Fox Broadcasting Company: Information
Fox Broadcasting Company
"FOX" and "Fox Network" redirect here. For "Fox" television channels outside the United States, see Fox (channel). For the film studio that the network was named after, see . For other uses, see .
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The Fox Broadcasting Company (commonly referred to as Fox or the Fox Network, and stylized as FOX), is an
that is owned by the
division of . It's the world's third largest major network.
Launched on October 9, 1986 as a competitor to longer-established networks ,
and , Fox went on to become the most successful venture at a , becoming the highest- broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2012 and earning the position as the most-watched network in the United States overall during the 2007–08 season.
The Fox Broadcasting Company and its affiliated companies operate many entertainment channels in international markets, although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U.S. network. Most viewers in
have access to at least one U.S.-based Fox affiliate, although most of Fox's primetime programming (as well as ) is subject to
regulations imposed by the
to protect rights held by domestically based networks.
The network is named after sister company , and indirectly for producer , who founded one of the movie studio's predecessors, . Fox is a member of the
20th Century Fox had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing several
programs during this era. In November 1956, the studio purchased a 50% interest in the , an early syndicator of films and television programs. Following the demise of the
that year, NTA was launched as a new "". 20th Century Fox would also produce original content for the NTA Network. The film network effort would fail after a few years, but Fox continued to dabble in television through its production arm, TCF Television Productions, producing series such as
The Fox network's foundations were laid in March 1985 through 's $250 million purchase of a 50% interest in TCF Holdings, the parent company of the 20th Century Fox movie studio. In May 1985, News Corporation agreed to pay $2.55 billion to acquire
in six major U.S. cities from the -run broadcasting company : WNEW-TV in ,
in , and KRLD-TV in . A seventh station, ABC affiliate
in , was part of the original transaction but was spun off to the
subsidiary of the
in a separate, concurrent deal as part of a
related to that station's 1982 sale to Metromedia (two years later, News Corporation acquired WXNE-TV in that market from the
and changed its call letters to ).
In October 1985, 20th Century Fox announced its intentions to form a fourth television network which 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 rest of the studio from his original partner, . The purchase of the Metromedia stations was approved by the
in March 1986; the call letters of the New York City and Dallas outlets were subsequently changed respectively to
and . These first six stations, then broadcasting to 22% of the nation's households, became known as the
The Fox Broadcasting Company debuted on October 9, 1986. Its first program was a , , which was hosted by legendary comedienne . After a strong start, the show quickly e by early 1987, Rivers had quit The Late Show and the program began to be hosted by a succession of guest hosts. After that point, some stations that affiliated with the network in the weeks before the April 1987
launch, such as
in , signed affiliation agreements with Fox on the condition that they would not have to carry The Late Show due to the program's ratings weakness.
The network expanded its programming into primetime on April 5, 1987, with the premieres of the
series . Fox added one new show per week over the next several weeks, with the drama , and comedies
completing its Sunday schedule. Beginning on July 11, the network rolled out its inaugural Saturday night schedule with the two-hour movie premiere of ; over the next three weeks, the series ,
(the latter being an adaptation of the film of the same name) were added to the Saturday lineup. Both Karen's Song and Down and Out in Beverly Hills were canceled by the start of the , the network's first fall launch, and were replaced by
In regards to its late night lineup, the network had already decided to cancel The Late Show, and had a replacement series called
in development, when the show began a ratings resurgence with its final guest host, comedian . Wilton North lasted just a few weeks, however, and the network was unable to reach a deal with Hall to return when it hurriedly revived The Late Show in early 1988. The show went back to guest hosts again, eventually selecting
as its permanent host, only for it to be canceled for good by October 1988, while Hall signed a deal with
to develop his own syndicated late night talk show, .
The network added a third night of programming, on Mondays, at the start of the . The following year, two additional nights of programming were added on Thursdays and F halfway through the , Fox expanded its programming to all seven nights on January 19, 1993 with the expansion of its primetime lineup to Tuesdays and Wednesdays (this format of gradually adding of nights to the programming schedule was replicated by The WB and
when those networks launched in January 1995). The 1989-90 season also featured a midseason replacement series,
(an animated series that originated as a series of segments on The Tracey Ullman Show); ranked at a three-way tie for 29th place in the Nielsen ratings, it became the first Fox series to break the Top 30. That year, Fox also first introduced its Saturday night combination of Cops and , which would be staples on the network for just over two decades.
Unlike the three larger networks, which air prime time programming from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. Monday through Saturdays and 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. on Sundays (all times ), Fox has traditionally avoided programming the 10:00 p.m. hour except for special film presentations which by virtue of their
must spill over into the 10:00 p.m. hour and overruns from live sports telecasts, leaving that hour to affiliates to program locally. However, the network did schedule programming in the 10:00 p.m. hour on Sunday nights between 1989 and 1993, but never added programming at that hour on any other night.
Except for KDAF (which was sold to
in 1995 and became a WB affiliate at the same time), all of the original
("O&Os") are still part of the Fox network today. , who maintains a memorial website to the failed DuMont Television Network, has suggested that Fox is a revival or at least a linear descendant of DuMont, since Metromedia was spun off from DuMont and Metromedia's television stations formed the nucleus of the Fox network. WNYW (originally known as WABD) and WTTG were two of the three original owned-and-operated stations of the DuMont network.
