The Fox Broadcasting Company[2] (commonly referred to as Fox; stylized as FOX)[3][4] is

an American commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Fox Entertainment
Group subsidiary of21st Century Fox. The network is headquartered at the 20th Century Fox studio
lot on Pico Boulevard in the Century City section of Los Angeles, with additional major offices and
production facilities at theFox Television Center in nearby West Los Angeles and the Fox
Broadcasting Center in Yorkville, Manhattan, New York. It is the third largest major television network
in the world based on total revenues, assets, and international coverage.
Launched on October 9, 1986 as a competitor to the Big Three television
networks, ABC, NBC and CBS, Fox went on to become the most successful attempt at a fourth
television network. It was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 1849 demographic from 2004
to 2012, and earned the position as the most-watched American television network in total
viewership during the 200708 season.[5][6]
Fox 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
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 telecasts and most of its prime
time programming are subject to simultaneous substitution regulations
for cable and satelliteproviders imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) to protect rights held by domestically based networks.
The network is named after sister company 20th Century Fox, and indirectly for producer William
Fox, who founded one of the movie studio's predecessors, Fox Film. Fox is a member of the North
American Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters

Origins[edit]
20th Century Fox had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing
several syndicatedprograms during this era. In November 1956, the studio purchased a 50% interest
in the NTA Film Network, an early syndicator of films and television programs.[7] Following the demise
of the DuMont Television Network in August of that year after it became mired in severe financial
problems, NTA was launched as a new "fourth network".[8] 20th Century Fox would also produce
original content for the NTA network.[7] 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) for the three major broadcast television
networks (ABC, NBCand CBS).

1980s: Establishment of the network[edit]

Foundations[edit]
The Fox network's foundations were laid in March 1985 through News Corporation'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 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 in six major U.S. cities from

the John Kluge-run broadcasting company Metromedia: WNEW-TV (channel 5) in New York
City, WTTG (channel 5) in Washington, D.C., KTTV (channel 11) in Los Angeles, KRIV(channel 26)
in Houston, WFLD-TV (channel 32) in Chicago, and KRLD-TV (channel 33) in Dallas. A seventh
station, ABC affiliate WCVB-TV (channel 5) in Boston, was part of the original transaction but was
spun off to theHearst Broadcasting subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation in a separate, concurrent
deal as part of a right of first refusal related to that station's 1982 sale to Metromedia[9][10][11] (Two years
later, News Corporation acquired WXNE-TV (channel 25) in that market from the Christian
Broadcasting Network and changed its call letters toWFXT).
Beginning of the network[edit]