot season" (running from January through April), instead opting to pick up shows directly to series. Fox scored renewed ratings successes with its February 2014 live telecast of
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...
, which became the second most-watched television broadcast (by average) in U.S. history, and the lead-out programs that followed this event – ''New Girl'' and '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine''. Later, in May 2014, Kevin Reilly announced that he would resign as chairman of Fox Entertainment. On July 15, 2014, corporate parent 21st Century Fox announced that it would merge the operations of the network and
20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co ...
into the newly created Fox Television Group, with 20th Century Fox Television co-chairpersons
Dana Walden Dana Walden (born 1964) is an American businesswoman and the Chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content. Early life and education Dana Freedman was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles in 1964. Her father was in the travel industry and ...
and Gary Newman appointed to head the division. The 2014–15 season saw the series finale of ''Glee'' and debut of hits in the freshmen dramas '' Gotham'' (based on the Batman mythos) and the
Lee Daniels Lee Daniels (born December 24, 1959) is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was ''Monster's Ball'' (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels ...
-produced ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
''. Ratings for ''Empire'', in particular, increased week-to-week throughout its first season, becoming the network's first successful ''American Idol'' lead-out since ''House'', as well as the first American television program to consistently increase its episode-to-episode viewership during its first five weeks since the 1992 feat set by ABC's '' Roseanne''. ''Empire'' ended its inaugural season as the first U.S. television show ever to increase its episodic viewership on a consistent basis throughout the course of a single season, as well as Fox's fourth program overall (and the first since the 2013 finale of ''American Idol'') to enter the Nielsen Top 10 by the end of the 2014–15 season. The 2015–16 season marked a notable turnaround for Fox, as it jumped ahead of ABC to third place in nationwide ratings (both in overall viewership and in the 18–49 demo) and posted several firsts for the network and on U.S. television. Its improvement was boosted by the transfer of the
Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...
and
Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...
pageants from NBC, as well as shows such as '' Grease: Live'', ''Empire'' and the return of ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
'' after its most recent season ending in 2002. ''Grease: Live'' became the first live American television musical special of the 21st century to be broadcast in front of a live studio audience (as well as the first ever live musical special aired by a non-Big Three network on primetime). By 2016, ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' and ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
'' ranked in the Nielsen Top 10 for the season, the first season with 2 Fox programs entering the top rankings since the ''American Idol''-''House'' tandem of the 2007–2008 season (and the first ever season that Fox achieved such rankings without ''American Idol'' or any other reality television show from Fox in the Top 10). The same year also marked the finale of ''American Idol'' in its original run on Fox after airing for fifteen seasons, ending an era of one of the most successful shows in U.S. television history. In February 2017, Fox broadcast
Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...
, which attracted an average 111.3 million viewers—ranking among the top five most-watched Super Bowl games, and the second-highest audience in network history behind Super Bowl XLVIII. In March 2017, Rob Wade was named Fox's new president of alternative entertainment and specials Rob Wade; he had previously worked as a showrunner for '' Dancing with the Stars'', as head of entertainment for BBC Worldwide, and as executive producer of '' America's Got Talent'' and ''The X Factor''.


2018–present: Sale of studios to Disney, focus on non-scripted and sports programming

On July 27, 2018, in a deal first announced December 2017, and completed March 20, 2019, 21st Century Fox shareholders agreed to sell most of its key assets (including
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
,
20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co ...
, and
FX Networks FX Networks, LLC, is a company consisting of a network of cable channels plus a production company and a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content segment of The Walt Disney Company. Originally a part of 21st Century Fox, the compan ...
) to
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
for $71.3 billion, following the spin-off of certain businesses. The sale did not include the Fox Broadcasting Company and television stations or the Fox Sports, Fox News, and Fox Business cable channels, which were to be maintained under a company tentatively referred to as "New Fox". Because Disney already owns the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the acquisition of the Fox network by Disney would have been illegal under the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s rules prohibiting a merger between any of the four major broadcast networks. As a result of the Disney/Fox deal, and with the merger of CBS and Viacom on December 4, 2019, Fox has become the only major U.S. broadcast network without attachment to any film studio. It was acknowledged that Fox had placed a larger emphasis on its sports programming in its first upfronts since the deal was announced, including the acquisitions of the NFL's ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...
'' package and rights to the
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
. It was also noted that Fox had been increasingly pivoting towards programs that could generate large audiences, as opposed to ones that become successful primarily through critical acclaim. On June 27, 2018,
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...
announced that ''
SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...
'' would move to Fox on Friday nights beginning October 4, 2019, following its run on
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
, under a five-year contract valued at $205 million per-year. The network also began to increase its non-scripted output, announcing the new celebrity music competition series ''
The Masked Singer ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (based on the South Korean format ''
King of Mask Singer ''The King of Mask Singer'' () is a South Korean singing competition program presented by Kim Sung-joo, with introductions by voice actor . It airs on MBC on Sunday, starting from April 5, 2015 as a part of MBC's '' Sunday Night'' programming ...
''), and the new game shows '' Mental Samurai'' and '' Spin the Wheel'' for the 2018–19 season. In August 2018, Fox Television Group CEO Dana Walden stated that the network planned to commission and acquire more series from "independent" studios not co-owned with the Big Three networks, explaining that the
vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the suppl ...
of the major broadcast networks (including Fox itself) with associated studios had limited opportunities for outside studios, and cited several top programs that were distributed by third-parties, such as ''
The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on C ...
'' and ''
This Is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American family drama television series that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents, and their three children, in several different time frames. It s ...
'' (produced by
Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...
and 20th Television for CBS and NBC respectively). There were also plans for Fox to acquire new pitches directly from their writers, and offer them to outside producers. As part of the transition, Fox aimed to gradually reduce the amount of scripted programming development coming from 20th Television, although stalwarts such as ''The Simpsons'' would remain with the network. Following the completion of the sale, network head Dana Walden became chairwoman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment.
AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...
president Charlie Collier succeeded Gary Newman as chairman and CEO of Fox on November 1, 2018. Newman was expected to temporarily remain with Fox in a transitional role, in order to oversee the corporate transition. The start of 2019 saw ''The Masked Singer'' premiere to Fox's highest ratings for a non-scripted premiere without an NFL lead-in since 2011, and record the largest-ever Nielsen ratings gain for a non-scripted series after three days of delayed viewership. On January 30, 2019, Fox ordered a second season, while the first-season finale saw an average audience of 11.5 million viewers. With the completion of Disney's purchase the next day, the "New Fox" entity, officially named Fox Corporation, formally began trading on March 19, 2019. At its 2019–20 upfronts, Fox announced 10 new scripted series for the upcoming season, with three (''
Almost Family ''Almost Family'' is an American drama television series based on the Australian television series ''Sisters'', developed by Annie Weisman which aired from October 2, 2019, to February 22, 2020, on Fox. In March 2020, Fox canceled the series af ...
'', ''
Bless the Harts ''Bless the Harts'' is an American animated sitcom created by Emily Spivey for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Debuting on September 29, 2019, the series is executive produced by Spivey, Andy Bobrow, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wiig, ...
'', and '' Prodigal Son'') slated for the fall lineup, as well as the second and third seasons of ''The Masked Singer'' — scheduled for October 2019 and February 2020 respectively (with the latter premiering
after After may refer to: Literature * ''After'' (Elgar), an 1895 poem by Philip Bourke Marston set to music by Edward Elgar * ''After'' (Prose novel), a 2003 novel by Francine Prose * ''After'' (book), a 2005 book by Canadian writer Francis Chalifour ...
Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conferenc ...
). Fox also established a new in-house studio, Fox Alternative Entertainment, for investments in non-scripted formats. It is led by Rob Wade, while its first production was the second season of ''The Masked Singer'' (after season 1 was produced by
Endemol Shine North America Endemol Shine North America is the American division of Endemol Shine Group that was founded on March 15, 2002 as a merger of Shine Americas, Shine USA, and Reveille Productions. Endemol Shine North America produces and distributes scripted and ...
). ''Thursday Night Football'' finished as the second highest-rated series of the 2018–19 television season in the
key demographic The key demographic or target demographic is a term in commercial broadcasting that refers to the most desirable demographic group to a given advertiser. Key demographics vary by outlet, time of day, and programming type, but they are generally co ...
, behind only ''Sunday Night Football'', while ''The Masked Singer'' finished tied for third with ''The Big Bang Theory'' and ''This Is Us''. In the 2019–20, ''Thursday Night Football'' and ''The Masked Singer'' once again finished as the second and third highest-rated programs in the key demographic, and Fox finished the season as the highest-rated network among viewers 18–49 (with CBS leading in overall viewers). Fox repeated this victory in the 2020–21 season, but was narrowly beaten by NBC for 2021–22 by a tenth of a ratings share. In October 2022, Collier stepped down to join
Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services. The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
, with Rob Wade promoted to president and CEO of Fox Entertainment.


