FOX News

FOX News Channel launched on October 7, 1996. Rupert Murdoch hired Roger Ailes to build the channel. In its early years it faced resistance in gaining carriage from cable operators.⁠[4][5]

According to FOX News’s review of Nielsen data in its 2024 anniversary coverage, the channel had ranked first in cable news ratings for 91 consecutive quarters since the first quarter of 2002. The figure reflects historical statistics as of that report.⁠[4]

FOX Business Network (FBN) launched in October 2007, focusing on financial and business news, and belongs, together with FOX News Channel, to what later became the FOX News Media group.⁠[6]

In January 2009, Bret Baier took over Special Report. His 2021 contract renewal announcement listed him as the program’s anchor and executive editor as well as the channel’s chief political anchor.⁠[7]

On July 21, 2016, after Gretchen Carlson and other women made sexual harassment allegations and the parent company conducted an internal review, Roger Ailes resigned as head of FOX News, and Rupert Murdoch took over on an interim basis. Ailes denied the allegations.⁠[8]

On September 6 of that year, 21st Century Fox announced a settlement with Carlson and apologized to her.⁠[9]

On April 19, 2017, after reviewing sexual harassment allegations, 21st Century Fox announced that Bill O’Reilly would not return to host on FOX News. O’Reilly denied the allegations, calling them unfounded. The O’Reilly Factor had been one of the channel’s signature programs.⁠[10]

The controversial story claimed without basis that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich had leaked party emails to WikiLeaks and implied that his killing was connected to the Democrats. Later investigative reporting by NPR expressly described these claims as unsupported allegations.⁠[11]

On May 23, 2017, FOX News said it had retracted the Seth Rich story because it did not meet the standards of editorial scrutiny.⁠[12]

On May 17, 2018, Suzanne ScottSuzanne ScottSuzanne Scott is CEO of Fox News Media. She joined Fox News in 1996, advanced through production and programming management, and became its first female CEO in 2018. Her remit spans television, digital media, streaming, audio and publishing. Her tenure has also involved election-coverage and workplace disputes.Open the full entry was named CEO of FOX News, overseeing FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network and becoming the organization’s first female CEO; Jay Wallace was named president and executive editor at the same time.⁠[13]

In 2018, FOX News launched FOX Nation, a direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service. An October 25 announcement had set the launch date as November 27, with on-demand programs and long- and short-form features, extending its paid digital business beyond the channel.⁠[14][15]

On March 19, 2019, Fox Corporation announced its separation from 21st Century Fox and began trading as an independent public company, with FOX News among the new company’s brands. Fox Corporation also owns sports, broadcast network and local television station businesses, so its scope is broader than FOX News.⁠[16]

In 2020, FOX News Media launched FOX News International for overseas markets and the book publishing imprint FOX News Books. The two operations expanded its program subscription and publishing channels respectively.⁠[15]

On November 24, 2020, Seth Rich’s parents, Joel and Mary Rich, announced through their lawyer that they had settled their lawsuit against Fox News Network and other defendants. Their statement linked the case to the 2017 online reporting and television commentary about their son, but did not disclose the amount.⁠[17]

In 2021, FOX News Media launched FOX Weather, extending its business into weather information services; the official business description lists it as a free, ad-supported streaming television service.⁠[15][2]

On June 29, 2021, the New York City Commission on Human Rights announced a settlement with Fox News Network: the company would pay a civil penalty of $1 million and implement measures including training and monitoring of complaints. The agreement also required the company, for a four-year period, to waive mandatory arbitration for complaints by employees and related on-air personnel covered by the New York City Human Rights Law. The agreement arose from an investigation into sexual harassment and retaliation.⁠[18]

On March 31, 2023, at the summary judgment stage of the Dominion case, the Delaware Superior Court found that the disputed statements claiming Dominion had rigged the 2020 election were false; however, issues such as actual malice were not all decided at that stage.⁠[3]

On April 18, the parties reached a settlement before the jury trial began. Dominion’s law firm disclosed the amount as $787.5 million; FOX’s statement acknowledged the court’s finding that certain statements about Dominion were false. The case ended in a settlement, with no jury verdict on overall defamation liability.⁠[19][20]