Fox survived where DuMont and other attempts to start a fourth network failed because it programmed just under the number of hours to be legally considered a network by the FCC. This allowed Fox to make money in ways forbidden to the established networks (it, for instance, did not have to adhere to the
rules in effect at the time), since during its first years it was considered to be merely a large group of stations. By comparison, DuMont was hampered by numerous regulatory roadblocks, most notably a ban on acquiring more stations – during an era when the FCC had much tighter ownership limits for television stations than it did when Fox launched – since its minority owner,
owned two television stations. Combined with DuMont's three television stations, this put DuMont at the legal limit at the time. Also, 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 and The CW) followed this model as well.
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. Until the early 1990s, when Fox expanded its programming to additional nights and outside of primetime, most Fox stations were still essentially independent stations – filling their schedules with mainly first-run and acquired programming, and during primetime, running either syndicated programming or more commonly, movies on nights when network programs did not air.
The network would become a viable competitor to the "Big Three" when Fox lured the partial broadcast television rights to the
in December 1993. Fox signed a multi-million dollar contract to broadcast regular season and pla it also lured , , , ,
(as well as many behind-the-scenes production personnel) from
to staff its NFL coverage. Shortly afterward, News Corporation began buying more television station groups. The first was its July 1996 acquisition of , which had signed an
with Fox in May 1994. The NFC deal, in fact, was the impetus for the affiliation deal with New W many of New World's stations were longstanding CBS affiliates, three others (including
due to ownership conflicts) were affiliated with either ABC or NBC. With significant market share for the first time ever and the rights to the NFC, Fox firmly established itself as the nation's fourth major network.
Later, in August 2000, Fox bought several stations owned by
and its subsidiaries
and United Television for $5.5 billion (most of these were UPN affiliates, although one –
– later became a Fox owned-and-operated station). This made Fox one of the largest television station owners in the United States.
The early and mid-1990s saw the launch of several -style primetime dramas aimed at younger audiences that became quick hits: ,
and , as well as several series aimed at a
audience such as Living Single,
and .[] September 1993 saw the heavy promotion and debut of a short-lived western series that incorporated science-fiction elements,
However, it was the Friday night show that debuted immediately following it, , 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.
The sketch comedy series
created many memorable characters (and launched the careers of future movie stars , , , , and "Fly Girl" dancer ). It has also gained prominence for its programming stunt when Fox broadcast a live, special episode of In Living Color in 1992 as an
during the
broadcast by rival network , marking the start of the rivalry of Fox with the '' U.S. networks. , another sketch comedy series that debuted in 1995, became a solid competitor to NBC's
for over a decade and the network's most successful show on S MADtv ended its run in 2009 after 14 seasons.
As it gradually expanded its primetime schedule towards carrying a full week's worth of programming, the network's added offerings included the scheduling of breakout hit The Simpsons opposite veteran NBC comedy
as part of Fox's initial Thursday night lineup in the fall of 1990 (along with future hit Beverly Hills, 90210) after only a half-season of success on Sunday nights. The show performed well in its new Thursday night slot, spending four seasons there and helping to launch , another Fox comedy that became a hit when it debuted in September 1992. The Simpsons returned to Sunday nights in the fall of 1994, and has remained there ever since.
An attempt to make a larger effort to program Saturday nights by moving Married...with Children and adding a new but short-lived sitcom () to the night at the beginning of the 1996–97 season backfired with the public, as it resulted in a short 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... – which became the network's longest-running live-action sitcom at 11 seasons – quickly returned to its previous Sunday timeslot (before moving again to Mondays two months later); both it and Martin would end their runs at the end of the 1996–97 season. Two months later, a revised schedule featuring one new and one encore episode of COPS, and the revived America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back was launched. Cops and AMW had for many years remained the anchors of the network's Saturday schedule, making it the most stable night in American broadcast television for over 14 years, as well as making both shows among the seldom few first-run primetime programs on Saturdays across the four major networks after decreasing primetime viewership – as more people opted to engage in leisure activities away from home rather than watch television on Saturdays – led ABC, NBC and CBS to largely abandon first-run series on that night (other than newsmagazines, sports and
primetime shows that failed on other nights) in favor of reruns and movies by the mid-2000s. America's Most Wanted ended its 23-year run on Fox in June 2011, and was subseq Cops, in turn, would move to Spike in 2013, leaving sports and repeats of reality and drama series as the only programs airing on Fox on Saturday evenings.
By the 1997–98 season, Fox had three shows in the Nielsen Top 20,
(which ranked at 11th place),
(which ranked 15th) and The Simpsons (which ranked 17th). Building around its flagship animated comedy The Simpsons, Fox has become relatively successful
its first animated success after The Simpsons, the -produced King of the Hill debuted in 1997;
(the first of three
from ) and
(from Simpsons creator ) would make their debuts in 1999, however they were respectively canceled in 2002 and 2003. However due to strong DVD sales and highly rated cable reruns on 's , Fox decided to commission 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 in 2010 on , only to be cancelled again three years later. Less successful efforts included , which starred
fame (which originally aired on ABC, before moving to Fox where it was cancelled after its second season), and
(which later aired on The WB, after its cancellation by Fox following its second season). Other notable shows that debuted in the late 1990s included the quirky live-action
and period sitcom , 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 launches of general entertainment network
and movie channel FXM: Movies from Fox (now FX Movie Channel) in 1994; this was followed by the debut of
in 1996. Its sports operations expanded with the acquisition of a controlling interest in several
during the mid-1990s to form , its 2000 purchase of Speed Channel (which was replaced by
in August 2013), and the launches of Fox Sports World (later , which was replaced by FXX in September 2013) and Fox Sports en Espanol (now ) in the early .