Programming

, Fox currently provides 17 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week. The network provides fifteen hours of prime time programming to its owned-and-operated and affiliated stations on Monday through Saturdays from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. and Sundays from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (all times Eastern and Pacific). An hour of late night programming is also offered on Saturdays from 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, a former hour of original comedy, but currently a repeat hour for primetime series (though scheduling for that hour varies depending on the market due to late local newscasts airing in the traditional 11:00 p.m./10:00 p.m. timeslot on some Fox stations). and the hour-long Sunday morning political discussion show – and the network's only regular national news program – ''
Fox News Sunday ''Fox News Sunday'' is a Sunday morning talk show that has aired on the broadcast Fox network since 1996, as a presentation of Fox News Channel. It is the only regularly scheduled Fox News program carried on the main Fox broadcast network. Ho ...
with
Chris Wallace Christopher Wallace (born October 12, 1947) is an American broadcast journalist. He is known for his tough and wide-ranging interviews, for which he is often compared to his father, ''60 Minutes'' journalist Mike Wallace. Over his 50-year care ...
'' (airing from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific, although the timeslot also varies by market due to local news or public affairs programming). Sports programming is also provided; usually on weekends (albeit not every weekend year-round), and most commonly airing between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. or as late as 8:00 p.m. on Sundays (often airing for longer hours during the National Football League season, slightly less during
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
season); between 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (during
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
, college football, and
college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
season) on Saturday afternoons; and during prime time on certain Saturday evenings. The Saturday prime time block if any sports programming is scheduled for a particular week on that night currently varies between occasional
Premier Boxing Champions ''Premier Boxing Champions'' (PBC) is an ongoing series of televised boxing events connected to manager Al Haymon. PBC was initially promoted as an effort to return boxing to mainstream broadcast and cable television, as opposed to premium chann ...
events, Major League Baseball, or NASCAR coverage in the late winter and early spring/summer, and Fox College Football, college football coverage during the fall.


Adult animation

Except for ''
The Critic ''The Critic'' was an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers a ...
'', ''
The PJs ''The PJs'' is an American adult animated stop-motion black sitcom created by Eddie Murphy, Larry Wilmore, and Steve Tompkins. It portrayed life in an urban public housing project, modeled after the Cabrini–Green housing projects in Chicago. ...
'' and '' Futurama'', which were respectively cancelled in 1995, 2000 and 2003, typically every Sunday night during prime time (unless preempted, usually by sports telecasts), Fox airs a lineup incorporating original adult animation sitcoms, all being produced (or co-produced with Fox for post-2019 works) by the network's original sister company, 20th Television, which is currently a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television. This block of adult cartoons became a staple of the network airing under the brand ''Animation Domination'' from May 1, 2005, to September 14, 2014, when the network rebranded the block as ''Sunday Funday'' as a result of the re-incorporation of live-action comedy series on the Sunday night lineup after ten years (aside from occasional burn-offs of series aired on other nights during the 7:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific hour), although animated series remain an integral part of that night's schedule. The first programs to air as part of the ''Animation Domination'' lineup were ''American Dad!'' (which also had its beginnings in the lineup, and moved to TBS (American TV channel), TBS in October 2014), '' Family Guy'' (which returned to the network after a three-year cancellation when ''Animation Domination'' began), ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' (the longest-running cartoon on Fox, predating the lineup by 16 years), and ''
King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' (which also predated the lineup by eight years). Once ''King of the Hill'' was cancelled, ''Family Guy''s spinoff ''The Cleveland Show'' would air from 2009 to 2013 and Loren Bouchard's next series, ''Bob's Burgers'' would air starting in 2011. Animated shows currently airing as part of the lineup include ''The Simpsons'', ''Family Guy'', ''Bob's Burgers'', ''Duncanville (TV series), Duncanville'', ''The Great North'' and ''Housebroken (TV series), Housebroken''. Other shows in the lineup include ''Sit Down, Shut Up (2009 TV series), Sit Down, Shut Up'', ''Allen Gregory'', ''Napoleon Dynamite (TV series), Napoleon Dynamite'', ''Bordertown (American TV series), Bordertown'', ''
Bless the Harts ''Bless the Harts'' is an American animated sitcom created by Emily Spivey for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Debuting on September 29, 2019, the series is executive produced by Spivey, Andy Bobrow, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wiig, ...
'', and the live-action/animated hybrid ''Son of Zorn''. An extension of the Sunday prime-time block called "Animation Domination High-Def" launched on Saturday late nights in July 2013 (marking the return of first-run programming in that time period since the 2010 cancellation of ''The Wanda Sykes Show''), with ''ADHD Shorts'', ''Axe Cop (TV series), Axe Cop'' and ''High School USA!''. Due to low ratings, Fox announced on April 17, 2014, that it would discontinue "Animation Domination High-Def"; although the block was slated to end on June 28, 2014, it continued to air in encore form until the start of the 2016–17 season, when the hour returned to airing encores of comedies or reality series.


