Claim: Glee premiered on a major channel.

The Fox Broadcasting Company -LRB- often shortened to Fox and stylized as FOX -RRB- is an American English language commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st 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 the Fox Television Center in nearby West Los Angeles and the Fox Broadcasting Center in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan , New York City . 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 -LRB- ABC , NBC and CBS -RRB- , Fox went on to become the most successful attempt at a fourth television network . It was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18 -- 49 demographic from 2004 to 2012 , and earned the position as 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 , 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 satellite providers imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission -LRB- CRTC -RRB- 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 .