By 2000, many staple Fox shows of the 1990s had ended their runs. During this time, Fox put much of its efforts into producing
fare – many of which were considered to be sensationalistic and controversial in nature – such as , ,
and , as well as video clip shows such as
and . After shedding most of these programs, Fox gradually filled its lineup with acclaimed dramas such as , ,
and , and comedies such as ,
In 2000, Fox acquired the right to broadcast , as part of a deal that also involved , and . By , Fox's most popular show by far was the talent competition series , the first program from Fox network to crack the Nielsen Top 10, which had audiences peaking up to 38 million viewers during the , averaging almost 31 million from
and becoming the nation's highest-rated program starting with the . House, airing after Idol on Tuesday nights and having had a successful run of summer repeats in 2005, positioned itself as a top-ten hit during the 2005–06 season.[]
Since , CBS and Fox, the two most watched TV networks in 2000s, tend to equal in
among general viewership in the United States, with CBS and Fox winning selected demographics by narrow margins. However, Fox hit a milestone in February 2005 by scoring its first-ever
victory in total viewership and
ratings. This was largely due to the broadcast of , but also due to the strength of American Idol, 24, House and The O.C. By the end of the 2004–05 television season, Fox ranked at first place among all broadcast networks for the first time in its history among the demographic most appealing to advertisers of adults 18–49 years old. Another milestone came on May 21, 2008, Fox took the first place crown in total viewership for the first time, based on the strength of
and American Idol.
Near the end of the 2000s, Fox launched a few series that proved to be powerful hits in different respects. In 2008,
debuted to high ratings and critical acclaim during its first season on T though its viewership declined through its run, the series developed a large loyal fanbase/cult following that had turned the show into a cult favorite. In 2009,
premiered to average ratings, but positive reception from critics. Ratings picked up during the first season, and the show was met with such media attention that it had formed a large loyal fanbase. The cast of the series has been acknowledged by notable people such as the
and , who have each asked the cast to perform live for numerous national events.
At the close of the decade and the start of the 2010s, new comedies
gave Fox its first ratings successes in live-action comedy in years. The
of Glee delivered that series' highest ratings during the
season, with viewership peaking during its
in February 2011. American Idol lost its number-one position among the major networks' primetime programs during the , emerging as the program with the longest winning streak for a network primetime show in U.S. broadcast history, as it dominated the ratings in the Adults 18-49 demographic for eight years. American Idol also remained in the Nielsen Top 10 for 11 years from
to , one of the longest positions held by any program from Fox at the Nielsens. Fox also held
for the most consecutive seasons at #1 in the 18-49 demo ratings, earning the top spot for eight years from 2004 to 2012. Along with these shows, new hope came with its ratings that have suffered.
During the 2012–13 season, Fox suffered a col American Idol and Glee suffered their lowest ratings ever, while the network as a whole suffered a 22% decrease in viewership among the 18-49 demographic and fell to third place in total viewers by the end of the season. Subsequently, on January 13, 2014, Fox announced it would abandon the use of greenlighting shows through the initial ordering of , opting to pick up shows straight to series and thus dropping its pilot season. Fox found new ratings successes with its broadcast of
in February 2014, and the
that followed the event –
and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII became the most viewed program that year, peaking up to 167 million viewers during several portions of the broadcast.
In May 2014,
announced his resignation as chairman of Fox. In July of that year that the operations of the network and
will be merged into a new company, Fox Television Group. The consolidation allows 20th Century Fox Television co-chairs Dana Walden and Gary Newman to fill the void left by Reilly's departure.
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Fox currently provides nineteen hours of entertainment and news programming per week. It provides fifteen hours of prime time programming to owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, airing from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. on Sundays (all times Eastern and ). An hour of late night animated programming is also offered on Saturdays from 11:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern and Pacific Time, branded under the Animation Domination High-Def banner (though scheduling for that hour varies depending on the market due to late local newscasts airing in the traditional 11:00 p.m. timeslot on some Fox stations). Weekend daytime programming consists of the
(airing Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to noon, although the block is not carried by all affiliates and in some areas, is offered to another station in the market), and the hour-long
– and the network's only regular national news program –
(airing from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific, although the timeslot also varies by market due to local news or
programming).
Sports programming is also provided, usually on weekends (albeit not every weekend year-round), and most commonly airing between 12:00 and 4:00 or 12:00 and 8:00 p.m. on Sundays (often airing for longer hours during
season, slightly less during
season), 3:30 and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoons (during
season) and during primetime on certain Saturday evenings, with the primetime block on Saturdays – if any sports programming is scheduled for a particular week on that night – currently varying between occasional
events, Major League Baseball or NASCAR coverage in the late winter and early spring/summer, and
during the fall. Most of the network's primetime programming is produced by a production company owned by Fox's corporate parent 21st Century Fox, usually
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Typically every Sunday night during primetime (unless preempted, usually by sports telecasts), Fox airs a lineup of original
television sitcoms. This block of adult cartoons – which is branded by Fox as , which debuted on May 1, 2005 – has become a staple of the network.