Children's programming

Fox began airing children's programming on September 8, 1990, with the debut of the Fox Children's Network (rebranded as the Fox Kids Network in 1991, and then to simply Fox Kids in 1998), a block programming, programming block that aired on Saturday morning cartoon, Saturday mornings and Weekday cartoon, weekday afternoons. Programming within the Fox Kids block consisted mainly of animated series, although it also featured some live-action series as part of the lineup. Shows featured in the block included ''Bobby's World'', ''X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men'', ''Spider-Man (1994 TV series), Spider-Man'', ''The Tick (1994 TV series), The Tick'', ''Fun House (American game show), Fun House'', ''Goosebumps (TV series), Goosebumps'' and ''Digimon Adventure, Digimon''; it also aired select shows from Warner Bros. Animation including the popular animated series ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', ''Animaniacs'' and ''Batman: The Animated Series'' (Warner Bros. pulled ''Batman'' and ''Animaniacs'' from the Fox Kids lineup in September 1995, moving both shows, as well as ''Tiny Toons'' – which had already ended its run – to the newly launched Kids' WB block on The WB). Fox Kids' most successful series, however, was ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' (from eventual sister company and Fox Kids co-parent Saban Entertainment), which debuted in 1993 and became the block's flagship program until it moved to ABC and Toon Disney in 2002. In October 2001, Fox sold its children's division, Saban Entertainment and ABC Family Worldwide, Fox Family Worldwide (the parent subsidiary of cable network Fox Family Channel, now Freeform (TV channel), Freeform) to The Walt Disney Company for $5.3 billion. The network relegated the Fox Kids block to Saturdays in January 2002 (turning over the two-hour timeslot held by the weekday block to its owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, rather than retaining the slots and filling them with adult-oriented daytime shows); then on September 14, 2002, as part of a time-lease agreement with 4Licensing Corporation, 4Kids Entertainment to program the remaining four-hour Saturday morning lineup, Fox Kids was replaced by a new children's program block called FoxBox (which was renamed 4Kids TV in February 2005). Notable programs in that block include ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', ''Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'', ''Sonic X'' and ''One Piece''. Fox discontinued the 4Kids TV block on December 27, 2008, due to conflicts between the network and 4Kids Entertainment that were later settled, regarding 4Kids' failure to pay Fox for the programming lease rights, and the network's inability to fulfill a promise guaranteeing clearance on 90% of its stations and to get other stations to carry the block in certain markets where a Fox station declined it (an issue that plagued Fox's children's program blocks since the start of its affiliation deal with New World Communications). Fox had earlier announced, on November 23, that it would no longer carry children's programming in the time period, citing stiff competition from cable channels aimed at the demographic; the network instead turned over two of the four vacant Saturday morning hours to its affiliates to allow them to air local newscasts or E/I, educational programs purchased from the syndication market, while it retained the remaining two hours to run a network-managed paid programming block, ''Weekend Marketplace'', which debuted on January 3, 2009. As of 2022, some former 4Kids TV shows such as ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' and ''Sonic X'' are made available to stream on the free ad-supported Tubi streaming service, which Fox acquired in April 2020. And also, ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is made available to stream on both the free ad-supported Pluto TV and subscription-based Paramount+ streaming services following that property's 2009 acquisition by Nickelodeon. On September 13, 2014, ''Xploration Station'', a two-hour syndicated block produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions, began airing on Fox stations owned by several affiliate groups including Fox Television Stations and Tribune Broadcasting. The block, which complies with guidelines defined by the Children's Television Act, features programs focused on the STEM fields. Stations can choose to either carry ''Xploration Station'', continue to air ''Weekend Marketplace'' (as the Sinclair Broadcast Group chose to do, since it already carries syndicated E/I programming purchased by the company across its Fox affiliates, although Sinclair added the block on most of its Fox affiliates in September 2016) or in case of Birmingham, not at all (since Raycom Media/Gray Television carried E/I programs through existing contracts with syndicators of educational program content instead).


News

Unlike ABC, CBS, and NBC, Fox does not currently air national news programs (morning, evening or overnight) or News magazine#Broadcast news magazines, newsmagazines choosing to focus solely on its prime time schedule, sports and other ancillary network programming. The absence of a national news program on the Fox network is despite the fact that its parent company, Fox Corporation, owns Fox News Channel, which launched in October 1996 and currently maintains near-universal distribution within the United States via pay television providers. Fox News is not structured as a news division of the Fox network, and operates as a technically separate entity within Fox Corporation through the company's Fox News Group subsidiary. However, it does produce some content that is carried by the broadcast network, which is usually separate from the news coverage aired by the cable channel; in particular, FNC anchor Bill Hemmer anchors most prime time news presentations on the Fox network, especially during political news events (which are anchored by Bret Baier on Fox News Channel). Specifically, the Fox network airs coverage of the State of the Union address, United States presidential election debates, presidential debates, national election coverage, as well as live breaking news coverage currently branded as a "Fox News Special Report" (also branded as a "Fox News Alert" or sometimes a "Fox News Red Alert"); carriage of such special coverage of a breaking news story may vary from station to station, and is often limited to events that occur during the network's usual prime time block (for example, unlike the Big Three, Fox does not often provide coverage of major political convention speeches, which usually occur during the 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) hour during which most of its affiliates air local newscasts; however, the majority of Fox's owned-and-operated stations and affiliate groups do carry weekday breaking news briefs). The political discussion show ''Fox News Sunday'' also airs on the Fox network on Sunday mornings and is rebroadcast later in the day on FNC. Fox also operates an affiliate news service called Fox NewsEdge, which launched with Fox News Channel in 1996, and provides national and international news reports, and feature stories for Fox stations to use in their own local newscasts. Fox first tried its hand at a national news program in prime time with the hour-long weekly newsmagazine ''The Reporters (1988 TV program), The Reporters'', which was produced by the same team behind the Fox Television Stations-distributed syndicated tabloid program ''A Current Affair (American TV program), A Current Affair''; the program ran from 1988 to 1990, when it was cancelled due to low ratings. From 1987 until about 1996, Fox also aired news capsules that aired within its prime time schedule, branded first as ''Fox News Extra'', and later as ''Fox News Updates'', which were produced at New York City O&O WNYW and used their anchors. Another failed attempt occurred in 1993, when Fox launched ''Front Page (newsmagazine), Front Page'' (which included among its five hosts, Ron Reagan and Josh Mankiewicz), in an attempt to capture a younger demographic for a newsmagazine program. The network tried its hand at a newsmagazine again in 1998 with ''Fox Files'', hosted by Fox News Channel anchors Catherine Crier and Jon Scott, as well as a team of correspondents; it lasted a little over a year before being cancelled. Its last attempt at a newsmagazine series occurred during the 2002–03 Sweeps period, with ''The Pulse'', hosted by Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith. On May 17, 2016, the network aired an interview special with then Fox News primetime anchor Megyn Kelly, ''Megyn Kelly Presents''. Fox also attempted national morning programs, only the first of which aired on the network itself. Its first venture at such a program was ''Fox After Breakfast'', an hour-long morning news and lifestyle show, hosted by Tom Bergeron, Laurie Hibberd, and Vicki Lawrence, that ran on the network from 1996 to 1998 (Fox aired the program at 9:00 a.m. – as opposed to the 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. time slot that NBC, CBS, and ABC air their national morning shows – in order to accommodate local morning newscasts that ran in the latter slot on some of its stations); the program originated as ''Breakfast Time'' in 1995 on sister cable channel FX. Fox tried again in 2002 with ''Good Day Live'', a heavily entertainment-focused syndicated offshoot of ''Good Day L.A.'', a news/entertainment/lifestyle program that debuted in 1993 on Los Angeles owned-and-operated station KTTV; the national version of the program was cancelled in 2005. On January 22, 2007, Fox premiered ''The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet'' on its owned-and-operated stations; hosted by Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy (then-anchors of Fox News Channel's ''DaySide''), the show was lighter in format and more entertainment-oriented, though its focus often changed when a major news story occurred. In February 2007, the program was syndicated to other stations including many affiliated with ABC, NBC and CBS in markets where it was not carried by a Fox or MyNetworkTV affiliate; ''The Morning Show'' was cancelled in June 2009.