On April 24, 2023, FOX News Media announced that it had parted ways with Tucker Carlson, saying his last program had aired on April 21. His time slot was taken over by the interim program FOX News Tonight. The announcement did not give a reason for the parting.⁠[21]

A new weeknight evening lineup beginning July 17, 2023, scheduled The Ingraham Angle, Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity and Gutfeld! at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time respectively, with FOX News @ Night at 11 p.m.⁠[22]

An analysis released by the Pew Research Center in July 2025 showed that, in a March survey of 9,482 U.S. adults that year, 38% said they regularly got news from FOX News. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents, 56% trusted the outlet; among Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents, 64% distrusted it. The survey reflects a marked partisan gap in audience and trust, and its measure is U.S. adults rather than channel ratings.⁠[23]

On August 21, 2025, FOX One, launched by Fox Corporation, began offering FOX News’s around-the-clock live stream and on-demand content, giving it another subscription channel to reach users outside cable television packages. FOX One also distributes sports and entertainment programming and is the parent company’s combined platform.⁠[24]

On February 10, 2026, FOX News Media announced that starting February 23 it would produce a daily 90-second news brief, FOX News Report, for FOX Television Stations, hosted by Bill Melugin in Washington and covering national and international headlines. The announcement listed 18 FOX-owned stations as the first to air it, with the brief also offered to other affiliates.⁠[25]

On May 7, 2026, the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York Supreme Court, in Smartmatic’s case against FOX, declined to stay the litigation entirely while allowing limited additional discovery on the effect of the plaintiff’s business condition. This was a procedural ruling and did not decide whether the defamation claims ultimately succeed or fail.⁠[26]

Fox Corporation’s annual report filed on August 6, 2026, citing Nielsen data, listed FOX News’s multichannel television distribution at about 55 million subscribers as of June 30, compared with 61 million a year earlier; additional households reached through FOX One are counted separately. The figure measures distribution reach, not daily viewership.⁠[27]

The same annual report said that no trial date had been set in the Smartmatic case at the time of disclosure. The company denies the allegations and said it will continue to defend itself; the disclosure does not mean the case has been closed.⁠[27]

FOX News, ABCABCABC (American Broadcasting Company) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It grew out of NBC’s Blue radio network, took its name after becoming independent in 1943, developed into a national television network after merging with United Paramount Theatres in 1953, was acquired by Capital Cities in 1985, and has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996. With CBS and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks, and it is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry News, CBS NewsCBS NewsCBS News is the news organization of the U.S. CBS system, part of Paramount, providing news coverage through television, the web and streaming. Its history extends from radio newsgathering to television and digital platforms; its signature programs include CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes and Face the Nation, and CBS News 24/7 is its streaming news service.Open the full entry, CNNCNNCNN (Cable News Network) is an Atlanta-based news organization founded by Ted Turner on June 1, 1980, as the world’s first 24-hour television news channel. It has been owned in turn by Turner Broadcasting System, Time Warner, AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery, became part of Skydance Corporation along with Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2026, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry and NBCNBCNBC (National Broadcasting Company) is an American national commercial broadcast television network. It was founded by RCA in 1926, began as a radio network and later developed television. With ABC and CBS it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it passed to General Electric with RCA in 1986, merged with Universal to form NBCUniversal in 2004, has been controlled by Comcast since 2011, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry News rotate White House TV pool duty: each day one network sends a three-person crew of a camera operator, an audio technician and a producer or reporter to film the president’s activities, and the footage is then distributed to other networks and news organizations. On September 18, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was “banning” CNN, MS NOWMS NOWMS NOW (My Source for News, Opinion and the World) is an American cable channel for political news and commentary. It was formerly MSNBC, launched in July 1996 as a joint venture of NBC and Microsoft, adopted its current name on November 15, 2025, as its business was spun off from Comcast, and since January 2026 has belonged to the independent public company Versant Media Group. It is known for its liberal-leaning commentary programs.Open the full entry and Politico from the White House, citing their constant “reporting” of fake news; on September 19, the White House barred the three outlets’ reporters from entering and revoked their credentials, saying that covering the president was a “privilege — not a right.” CNN had been scheduled to serve as the TV pool on September 21, but the White House schedule released the night before listed no television network as the primary TV pool.⁠[28][29][30][30][30][31][31][32][32]