The first programs to air in the Animation Domination lineup were
(which also had its beginnings in the lineup, and will move its first-run episodes to
– which already airs reruns of the series – in October 2014), Family Guy (which returned to the network after a four-year cancellation as part of Animation Domination when the lineup began), The Simpsons (the longest-running cartoon on Fox, predating the lineup by 16 years) and King of the Hill (which also predated the lineup, but by eight years). Shows currently airing in the lineup include Family Guy, The Simpsons, and . In addition to King of the Hill, series that have previously aired on the lineup have included ; ;
An extension of the Sunday primetime 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 ), with ADHD Shorts, Axe Cop and High School USA!. Due to low ratings, Fox announced on April 17, 2014 that it would discontinue Animation Domination High-D the network has not confirmed if it will retain the hour-long timeslot that the block will continue to occupy until it ends on June 28, 2014 to carry other programming or if it will turn the timeslot over to the network's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates to run locally produced or syndicated programs during the 11:00 p.m. hour on Saturdays.
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Fox began airing children's programming in 1990 when it launched the Fox Children's Network (later rebranded as the Fox Kids Network and then shortened to ), a
that aired on Saturday mornings and Monday through Friday afternoons (the weekday block gradually expanded to include a two-hour morning lineup, while its afternoon lineup expanded to 2 1/2
hours). Programming within the block consisted mainly of cartoons, although it also aired some live-action series (particularly fantasy action programs) including
(which later moved to ABC and , and has since moved to ), , , ,
(which had aired in reruns on
shortly before joining the Fox Kids lineup) and . When The WB debuted the
programming block in September 1995, -produced animated series ,
(all of which originated either on Fox Kids or in syndication), moved to Kids' WB to supplement that block's first-run kids' shows.
In 2001, Fox sold its children's division and the former Fox Family Channel (now ) it would drop the weekday blocks the following year (turning the two-hour time period over to its stations, rather than retaining the slots and filling them with adult-oriented daytime shows), and replaced Fox Kids in September 2002 with a new children's program block, FoxBox (which was renamed
the following year), after it leased the four hours of its Saturday morning lineup to 4Kids Entertainment.
Fox discontinued the 4KidsTV block on December 27, 2008, due to a payment and distribution dispute between the network and 4Kids Entertainment, which was later settled. Rather than lease the time to another company to produce another children's program block, Fox gave two hours of the Saturday block back to its affiliates on January 3, 2009, to allow them to run Saturday morning newscasts or affiliate-purchased
programming (the latter of which Fox stations now purchase from the syndication market, as the network decided to stop supplying children's programming on its own), while the latter two hours were kept by Fox to run a network-managed
block named .
Unlike ABC, CBS and NBC, Fox does not currently air national morning or evening news programs – choosing to focus solely on its primetime schedule, sports and other ancillary network programming. However, the network's parent company, 21st Century Fox, owns the , which was launched in 1996 and is now available through virtually every cable and satellite provider in the United States. Fox News does produce some news coverage that is carried by the broadcast network, which are usually separate from the coverage aired
in particular, FNC anchor
anchors most primetime news presentations on the Fox network, especially during political news events (which are anchored by
on the Fox News Channel).
Specifically, the Fox network airs coverage of the State of the Union address, , national election coverage, as well as periodic live breaking news bulletins branded as "Fox News Alerts" or sometimes "Fox News Red Alerts"; carriage of such special coverage may vary from station to station, and is often limited to events occurring within the network's usual primetime block (for example, unlike the Big Three, Fox does not often provide coverage of major
speeches, which usually occur during the 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) hour during which many of its affiliates however the majority of Fox's owned-and-operated stations and affiliate groups do carry weekday breaking news briefs). The political discussion show
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 provides national and international news reports for Fox stations to use in their own locally produced newscasts.
Fox first tried its hand at a national news program in primetime in 1988, with the hour-long weekly
, which was produced by the same team behind the Fox Television Stations-distributed syndicated tabloid program ; this program was cancelled due to low ratings after two years. Fox News Extra news capsules produced at WNYW and anchored by Cora-Ann Mihalik (who served as co-anchor of that station's 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. newscasts at the time) also aired during Fox's primetime schedule from the network's expansion into primetime in 1987 until about 1990. Another failed attempt occurred in 1993, when Fox launched the newsmagazine
in an attempt to capture a younger demographic for such a program, with
among its five hosts.
After Fox News Channel launched in 1996, the network tried its hand at producing a newsmagazine again in 1998 with Fox Files, hosted by Fox News anchors
and , as well as a te it lasted a little over a year before being cancelled. Its most recent attempt at a newsmagazine series occurred during the 2002–03 , with The Pulse, hosted by Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith.