Sports

When the network launched, Fox management, having seen the critical role that sports programming soccer events, in particular had played in the growth of the British satellite service BSkyB, believed that sports – and specifically, American football, professional football would be the engine that would make Fox a major network the quickest. In 1987, after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract to broadcast ''Monday Night Football'', Fox made an offer to the National Football League to acquire the rights for the same amount that ABC had been paying, about $13 million per game at the time. However, partly due to the fact that Fox had not yet established itself as a major network, the NFL chose to renew its contract with ABC (where ''Monday Night Football'' remained until its move to sister cable channel ESPN in September 2006). Six years later, when the league entered contract negotiations with its television partners, Fox placed a $1.58 billion bid to obtain broadcast rights to the National Football Conference – covering four seasons of games, beginning with the 1994 NFL season. The NFL selected the Fox bid on December 18, 1993, stripping CBS of football telecasts for the first time since 1955. The event placed Fox on par with the "Big Three" television networks and ushered in an era of growth for the NFL. Fox's acquisition of the NFL rights also quickly led toward the network reaching an affiliation deal with New World Communications to change the affiliations of twelve of its stations to Fox (#Luring the NFL and affiliation switches, see above). The rights gave Fox many new viewers and a platform for advertising its other programs. With a sports division now established with the arrival of the NFL, Fox acquired broadcast television rights to the National Hockey League (1994–99), Major League Baseball (since 1996) and
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
auto racing (since 2001, initially as part of a deal that also involved NBC and TNT (American TV network), TNT). From 2007 to 2010, Fox aired the Bowl Championship Series—a group of college football bowl games held around New Year's Day, and the BCS National Championship Game (with the exception of any event held at the Rose Bowl Stadium, including the Rose Bowl Game and the Rose Bowl-hosted 2010 BCS National Championship Game, as their organizer maintained a separate contract with ESPN College Football on ABC, ABC). Following the conclusion of the deal, Fox acquired rights to the Big Ten Conference and Pac-12 Conference's newly established football championship games (the latter alternating yearly with ESPN). In 2017, Fox acquired tier 1 rights to the Big Ten Conference. In August 2011, Fox and mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) reached a multi-year agreement, which included the rights to broadcast four live events in prime time or late night annually, marking the first time that the UFC aired its events on broadcast television. Its first UFC on Fox event, Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, aired on November 12, 2011. This deal ended at the end of 2018, with UFC events moving to ESPN and ESPN+. The network's telecast of
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...
remains the highest rated program in the history of the network, and the second highest rated U.S. television program of all time. Meanwhile, its telecast of
Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...
remains the record holder for the largest overall audience ever tallied in U.S. television history.


Stations

Fox has 18 owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 226 additional television stations encompassing 50 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. possessions; through its Fox Television Stations subsidiary, Fox has the most owned-and-operated stations of the major American commercial broadcast networks. The network has a national reach of 95.77% of all households in the United States (or 299,268,292 Americans with at least one television set). Currently, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Delaware are the only U.S. states where Fox does not have a locally licensed affiliate (New Hampshire is served by Boston's
WFXT WFXT (channel 25) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Cox Media Group. Its studios are located on Fox Drive (near the Boston-Providence Turnpike) in Dedham, and its ...
, New Jersey is split between New York City O&O WNYW and Philadelphia O&O WTXF, while Delaware is served by WTXF and Salisbury, Maryland affiliate WBOC-TV, WBOC-DT2). Fox largely discontinued analog broadcasts on June 12, 2009, as part of the Digital television transition in the United States, transition to digital television. As a newer broadcast network, Fox still has a few Low-power broadcasting, low-power affiliates, covering markets like Youngstown, Ohio (WYFX-LD). In some markets, including both of the ones mentioned, these stations also maintain simulcasts on a digital subchannel, subchannel of a co-owned/managed full-power television station. Fox also maintains a sizeable number of subchannel-only affiliations in cities located outside the 50 largest Nielsen-designated markets that do not have enough full-power stations to support a standalone affiliation or have a low-power station as the only other option as an affiliate, though a couple have appeared in the top 50; the largest subchannel-only Fox affiliate by market size is WSYX-DT3 in Columbus, Ohio, #34 by Nielsen. Currently outside Fox's core Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States#Fox, O&O group, Nexstar Media Group is Fox's largest affiliate group in terms of overall market and numerical reach, with 42 stations (including some former Fox O&Os that were spun off in 2008 to Local TV LLC, Local TV, which Tribune Broadcasting later acquired in 2013, to finance former Fox parent News Corporation's purchase of ''The Wall Street Journal''; Nexstar purchased Tribune in the fall of 2019); the Sinclair Broadcast Group is the second largest operator of Fox stations by numerical total, owning or providing services to 26 Fox-affiliated stations. Fox previously distributed its programming in markets that did not have enough stations to support an affiliate via
Foxnet Foxnet was an American cable television channel that was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group division of News Corporation. Serving as a national feed of the Fox Broadcasting Company (known simply as Fox), the service was intended for American t ...
, a cable channel acting as an alternate national feed for small and certain mid-sized U.S. markets (generally those within the bottom 110 Nielsen media markets) that launched in 1991 and operated until its shutdown on September 12, 2006; the channel featured a master schedule of programs acquired from the syndication market and some brokered programming to fill time slots not occupied by Fox network programming. The concept behind Foxnet served as the basis for The WB 100+ Station Group (launched in September 1998 as the cable-only feed of The WB) and The CW Plus (the immediate successor of The WB 100+, which launched in September 2006 as a cable-only/digital multicast feed of The CW), which both allow the customization of localized branding (which Foxnet did not allow its cable partners to do) in addition to allowing affiliates to sell local advertising.