On September 21, FOX News, ABC, CBSCBSCBS is an American commercial broadcast television network. It was founded in 1927 as United Independent Broadcasters, renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928, and grew from a radio network into a television network under William S. Paley. With ABC and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it has been owned in turn by Westinghouse, Viacom, ViacomCBS and Paramount Global, has been owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation since 2025, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry, CNN and NBC issued a joint statement: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” That day Bryan Boughton, FOX News Washington bureau chief and then chair of the pool, notified pool subscribers that, because the White House was preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned duties, the TV pool would stop covering events designated as presidential pool coverage effective immediately and no replacement pool would be put in place; other pool coverage, including Congress, continued as normal. The White House directed the public to live streams on its app.⁠[32][32][32][33][33][33][33]

The suspension lasted about four days and coincided with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House, so there was much less video coverage of the related ceremonies and events; Trump later complained that CNN and MS NOW had not covered Xi’s visit, without mentioning his own ban on the two outlets. During the suspension, the networks continued to cover White House events open to the press on their own. On September 24, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that the ban was likely unconstitutional, and the White House restored the three outlets’ credentials that day, although the ruling did not directly address the pool. On September 25, ABC News, FOX News, CBS News and NBC News, which had suspended their participation, resumed the pool together with CNN, and the networks later aired footage of Trump’s meeting with Xi at the White House.⁠[28][28][28][34][31][35][36][36][36][36]

On October 2, 2026, FOX News Media, citing Emplifi data, said FOX News had recorded 918 million YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry video views in the third quarter and 3.5 billion for the year to date. The announcement listed the FOX News brand’s figures separately from the combined figures for the group’s multiple platforms; view counts cannot be equated with unique viewers.⁠[37]

On October 5, 2026, FOX News Media announced that Karoline Leavitt would join as a contributor from November 1, providing commentary and analysis.⁠[38]

The same day, the channel announced that Bret Baier would interview Jeff Bezos on October 7 at Blue OriginBlue OriginBlue Origin is a private spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000 and headquartered in Kent, Washington. It develops the reusable suborbital rocket New Shepard, the heavy-lift launch vehicle New Glenn, the BE-4 engine and the Blue Moon lunar lander, and is one of NASA’s lunar lander providers for the Artemis program. In 2026 it took outside investment for the first time, at a valuation of more than $130 billion.Open the full entry’s facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for broadcast on Special Report; that date was also the channel’s 30th anniversary. This was an announced future programming plan.⁠[1]

In October 2026, the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division opened an investigation into ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and FOX News to examine whether their suspension of the White House TV pool violated antitrust law. Justice Department spokesperson Emily Covington said on October 10: “Members of the television press pool have boycotted covering White House events. Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act. The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws.” A Justice Department official said the department had sent out civil investigative demands on October 9. FOX did not respond to requests for comment, none of the five networks commented further that weekend, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.⁠[28][31][34][28][34][34][39][34]

Bruce Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the investigation appeared to be a pretext for seeking records about how the networks were covering the White House during a media ban the president himself had imposed; Cory Booker, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, said the Antitrust Division should be going after the corporations driving up prices rather than investigating newsrooms. William Kovacic, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said an antitrust claim against the networks would likely have a “very remote prospect of success”; Sam Weinstein, a professor at Cardozo School of Law, said a non-commercial boycott is typically protected by the First Amendment. As of October 2026, it was unclear whether the networks would comply with the Justice Department’s investigative demands.⁠[28][28][28][40][40][40][40]

FOX News content is distributed across live television, its website, apps and audio. Its program lineup includes Special Report’s political news coverage, daytime news programs such as America’s Newsroom, the morning show FOX & Friends, the panel discussion The Five, Hannity, and Gutfeld!, which takes the form of comedic commentary; FOX News Sunday is its Sunday news interview program.⁠[2][15][41]

On the management side, the official leadership page lists Suzanne Scott as CEO of FOX News Media and Jay Wallace as president and executive editor. Its revenue model includes television distribution fees and advertising; the cable segment in the parent company’s annual report also includes sports networks and cannot be used as stand-alone financial data for FOX News.⁠[2][27]