Many Fox stations carry a local morning newscast that airs on average two to six hours, commonly including a two-hour block from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. (or until 10:00 a.m. in several markets) as a local alternative to the national morning news programs. However, Fox did air a national morning news and lifestyle show called Fox After Breakfast (which originated as Breakfast Time on Fox's sister cable channel FX) from 1996 to 1998; the hour-long program aired at 9:00 a.m., as opposed to the morning shows on the other major networks that air from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. in order to accommodate the morning news blocks running in the latter slot on some of its stations. Fox tried its hand at a national morning show again in 2001, this time in syndication, with , a heavily entertainment-focused offshoot of
– a morning news, entertainment and lifestyle program that debuted in 1993 on Fox O&O KTTV in Los A the national version of the program was cancelled in 2005. On January 22, 2007, Fox premiered
(hosted by
of Fox News Channel's
newscast), on its owned-and-operated stations. The show was lighter in format and more entertainment-oriented, though its focus often changed when major news stories occurred. In February 2007, the program was syndicated to other stations including many ABC-, NBC- and CBS-affiliated stations in markets where it was not carried by a F it was cancelled in June 2009.
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and Fox Sports 2
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 , believed that sports, and specifically , would be the engine that would make Fox a major network the quickest. In 1987, after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract to carry , Fox made an offer to the
for the same amount that ABC had been paying, about $13 million per game at the time. However, the NFL, in part because Fox had not yet established itself as a major network, renewed its contract with ABC.
Six years later, when the league's television contract was up for renewal, Fox made a $1.58 billion bid to obtain broadcast rights to the National Football Conference division – covering four seasons of games, beginning with the NFL's . The NFL selected the Fox bid on December 20, 1993, stripping
of football telecasts for the first time since . The event placed Fox on a par with the "Big Three" broadcast 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 a deal with New World Communications to change the affiliations of twelve of their stations to Fox, including those that New World was concurrently acquiring from Argyle Television and . 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
(1994–99),
(since 1996) and
auto racing (since 2001). From 2007 to 2010, Fox aired
games that were part of the , except for the , whose rights remained with ABC. The package also included the BCS Championship Game, with the exception of the 2010 event when the game was played at the Rose Bowl.
In August 2011, Fox and
(UFC) reached a multi-year agreement, which includes the rights to broadcast four live events in prime time or late night annually, marking the first time that the UFC has aired its events on broadcast television. It's first event was UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, held on November 12, 2011. The UFC's next event on FOX will be a Welterweight title eliminator between #1 Ranked Robbie Lawler, and #3 Ranked Matt Brown, with the winner the winner receiving a shot at current champion Johny Hendricks.
Fox maintains several venues to watch the network's programming via , including a traditional VOD service called Fox on Demand, which is carried on most traditional cable and telco providers. Fox parent 21st Century Fox is a part-owner of the streaming video service , and offers most of the network's programming through that service, along with traditional streaming via the network's Full Episode portal .
The cable version of Fox on Demand usually runs shows within a day of their original airing, with
capabilities disabled (a commonality for video-on-demand television services provided by the U.S. broadcast networks) and the program's original advertisements as aired presented in this form for a week before
advertising replaces the original ads. Hulu
offer their streaming video on an eight-day delay for most viewers currently, due to restrictions put in place by the network to encourage live or
same-week viewing via traditional and cable on demand means. Select providers such as
have made agreements with Fox to allow their subscribers to
if signed in via their
accounts, and day after viewing of Fox programming is available on Hulu for paid Hulu Plus subscribers.
Fox HD logo used from 2004 to 2013; the current version features the "HD" characters against the "X".
Fox began broadcasting its programming in
on September 12, 2004 with week one of the
and that day's slate of NFC games. The network does not display a digital on-screen graphic logo on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, except for a ten-second promotional sweep of a "Fox HD" acknowledgement (which before the end of 2010, also featured a sponsor tag for ); instead a trigger in Fox's program delivery system at each station displays the logo bug of an owned-and-operated or affiliate station in the right-hand corner of the 16:9 screen frame, which disappears during commercial breaks (during local pre-emptions of Fox programming, the logo remains displayed even though the station is not airing the programming). However, network or affiliate bugs are not displayed during Fox Sports programming. During some high-profile or live programming such as American Idol and
however, Fox does display its network logo and forgoes the affiliate's logo, mainly for promotional consideration due to
of clips from each series by other media outlets (such as news programming and clip programs like those seen on ); until 2014, it was seen in the
safe area. The Sunday political talk program Fox News Sunday displays the "Fox HD" logo at all times for both that reason and many stations pre-taping the program for airing later in the morning.
On some Fox programs, a
rests above the affiliate's logo (for example,
or ) to provide viewers reference to the network's official search tag on
to find or start discussions during the airing of a program. In April 2012, additional episode-only tags relating to plot points in an episode (for instance, the
tag for an April 2012 episode of Glee with that episode 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 was the only commercial television network (broadcast, cable or satellite) to air programs in
that are not available in HD during the analog-to-digital programs produced in this format were identified as being presented in "Fox High Resolution Widescreen" from 2001 to 2006, but were unbranded afterwards. Prior to the launch of its HD feed in 2004, some sitcoms and drama series were presented in this format, but reality, talk and game shows (American Idol being the first major exception, as it began to be presented in high definition in 2008) were later only presented in the
widescreen mode. The children's sports program
began airing in widescreen in 2009, while Fox News Sunday converted to HD when
began operating from its new HD facilities in November 2008 (before the network's widescreen presentation effort went into effect in September 2010, it was the final Fox News program to be produced to feature graphics and camera positions structured for the 4:3 safe area, as Fox News Channel itself converted to a full-time widescreen presentation on both its HD and standard definition channels in 2009). MADtv was produced to air only in 4:3 until September 2008, likely due to a mix of stations airing the show at differing times than the mandated 11:00 p.m. timeslot and therefore unable to offer it on the live air in 16:9, and the show's producers not making the switch to the format. The final network show to convert to HD was Family Guy beginning with its September 26, 2010 all programming provided by Fox, except for the Weekend Marketplace block, is now broadcast in widescreen and in high definition as of 2013.