Differences between Fox and the "Big Three" networks


Network programming

Fox's programming schedule differs from the "Big Three" networks in several significant ways: the network airs its prime time programming for only two hours on Monday through Saturday evenings and three hours on Sundays, compared to the three hours on Monday through Saturdays (from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.) and four hours on Sunday nights (from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time) programmed by the three longer-established networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. This scheduling is termed as "common prime", referring to the programming of prime time content across all of the conventional broadcast networks during the early- and mid-evening hours, while the 10:00 p.m. (Eastern) hour is programmed only by the three older networks. Fox has traditionally avoided programming the 10:00 p.m. hour, choosing to cede the time period to its local affiliates for them to program, many of which air local newscasts during that hour; however, some exceptions do exist for select special film presentations, which by virtue of their Time complexity, running time (depending on whether the film's original length, combined with commercial breaks that would be included in the television cut, would exceed a traditional two-hour broadcast timeslot) must spill over into the 10:00 p.m. hour, and overruns from live sports telecasts scheduled to air during prime time. However, the network did regularly schedule programming in the 10:00 p.m. hour on Sunday nights from September 1989 to September 1993 (when that specific time period was turned back over to its affiliates), although it never added programming at that hour on any other night. Fox's original reason for the reduced number of prime time hours was to avoid fulfilling FCC requirements in effect at the time to be considered a network, and to be free of resulting regulations, although these rules have since been relaxed. Despite being a major network, in addition to not carrying national morning and evening newscasts, Fox also does not air any network daytime television, daytime programming (such as soap operas, game shows or talk shows). Because of this, the network's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates handle the responsibility of programming daytime hours with syndicated or locally produced programming (then corporate sister 20th Television distributes several syndicated daytime programs carried by many Fox stations, such as ''Divorce Court'' and ''The Wendy Williams Show''; Fox Television Stations also test markets certain series from 20th Television and other syndicators such as Warner Bros. Television Distribution that are proposed for national distribution on some of its stations). The network also does not carry network-supplied children's programming on Saturday mornings or late-night programming on Monday through Friday nights. Local affiliates either produce their own programming or run syndicated programs during these time periods. Because of the erratic scheduling of the network's sports programming, many Fox stations choose to run a mix of syndicated programming, infomercials and especially movies to fill weekend afternoon timeslots when a sports event is not scheduled to air. In addition, from the network's inception, Fox has produced two versions of its program promotions for distribution to the network's stations: a standard version incorporating airtimes based on their broadcast in the Eastern/Central or Pacific/Mountain time zones, depending on the feed used by the station (as those seen during network commercial breaks), and versions with "clean" end tags to allow stations to include local airtime and station information through local insertion, graphical insertion and verbal continuity by station continuity (broadcasting), promotional announcers during the program logo graphic or prime time menu. This practice – which differs from that long used by ABC, NBC and CBS, which only allow their stations to insert logos within their network promotions – was also later adopted by The WB and UPN (and their successors The CW, and to a lesser extent, MyNetworkTV) for use by their affiliated stations. A third cut of these promos exists for national program advertising carried by cable networks (including Fox's sister cable networks), where the wording 'check local listings' is placed in the end tag. Fox is the only broadcast network that currently carries adult animation, adult animated comedies. This started with ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' in 1989. This is followed up by ''
King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' in 1997 (until 2009, with the last remaining six episodes airing on syndication, but is set to return to Hulu for new episodes in 2023), '' Family Guy'' (which was cancelled twice until being picked up by
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
for reruns and was brought back by the network in 2005 thanks to home video sales) and '' Futurama'' in 1999 (until 2003 when it was also picked up by Adult Swim only to be purchased by
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
for new episodes between 2008 and 2013 and is also set to return for new episodes on Hulu in 2023), ''American Dad!'' in 2005 (until 2014 when TBS (American TV channel), TBS picked up the series), ''The Cleveland Show'' in 2009, ''Bob's Burgers'' in 2011, ''Duncanville (TV series), Duncanville'' in 2020 and ''The Great North'' and ''Housebroken (TV series), Housebroken'' in 2021. Although the network also aired other adult animated shows like ''The Critic (TV series), The Critic'', ''
The PJs ''The PJs'' is an American adult animated stop-motion black sitcom created by Eddie Murphy, Larry Wilmore, and Steve Tompkins. It portrayed life in an urban public housing project, modeled after the Cabrini–Green housing projects in Chicago. ...
'', ''Sit Down, Shut Up (2009 TV series), Sit Down, Shut Up'', ''Allen Gregory'', ''Napoleon Dynamite (TV series), Napoleon Dynamite'', ''Bordertown (American TV series), Bordertown'', ''Son of Zorn'' (the network's only live-action/animated hybrid sitcom) and ''
Bless the Harts ''Bless the Harts'' is an American animated sitcom created by Emily Spivey for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Debuting on September 29, 2019, the series is executive produced by Spivey, Andy Bobrow, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wiig, ...
'', but with no success. While ABC, CBS, and NBC have tried to copy the success of Fox with adult animated shows, none were successful.


News programming

Within Fox's station body, the quantity of locally produced news programming varies considerably compared to the owned-and-operated and affiliated stations of ABC, NBC, and CBS (which typically carry at least 4½ hours of local newscasts on weekdays and one hour on weekends, which are usually spread across morning, midday, early or late evening timeslots). At minimum, most Fox stations run a late-evening newscast following the network's prime time lineup (at 10:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific, and 9:00 p.m. in the Central Time Zone, Central and Mountain Time Zones), which typically run 30 minutes to one hour in length; besides the fact that the network's stations have more latitude to air an earlier late-evening newscast since Fox does not program that hour, this stems from the fact that several of its charter stations were already airing prime time newscasts as independent stations prior to the network's launch (such as New York City O&O WNYW, which debuted its 10:00 p.m. newscast in March 1967). Most Fox stations also carry a weekday morning newscast of one to three hours in length at 7:00 a.m., as a local alternative to the national morning news programs provided by the "Big Three" networks (though mainly in the case of Fox stations that have a news operation and in a few cases, via simulcasts with ABC-, NBC- and CBS-affiliated stations that operate a Fox affiliate, this is often part of a morning news block that runs for four to six hours on average). Fox has fewer stations that have an independent news operation than those of ABC, NBC and CBS; , 70 of Fox's 236 stations (including all 18 Fox Television Stations, owned-and-operated stations) maintain in-house news departments (compared to roughly – of the stations of each of the three other major broadcast networks, whose newscasts are either produced in-house or in conjunction with another station). WJW (TV), WJW (channel 8) in Cleveland (which was owned by the network from 1997 to 2008) and WXIN (TV), WXIN (channel 59) in Indianapolis have the highest weekly total of news programming hours among Fox's stations, at 65½ hours. Most Fox stations that run a news operation utilize a newscast-intensive scheduling format that is very similar to an ABC-, NBC-, or CBS-affiliated station which in many cases, may incorporate midday or early-evening newscasts, the latter of which is often extended by a half-hour to compete with the national evening newscasts provided by the "Big Three" networks; some Fox stations except for those owned by Fox Television Stations and those formerly owned by Tribune Broadcasting air their early-evening newscasts only on Monday through Friday nights, due to frequent sports event overruns into that daypart on weekends. The first Fox station to adopt such a scheduling format was WSVN in Miami; upon affiliating with the network in January 1989, WSVN retained its existing morning, midday and early evening newscasts, while moving its late newscast from 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and expanding it to one hour (the station later relaunched an 11:00 p.m. newscast in 1995), and expanding its weekday morning newscast by two hours. This type of format was later adopted by the former major network stations that switched to Fox between 1994 and 1996, especially those affected by New World and Burnham Broadcasting affiliation deals. Many Fox stations with upstart news departments often do not run a full slate of newscasts initially, usually carrying only a prime time newscast at first, before gradually adding other newscasts over time. In many small to mid-sized markets (largely those ranked outside the 50 largest Nielsen Media Research, Nielsen-designated media market, television markets), production of the local Fox affiliate's newscasts is outsourced to an NBC, ABC, or CBS station – either due to insufficient funds or studio space for a news department or in most cases, as a byproduct of the station being operated through a legal duopoly (broadcasting), duopoly or a local marketing agreement, management agreement with a major network affiliate (such as with Cunningham Broadcasting-owned WEMT (channel 39) in Greeneville, Tennessee, which has its newscasts produced by NBC affiliate WCYB-TV (channel 5) through a local marketing agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group). Fox affiliates that outsource their news production to a major-network affiliate often carry a lesser amount of news programming than is possible with an affiliate with a standalone news department due to the contracting station's preference to avoid having the Fox station's newscasts compete against their own in common timeslots (differing from outsourcing agreements between two same-market ABC, CBS, or NBC affiliates in certain areas, in which both stations may simulcast newscasts in the same timeslots). The lone exceptions to this rule currently are El Paso, Texas affiliate KFOX-TV (channel 14) and WXIN, which respectively began producing newscasts for their CBS-affiliated duopoly partners using resources from their existing news departments in September 2014 (when new sister stations KFOX and KDBC-TV (channel 4) consolidated their operations into a single facility) and January 2015 (when WXIN sister WTTV (channel 4) affiliated with CBS), with the Fox stations maintaining the same amount of news programming that they did beforehand. Another exception is KNPN-LD (channel 26) in St. Joseph, Missouri, which has been the smallest Fox affiliate by market size with an in-house news operation since the station's July 2012 sign-on; News-Press & Gazette Company expanded production of KNPN's newscasts to its sister flagship stations, KNPG-LD (channel 21) and KCJO-LD (channel 30), when they respectively joined NBC and CBS in November 2016 and June 2017, though the former also maintained roughly the same amount of news programming before the conversions (KNPN airs morning, midday and early evening newscasts on weekdays and a nightly late evening newscast; all three stations simulcast the first 90 minutes of the morning newscast, while the remainder of KNPN's newscasts air in separate time slots from those seen on KNPG and KCJO). WPGH-TV (channel 53) in Pittsburgh is the largest Fox station by Nielsen market ranking (at #23) that outsources its news programming; NBC affiliate WPXI (channel 11; owned by Cox Media Group) has produced the station's 10:00 p.m. newscast since 2006, when WPGH shut down its news department following the closure of owner Sinclair Broadcast Group's News Central division. A few Fox affiliates only air syndicated programming in time periods where newscasts would air on other major network stations. The largest Fox station by market size that does not carry news programming is WSYT (channel 68) in Syracuse, New York (which discontinued a 10:00 p.m. newscast produced by CBS affiliate WTVH (channel 5) in 2006). In Dayton, Ohio, Sinclair Broadcast Group took the unusual step in August 2015 of adopting ''Fox 45 News'' as its universal brand for its news operation in that market, making it appear as if the news department was operated by WRGT-TV, even though it actually belongs to WRGT's virtual duopoly partner, ABC affiliate WKEF, which Sinclair owns outright (newscasts on WKEF would be branded as "''Fox 45 News on ABC22''"); Sinclair utilized WRGT over WKEF due to the latter's perennial "also-ran" reputation in the market in regards to their newscast ratings. WRGT and WKEF have since switched to a new branding model in the summer of 2019 involving a 24/7 web news service known as "Dayton 24/7 Now", and in 2021, WRGT's Fox affiliation moved to WKEF's second subchannel (along with a number of other Sinclair or related companies in several other markets), as Sinclair consolidated its network affiliations onto one station in a market to address regulatory concerns.


Related services


Video-on-demand services

Fox maintains several video on demand venues for viewers to watch the network's programming, including a traditional VOD service called Fox on Demand, which is carried on most traditional cable, satellite, streaming, and telecom providers. Fox also streams most of its programming on the streaming video service Hulu, along with traditional streaming via the network's Full Episode portal on Fox.com. The network's mobile and digital media player app is branded as FOXNOW, and features access to a live stream of the network's primetime and sports programming (though not local and syndicated programming for affiliates not owned by the network), along with full-time live streams of their owned cable networks with TV Everywhere authentication through authorized television providers. The most recent episodes of the network's shows are usually made available on the Fox on Demand television service the day after their original broadcast. In addition, fast forwarding capabilities are disabled while viewing content (a commonality for video-on-demand television services provided by the U.S. broadcast networks) and the program's original advertisements that aired during the initial broadcast are included for a week after becoming available on the service, before being replaced by Direct-response marketing, direct response advertising thereafter. Due to restrictions put in place by the network in January 2012 to encourage live or same-week digital video recorder, DVR viewing via traditional and cable on demand methods, Hulu and Fox.com both impose an eight-day delay for most viewers to access the most recent episode of any Fox program, TV Everywhere, restricting day-after-air streaming of its shows on both services to subscribers of certain pay television providers (such as Dish Network and Verizon FiOS) using an Internet service provider, ISP account through agreements made with Fox, along with Hulu's free service with advertisements on Yahoo! Stream; however, Hulu offers newer episodes of Fox programs the day after their original broadcast to paid subscribers requiring only a user-determined login. In March 2020, Fox began to stream the full schedule of all of their owned Fox Television Stations through FoxNow. The following month, Fox acquired the ad-supported streaming service Tubi. The service primarily offers content and channels licensed from third-party studios, but later began to add episodes of Fox Entertainment original series (such as ''The Masked Singer'') a week after their television premiere.