Fox is unique among U.S. broadcasters in distributing its network HD feed over satellite to affiliates as an
intended to be delivered bit-for-bit to broadcast transmission. During network time, local commercials are inserted using a transport stream splicer. The affiliates of most other networks decode compressed satellite network video feeds and then re-encode them for final over-the-air emission.
Since late July 2010, when Fox began broadcasting its sports programming with graphics optimized for 16:9 displays rather than the 4:3 safe area, the network has asked cable and satellite providers to comply and use the #10
broadcast flag it now sends out over Fox programming, which has 16:9 content display in
mode on 4:3 screens and has graphical elements optimized for the 16:9 screen. Subsequently, a number of Fox O&Os and affiliates also now send out the AFD #10 flag over local news and syndicated programs that the stations broadcast in HD with graphical elements optimized for 16:9 to allow that programming to appear in widescreen format on 4:3 analog sets.
Main articles:
It was estimated in 2003 that Fox was viewable by 96.18% of all U.S. households, reaching a total of 102,565,710 homes in the United States. Fox has 180 VHF and UHF
stations in the United States and U.S. possessions. Analog broadcasting on Fox largely ended on June 12, 2009 as part of the . As a newer broadcast network, Fox still has a number of
affiliates, covering markets like
(), that broadcast in analog. In some cases, including both of these markets, these stations also have digital signals on the
of a sister television station in the same market. Currently outside of Fox's core ,
is Fox's largest affiliate group in terms of overall market reach, with fourteen stations (including some former Fox O&Os that were spun off in 2008 to finance former Fox parent News Corporation's purchase of ); the
is the largest operator of Fox stations by numerical total, owning or providing services to 26 stations.
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,
in New York City,
in Washington, D.C. and
in Atlanta, Georgia, are branded as "Fox 5"). By the mid-to-late 1990s, the call letters were minimized to be just barely readable to FCC requirements. This marked the start of the trend for other networks to apply such naming schemes, especially at , which uses the "" on most of its owned-and-operated stations. The branding scheme has varied in some markets, with other stations using a city or regional name within the branding instead of the channel number (for example, the network's Chicago O&O WFLD was branded as "Fox Chicago" from 1997 to 2012); a few of the network's stations also minimized use of "Fox" name, opting to use their call letters or a more genericized branding (examples include
affiliate , which branded as "Channel 2" for many years until it adopted "KTVU Fox 2" as a general brand in 1996, although it still uses "KTVU Channel 2 News" as the brandi and
affiliate , which has branded as "WSVN 7" for general use and "(Channel) 7 News" for its newscasts since it joined the network in January 1989).
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. This included changing the logos to the same red, white and blue rotating boxkite-style logo. After News Corporation's acquisition of the social networking site
(which it sold in June 2011), some Fox O&Os launched websites that look the same and have similar URL addresses under the "MyFox" scheme (such
for WTTG).
Over the years, the Fox Broadcasting Company has used a few logos, most of which have the familiar trademark
on either side of the "FOX" nameplate. In October 1986, when the network inaugurated its programming, Fox introduced its first official logo: three squares containing the letters "FBC" standing for "Fox Broadcasting Company"; however, that logo only lasted for six months and was primarily featured at the beginning of The Late Show with Joan Rivers. When the network began offering prime time programming on April 5, 1987, a more familiar logo was introduced, which was based on 20th Century Fox's longtime logo featuring just the capitalized "FOX" name alongside the signature Fox searchlights and double-pane platform (FX Movie Channel currently uses a logo also modeled after the 20th Century Fox logo for its Fox Movie Channel block).
In 1993, the familiar logo was given a more "hip" makeover, with the "FOX" wordmark revised and the angle changed, removing the tilting. Starting with the introduction of this logo, the network began displaying an
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 with the exception of commercial breaks, before reverting to the former display format regularly upon the 2009 digital transition). The "O" character also was made over, acquiring its trademark pillar-like , which has since become a major focal point for the logo and Fox advertising in lieu of the searchlight motif.
For the 1995-96 television season, the logo was revised again, dropping the searchlights, but keeping the lower double panes and adding a third pane atop the logotype. A variant of the original 1993 logo design was instituted in 1996, this time excluding the panes underneath the network name, but leaving the searchlights and Fox wordmark.
The current version of the logo was introduced in 1999, completely removing the searchlights and switching the logo to a
design. Despite this, the searchlight theme remains an integral part of 21st Century Fox's branding efforts, they are still incorporated into the Fox News Channel logo, and in the universal station logo introduced in 2006 by Fox's owned-and-operated stations – which were retained by the former Fox O&Os that Fox Television Stations sold to
in 2008 and had spread to several Fox stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting (including those that Tribune acquired through its 2013 merger with Local TV, with the logo introduced by the O&Os being modified for the Tribune-owned 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 older
searchlight logo is still used within the logos of a few Fox affiliates, also serving as an alternate logo from 1999 onwards, along with also being part of an alternate version of the Fox Sports logo. The searchlights were still featured in the logo of sister channel FX until a rebranding effort in 2008.
Fox's programming schedule differs from the "Big Three" networks in several significant ways: the network airs programming during the primetime hours for only two hours on Monday through Saturday evenings and three hours on Sundays, compared to the three weeknight and four Sunday night hours broadcast by ABC, CBS and NBC. This allows for many of its stations to air local news during the 10:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time) timeslot. Fox's original reason for the reduced number of prime time hours was to avoid fulfilling the FCC's requirements at the time to be considered a network, and to be free of resulting regulations, though FCC rules have been relaxed since then.
Despite being a major network, Fox also does not air
or any other network
programming (such as
or ). Because of this, affiliates take on the responsibility of programming daytime hours with syndicated and locally produced programming (two syndicated daytime courtroom shows currently carried by most of the network's affiliates,
and , are produced by corporate sister );
also has Fox's O&Os and affiliates forming the bulk of their distribution for the programs of ' celebrity news website ,
and TMZ Live. The network also does not offer national morning and evening newscasts, network-supplied children's programming on Saturday mornings or late-night programming on weeknights. Local affiliates either produce their own programming during these times or run syndicated programs. 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 sports programming is not scheduled.
Locally-produced news programming on Fox stations differs from stations aligned with ABC, NBC and CBS in that the quantity of newscasts varies from station to station. Fundamentally, the newscast schedules on Fox affiliates vary considerably between stations compared to those aligned with the three longer-established networks (which typically carry a minimum of 3 1/2
hours of daily local news programming spread across morning, late afternoon and late evening timeslots). The most common scheduling format for Fox's affiliates is to run a one-, two- or three-hour morning newscast at 7:00 a.m. (though stations that produce their own morning newscasts will often have an earlier start time for the program) and a half-hour or hour-long newscast in the hour following the network's primetime programming (10:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific, and 9:00 p.m. in the Central and ). However, there are several stations (most notably KTVU in San Francisco and WSVN in Miami, as well as most of Fox's O&Os, save for WFLD in Chicago, the largest Fox station without an early evening newscast) that maintain in-house news departments which utilize a news-intensive format that incorporates early evening and in many cases, midday newscasts (more closely mirroring news schedules of ABC, CBS and NBC stations) – these stations may also include newscasts in said timeslots plus an early evening newscast that is extended by a half-hour - each of which may also compete with the national morning and evening newscasts on the Big Three networks.
The first Fox station to adopt a news-intensive schedule was
when it joined the network in January 1989, the station retained its morning, midday, 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts while moving its 11:00 p.m. newscast to 10:00 p.m. and expanding it to one hour (an 11:00 p.m. newscast was later brought back to the schedule in 1995), and adding two hours onto its morning newscast. This type of scheduling was adopted by the former New World,
and other former major network stations that switched to Fox between 1994 and 1996.
The Fox affiliate body features fewer news-producing stations in comparison to stations aligned with the historical broadcast networks (each of whom have roughly
of their stations broadcasting local news programs, either in-house or in conjunction with another station). Many Fox stations that have created their own upstart news departments often do not run a full newscast slate comparable to their larger affiliate competitors, usually debuting a primetime newscast first, with newscasts in morning, midday and early evening timeslots gradually being added later on. As of March 2014, 69 stations (including all 18 ) aligned with Fox produce their own local news programming through news departments run by the stations.
(which was owned by the network from 1997 to 2008) has the largest number of hours devoted to local news programming of any Fox station with 66 hours each week, followed by Detroit O&O WJBK with 63 1/2
hours each week.
In several markets, the local Fox affiliate outsources news programming to an NBC, ABC or CBS station in the market (either due to insufficient funds or studio space to produce their own newscasts or in most cases, the station being operated as part of a legal
or through an
with a major network affiliate); as a result, stations using this model often do not have newscasts expanded into other timeslots due to the contracting station choosing to avoid having newscasts on the Fox station compete in timeslots against their own programs (differing from outsourcing agreements between two stations affiliated with the three major broadcast networks in existence prior to 1986 where newscasts may be simulcast on both stations in the same timeslots). Stations aligned with Fox that have newscasts produced by a same-market major network affiliate tend to have fewer hours devoted to news than the station producing the program. While outsourcing newscasts is less common for the network's stations in the 50 largest American ,
(ranked as the 23rd largest market) is the largest Fox station by
market ranking using this arrangement as its 10:00 p.m. newscast has been produced by -owned NBC affiliate
since WPGH owner Sinclair Broadcast Group shut down its news operations after the 2006 closure of .
A small number of Fox affiliates do not run any newscasts and air only syndicated programming in time periods where newscasts air on other major network affiliates.
is currently the largest Fox station by market size that does not carry news programming (as its parent station lacks a news department), and
the largest Fox station without full-scale newscasts (only carrying a ten-minute primetime newscast that airs after Fox primetime and before MyNetworkTV programming on weeknights). Prior to April 2013,
was the largest Fox affiliate without any news programming as it had long opted to air only syndicated programs outside of the Fox schedule instead of investing in a news department or entering into a news share agreement with another Buffalo area station, due to the large number of television news operations in Buffalo,
and Toronto and due to the fact that it also sells advertising tar Sinclair Broadcast Group later agreed to move a 10:00 p.m. newscast produced by -owned NBC affiliate
to WUTV from its MyNetworkTV-affiliated
, to increase viewership for that program, and expanded the agreement with WGRZ to include an hour-long morning newscast.