Fox HD

Fox began broadcasting its programming in 720p High-definition television, high definition on September 12, 2004, with that day's slate of NFC football games during week one of the 2004 NFL season. Until March 14, 2016, the network did not display an digital on-screen graphic, on-screen logo graphic on the bottom-right corner of the screen, outside a ten-second sweep of a "Fox HD" promotional logo (which until the end of 2010, also featured a sponsor tag for DirecTV); instead a trigger in Fox's program delivery system at each station displayed the logo bug of an owned-and-operated or affiliate station in the right-hand corner of the 16:9 screen frame, which disappeared during commercial breaks (the station logo bug would still be triggered even if Fox programming was pre-empted locally due to breaking news, severe weather coverage or special programming, though some stations, such as WGGB-TV, WGGB-DT2 in Springfield, Massachusetts, did not display a logo or substitute only the "FOX" logo alone). However, network or affiliate bugs are not displayed during Fox Sports programming. During some high-profile or live programs such as ''American Idol'' and ''So You Think You Can Dance'', however, Fox forwent the affiliate's logo and displayed its network logo instead, mainly for promotional consideration due to fair use of clips from each series by other media outlets (such as news programs, talk shows, and review and satirical programs that rely on clip content); until 2014, the bug was placed in the 4:3 safe area (television), safe area. The Sunday political talk program ''Fox News Sunday'' displayed the "Fox HD" logo at all times for both that reason and because of many stations airing the program on broadcast delay, tape delay later in the morning. Beginning on March 14, 2016, the standard Fox logo with hashtag is now used on all programming, with the station bug flashed for a few moments at the start of a program or coming out of commercial, as is traditionally done with ABC, CBS and NBC stations. In addition, the Fox HD bug was discontinued; although it was still used on ''Fox News Sunday'' until around late 2019-early 2020. On some Fox programs, a hashtag rests above the affiliate's logo (for example, or ''Bones (TV series), #bones'') to provide viewers reference to the network's official Twitter search tag to find or start discussions during the program being broadcast. In April 2012, additional tags relating to plot points in a given episode (for instance, the ''Saturday Night Glee-ver, #saturdaynightGLEEver'' tag for an April 2012 episode of ''Glee'' of that same title) began to also be promoted in this space to both add additional trending topics and spread out more conversations on Twitter. In cases where the Fox bug appears instead of the station's logo bug, the Twitter hashtag is directly above the Fox logo in the safe area. Fox's coverage of the World Series started broadcasting in HD with Game 1 of the 2002 World Series. During the transitional period from analog to digital television, Fox was the only commercial television network in the U.S. to air programs in widescreen that were not available in HD (which were identified as being presented in "Fox High Resolution Widescreen" from 2001 to 2006). Prior to the launch of its HD feed, some sitcoms and drama series were presented in widescreen standard-definition television, standard-definition, with reality, talk and game shows (''American Idol'' being the first major exception, as it began to be presented in high definition in 2008) later being presented only in widescreen enhanced-definition television, enhanced definition. The children's sports program ''This Week in Baseball'' began airing in widescreen in 2009, while ''Fox News Sunday'' converted to HD when Fox News Channel began operating from its new high-definition facilities in November 2008 (prior to Fox News Channel's conversion to a unified widescreen presentation on both its high-definition and standard-definition feeds in September 2010, it was the final Fox News program to structure its graphics and camera positions for the 4:3 safe area). ''MADtv'' was produced to air only in 4:3 until September 2008, likely due to a combination of stations tape-delaying the program and therefore being unable to offer it via the live network feed in 16:9, and the show's producers not making the switch to the format. The final Fox show to convert to HD was ''Family Guy'' beginning with its And Then There Were Fewer, September 26, 2010, episode; all programming provided by Fox is now broadcast in widescreen ''and'' in high definition , and in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Fox is unique among U.S. broadcasters as it distributes its HD feed over satellite to the network's affiliates as an MPEG transport stream intended to be delivered bit-for-bit for broadcast transmission. During network programming hours, local commercials are inserted over the feed using a transport stream splicer. Affiliates of most other networks decode compressed satellite network video feeds and then re-encode them for final over-the-air transmission. After Fox began broadcasting its sports programming with graphics optimized for 16:9 displays rather than the 4:3 safe area in late July 2010, the network asked cable and satellite providers to comply and use the #10 Active Format Description flag it now disseminates over Fox programming, which displays content natively broadcast in 16:9 in a Letterboxing (filming), letterboxed format suitable for 4:3 television screens to allow any optimized graphical elements to be displayed in full. Subsequently, a number of Fox O&Os and affiliates also began disseminating the AFD #10 flag over local news and syndicated programs that the stations broadcast in HD, and have incorporated graphical elements seen during local programs and on-air promos (as well as logo bugs) optimized for the letter boxed presentation.


Branding


Station standardization

During the early 1990s, Fox began having its stations use a branding structure using a combination of the "Fox" name and the station's channel number, often followed by the licensed call letters (for instance, WNYW in New York City, WTTG in Washington, D.C. and WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, are all branded as "Fox 5"). By the mid-to-late 1990s, stations minimized their call letters to be just barely readable while still in compliance with FCC identification requirements. This marked the start of the trend for other networks to apply such naming schemes. The branding scheme has varied in some markets, with some Fox stations using a city or regional name within the branding instead of the channel number (for example, Chicago owned-and-operated station WFLD branded as "Fox Chicago" from 1997 to 2012 and Philadelphia O&O WTXF-TV branded as "Fox Philadelphia" from 1995 to 2003); a few of the network's stations also minimized use of the "Fox" name, opting to use their call letters or a more generic branding (WSVN in Miami, which has branded as "WSVN 7" for general use and "(Channel) 7 News" for its newscasts since it joined the network in January 1989; KHON-TV (channel 2) in Honolulu, which changed its general branding from "Fox 2" to "KHON 2" in 2003; WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky, which dropped its "Fox 41" brand in favor of branding by its call letters in September 2011; and KVRR (channel 15) in Fargo, North Dakota, which dropped the generic "Fox" branding it used in part due to its network of Broadcast relay station#Satellite stations, repeater stations throughout eastern North Dakota in favor of branding by its calls in May 2015). Similarly, most of the stations that switched to Fox as a result of its 1994 affiliation deal with New World Communications retained their Big Three-era branding for general or news purposes (with a few exceptions such as WJW (TV), WJW in Cleveland, which dropped its CBS-era "TV8" and "Newscenter 8" brands in 1995, in favor of "Fox is ei8ht" as a general brand and ''ei8ht is News'' as the title for its newscasts; likewise that same year, KDFW in Dallas/Fort Worth re-branded itself as "Fox 4 Texas" after its newscast name of "News 4 Texas" before shortening its ID to simply "Fox 4" in 1996 and changing its newscast name to "Fox 4 News", both in use since then), before conforming to Fox's station branding conventions when Fox Television Stations acquired New World in 1997. A particularly unique situation was with KTVU (channel 2) in Oakland, California, Oakland-San Francisco, which as a Fox affiliate under longtime owner Cox Media Group, retained its perennial "Channel 2" brand (with limited references as "Fox Channel 2" by the early 1990s). In 1996, the station rebranded as "KTVU Fox 2" for general purposes (adding the Fox logo on the underside of the top line of its heritage "Circle Laser 2" logo as well), while retaining "''(KTVU) Channel 2 News''" as the branding for its newscasts. Fox Television Stations (which traded WFXT in Boston and WHBQ-TV (channel 13) in Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis station to Cox in 2014, in exchange for KTVU and sister station KICU-TV) instituted the "KTVU Fox 2" branding full-time in February 2015, retaining the "Circle Laser 2" both within the group's standardized "boxkite" logo and in an alternate version (which would become the primary logo through its de-emphasis of the O&O standardization later that year) placed next to a prominent Fox wordmark. Another situation also includes another Fox station KCPQ in Seattle, Washington, which as a Fox affiliate under Tribune Media and Nexstar Media Group, also retained the "Q13 Fox" name as well as the "Q13 News" name for its newscast until KCPQ dropped the Q13 moniker and rebranded itself to "Fox 13" in September 2021, conforming with the branding of other Fox O&O stations after its acquisition by Fox. Starting in 2006, more standardization of the O&Os began to take place both on-air and online. All of the network's O&Os began adopting an on-air look more closely aligned with the Fox News Channel, which included a standardized red, white and blue boxkite-style logo augmented by red pillars (which rotated on-air, particularly in the logo bugs seen during newscasts). After News Corporation's acquisition of the social networking site Myspace (which it sold in June 2011 to a consortium that included singer Justin Timberlake among its backers), some Fox O&Os launched websites with identical layouts and similar URL domains under the "MyFox" scheme (such as MyFoxDC.com for WTTG). On-air usage of the FNC-inspired logos was reduced in August 2012 (when a new standardized graphics package was implemented, with wordmark bugs being used during newscasts and other programming), while several of the O&Os ceased using the "MyFox" domains in 2015; the use of the Fox News Channel boxkite logos in all elements, along with explicit connections with the latter, was drastically reduced since the July 2016 resignation of Roger Ailes from Fox for a more traditional and simpler 'call-channel number' horizontal wordmark style which is more flexible with both traditional television and smaller mobile screens. In 2017, Fox's local newscast music composer, Stephen Arnold Music, released a new news music package, "Beyond", that uses none of the Fox News Channel sonic elements associated with the previous Fox O&O music package, and it has rolled out across all Fox O&O local news operations. As of 2017, Fox O&O's with a sister MyNetworkTV station in that market have also begun to play down that network, with many MyNetworkTV O&O's now taking on the branding of "Fox (channel number) Plus/More,", etc., suggesting them as an extension of their higher-profile sister Fox station. Several of these stations now also carry extended newscasts or rebroadcasts of earlier newscasts from their sister stations during primetime, pushing MyNetworkTV's schedule to a late night offering.


Logos

When Fox launched on October 9, 1986, as Fox Broadcasting Company, it used a logo with three squares containing the network's initials (FBC) similar to BBC's current logo from 1997–present in the UK. Below it was a rectangle with the network's full name in the same font. This logo is mostly the same color as the ITV (TV channel), ITV's old logo from 1998 to 2004 in the UK, which was used during the network's first six months in existence and was primarily featured as a network identification slide at the beginning of ''The Late Show with Joan Rivers''. On April 5, 1987, when the network inaugurated its prime time programming, a more familiar logo based on 20th Century Fox's signature logo design was introduced, featuring just the capitalized "FOX" name alongside the familiar trademark searchlights and double-pane platform (Fox's owned-and-operated stations used a variant for station identifications from 1987 to 1989, which incorporated both an "O" and searchlight in negative space, the latter of which intersected the "X" and panes within the otherwise translucent yellow/gold logo; until as late as the mid-1990s, some Fox affiliates that did not license the regulation network logo, or which used computer-generated imagery, CGI to output their station logos with local production houses which tried to emulate the parent network's logo as close as possible, used those that imitated the 20th Century Fox-inspired design in their station logos). In September 1993, the familiar logo was given a more "hip" makeover, with the "FOX" wordmark overhauled into its current proprietary logotype and the angle changed, removing the tilting (the 1987 logo remained in use during the 1993–94 season in print advertisements featured in ''TV Guide'' and other television listings magazines). Starting with the introduction of this logo, the network began displaying an digital on-screen graphic, on-screen bug within its programs on the lower right-hand corner of the screen (initially for one minute at the start of each program segment or act, eventually being displayed throughout the program outside commercial breaks, before reverting to the former display format regularly upon the 2009 digital transition). The "O" character also underwent a makeover, acquiring its trademark pillar-like Typeface anatomy, bowl, which has since become a major focal point for the logo and Fox advertising in lieu of the searchlight motif. The "O" is alternately utilized as a zero character in the station logo of several Fox affiliates which have a 10, tens channel location, including
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's channel 10, KSAZ-TV, and Sacramento affiliate KTXL-TV, channel 40. Another revised logo was introduced for the 1995–96 television season, removing the searchlights, but retaining the two lower panes and adding a third pane atop the logotype. A variant of the original 1993 design was implemented in 1996, excluding the panes underneath the network name, but restoring the searchlights placed behind the "F" and "X" in the Fox wordmark. The current version of the logo was introduced in 1999, removing the searchlights completely and switching the logo exclusively to a wordmark design. Despite this, the searchlight theme remained an integral part of 21st Century Fox's branding efforts; they are still incorporated into Fox News Channel's logo, and the universal station logo introduced in 2006 by Fox's owned-and-operated stations – which were retained by the seven former O&Os that Fox Television Stations sold in 2008 to Local TV and had spread to several Fox stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting (including those it acquired through the company's 2013 merger with Local TV; the logo introduced by the O&Os was modified for Tribune's Fox affiliates in 2012 to feature only one searchlight as part of the company's graphical standardizations for those stations) and certain other Fox affiliates not owned or operated by either company. The 1996–99 searchlight logo is still used within the logos of a small number of Fox affiliates; the searchlights continued to be featured in the logo of sister channel FX until a rebranding effort in 2008. The screen bug may have been used from 1999 to 2014; when the network upgraded to high-definition, the watermark placement remained at the 480i format. Until March 14, 2016, they didn't display the on-screen bug, just the hashtag missing the Fox bug, used on some affiliates. For the 2019–20 season, Fox implemented branding elements by Trollbäck + Company, which slightly tweaked the existing wordmark to make it thicker, and introduced an abstract version of the wordmark whose shapes are incorporated into advertising and on-air branding elements (including an animation of the abstract shapes morphing into the main Fox logo). The original wordmark was still used on affiliates and O&Os until they began adopting the 2019 logo throughout 2020, 2021, and 2022.


Controversy

Controversy surrounded the network in 2002 and 2003 over profanity, expressed respectively by Cher and Nicole Richie, aired live during Fox's broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards on its affiliates in the Eastern and Central Time Zones despite the use of five-second Broadcast delay, audio delays; the indecent material was edited out when the program was broadcast in other time zones from the Mountain Time Zone westward. Both of the obscene instances were condemned by the Parents Television Council, and named by them among the worst instances on television from 2001 to 2004. PTC members filed tens of thousands of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the broadcasts. A subsequent apology made by Fox representatives was labeled a "sham" by PTC president L. Brent Bozell III, who argued that the network could have easily used an audio delay to edit out the obscene language. As the FCC was investigating the broadcasts, in 2004, Fox announced that it would begin extending live broadcast delays to five minutes from its standard five or ten seconds to more easily be able to edit out obscenities uttered over the air. In June 2007, in the case ''Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations (2009), Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations'', the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC could not issue indecency fines against Fox because it does not have the authority to fine broadcasters for fleeting expletives, such as in the case of the Billboard Awards. The FCC eventually decided to appeal the Second Circuit Court's finding. The Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari and oral arguments in FCC v. Fox, et al., began November 4, 2008. The Parents Television Council has also criticized many popular Fox shows for perceived indecent content, such as ''American Dad!'', ''
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'', ''The Simpsons'', ''Family Guy'', ''Hell's Kitchen (American TV series), Hell's Kitchen'', ''Married... with Children'', ''Prison Break'' and ''That '70s Show''. The Council sometimes has gone even as far as to file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission regarding indecent content within Fox programming, having done so for ''That '70s Show'' and '' Married by America'', having successfully been able to get the FCC to fine the network nearly $1 million for its airing of the latter program. That fine was reduced to $91,000 in January 2009 after an appeal of the fine by Fox was granted as a result of its earlier discovery that the FCC originally claimed to have received 159 complaints regarding the content in ''Married by America''; it later admitted to only receiving 90, which came from only 23 people. A study of the complaints by blogger Jeff Jarvis deduced that all but two were Boilerplate (text), virtually identical to each other, meaning that the $1.2 million judgment was based on original complaints written by a total of Sockpuppet (Internet), only three people.


Presidents of Fox Broadcasting Company Entertainment


See also

* Fox Broadcasting Co. v. Dish Network, LLC * Animation on Fox * List of United States over-the-air television networks * Lists of Fox television affiliates * Lists of United States network television schedules


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

* *
Fox Tv ihbar
{{Authority control Fox Broadcasting Company, Television networks in the United States Fox Corporation subsidiaries Companies based in New York City Entertainment companies based in New York City Metromedia Television channels and stations established in 1986 1986 establishments in California Television broadcasting companies of the United States