Although the Fox network itself does not carry any national, regularly scheduled news programming other than Fox News Sunday, both that program and the network's
coverage are produced by the Fox News Channel, and are regular subjects of . The network has also received some criticism for at times deciding not to carry scheduled news events during primetime, such as presidential speeches, in order to air regular entertainment programming (such as a speech in September 2009 which would have jeopardized the heavily-promoted fall premiere of
had it aired).
Controversy surrounded the network in 2002 and 2003 over obscenities, expressed respectively by
and , aired live on the network's broadcast of the
on its affiliates in the Eastern and Central time zones despite the use of five- the indecent material was edited out on broadcasts in the Mountain Time Zone and westward. Both of the obscene instances were condemned by the
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 over the broadcasts. The Fox network's subsequent apology was labeled a "sham" by PTC president , who argued that Fox 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, the
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
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!, , The Simpsons, Family Guy, , Married... with Children,
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 after it was discovered that the FCC originally claimed to have received 159 it later admitted to only receiving 90, which came from only 23 people. Blogger
studied the complaints and realized that all but two were
to each other, meaning that the $1.2 million judgment was based on original complaints written by a total of . Armed with the new information, Fox promised to fight the fine. The fine was ultimately reduced to $91,000 in January 2009.
Also, Fox programming has been chosen by the PTC for its weekly "Worst TV Show of the Week" feature more often than programming from any other broadcast network.
Like ABC, CBS and NBC, Fox programming is carried on cable, satellite and
providers in Canada through affiliates and owned-and-operated stations of the network that are located within proximity to the
(such as /, W /, W KMSP-TV/, M /, V WFXT/Boston, WJBK/Detroit and WUTV/Buffalo, New York). Most programming is generally the same, aside from
imposed by the provider that results in the American signal being replaced with programming from a Canadian network (such as the
and ) if both happen to air a particular program in the same time period.
In the Caribbean, many cable and satellite television providers offer Fox programming through New York City O&O WNYW or Miami affiliate WSVN. A few locally owned Fox affiliates do exist in
and the . Fox programming is available on cable in
and , via over-the-air stations in the United States.
Fox programming in
through low-power affiliate . Programming is shown day and date on a one-day tape delay due to Guam being located on the west side of the
(for example, the Sunday night "Animation Domination" block is carried on Monday nights and is promoted as such), with live programming and breaking news airing as scheduled, meaning live sports coverage such as the NFL and NASCAR often airs early in the morning.
In , Fox programming is shown on cable via the network's ,
affiliate .
Fox is available on cable television in the , also via KHON-TV.
On October 15, 2011, a domestic version of the network launched in . Fox Bulgaria is part of a collection of television networks distributed by , which include entertainment channels , , documentary channels
and , cooking channel 24KITCHEN, news channel
and children's channel .
Fox International Channels Nordic started terrestrial broadcasts in
on April 16, 2012.
A domestic version of Fox debuted in
on October 1, 2012.
version of FOX Russia debuted on October 1, 2012, replacing FOX Crime Russia. Fox International Channels also operates a regional version of its female-targeted Fox Life network. Fox Russia also distributes its signals and other Russian channels, Baby TV, NatGeo Wild and National Geographic Channel.
On October 15, 2012, FOX Serbia debuted in . The channel is distributed by Fox International Channels, which also owns Fox Life, Fox Crime and Fox Movies, National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild, 24KITCHEN, Sky News and BabyTV.
Fox launched in
on October 15, 2012. Also operated by Fox International Channels Bulgaria, all of Fox's channels (Fox, Fox Life, Fox Crime, Fox Movies, 24Kitchen, NatGeo (both SD and HD), NatGeo Wild (also HD and SD) and BabyTV have identical programming as those in Serbia. Most of them (all except Nat Geo HD and BabyTV) feature subtitled promos and content. All channels except for BabyTV are broadcast in
widescreen, while Fox will soon be offered in HD.
Main article:
launched in
on February 24, 2007.
Main article:
On January 11, 2013, the
version of FX was rebranded as .
Main article:
On October 1, 2012, a regional version of FX serving
was rebranded as Fox. The channel is operated alongside five others that are owned by Fox International Channels Greece, Fox Life, Nat Geo (SD and HD), Nat Geo Wild (SD and HD), Nat Geo Adventure and Baby TV. In 2013, Senior Vice President of Fox International Channels Southeast Europe, Adam Theiler announced the creation of a new channel dedicated to cooking with domestically produced productions, the production of documentaries catering to the Greek audience and the launch of HD feeds for Fox and FOXlife, because of the success of Fox International Channels in Greece.
A domestic version of Fox launched in the
on August 19, 2013. The channel's schedule features a mix of American series, such as
and The Simpsons, as well as sports programs. Fox is available digitally on channel 11 for
users, on channel 14 for
users, and on channel 52 or 58 for
(, Fox Sports 2, )
FX Movie Channel
Fox Broadcasting Co. v. Dish Network, LLC
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