Fox Broadcasting Company
The Fox Broadcasting Company,[1] commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps,[2] is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by the Fox Entertainment division of Fox Corporation, headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Fox hosts additional offices at the Fox Network Center in Los Angeles and at the Fox Media Center in Tempe, Arizona. Launched as a competitor to the Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) on October 9, 1986, Fox went on to become the most successful attempt at a fourth television network. It is also known to push the boundaries of what could be shown on a broadcasting network, as evident with shows like Married... with Children, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and That '70s Show. It was also the highest-rated free-to-air network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2012 and 2020 to 2021, and was the most-watched American television network in total viewership during the 2007–08 season.[3][4]
This article is about the American television network. For the now unaffiliated international TV channels, see Fox (international). For the affiliated television station company, see Fox Television Stations.Type
Broadcast Television network
United States
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York City 10036
U.S.
English
- News Corporation
(1986–2013) - 21st Century Fox
(2013–2019) - Fox Corporation
(2019–present)
- Rob Wade (President and CEO, Fox Entertainment)
- Michael Thorn (President, Fox Broadcasting Company Entertainment)
October 9, 1986
- On-air: October 9, 1986
- Primetime: April 5, 1987
FBC (1986–1987)
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 regulations for pay television 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 (the network's corporate sibling prior to that studio's acquisition by The Walt Disney Company) and (indirectly) after the producer William Fox, who had founded one of the film studio's predecessors, Fox Film, before it was merged with 20th Century Pictures in 1935. Fox is a member of the North American Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters.
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing several syndicated programs.[5] Following the demise of the DuMont Television Network in August 1956, after it became mired in severe financial problems, the NTA Film Network was launched as a new "fourth network".[6] 20th Century Fox would also produce original content for the NTA network.[5] 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, Batman and M*A*S*H) for the three major broadcast television networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS).
Differences between Fox and the "Big Three" networks[edit]
Network programming[edit]
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 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),[125] 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,[126][127] 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 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).[128][129] 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 graphical insertion and verbal continuity by station 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 animated comedies. This started with The Simpsons in 1989. This is followed up by King of the Hill 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 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 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 picked up the series), The Cleveland Show in 2009, Bob's Burgers in 2011, Duncanville in 2020, and The Great North and Housebroken in 2021. Although the network also aired other adult animated shows like The Critic, The PJs, Sit Down, Shut Up, Allen Gregory, Napoleon Dynamite, Bordertown, Son of Zorn (the network's only live-action/animated hybrid sitcom) and Bless the Harts, they had no success and were short-lived. While ABC, CBS, and NBC have tried to copy the success of Fox with adult animated shows, none were successful.
News programming[edit]
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 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 am, 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; as of October 2015, 70 of Fox's 236 stations (including all 18 owned-and-operated stations) maintain in-house news departments (compared to roughly 5⁄8–7⁄8 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). KVVU (channel 5) in Las Vegas has the highest weekly total of news programming hours among Fox's stations, at 78½ hours.
Most Fox stations that run a news operation use 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-designated 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 or a 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.[130][131] 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.[132] 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 used 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[edit]
Video-on-demand services[edit]
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 was branded as "Fox Now", and featured 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 advertising thereafter. Due to restrictions put in place by the network in January 2012 to encourage live or same-week 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, 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 ISP account through agreements made with Fox, along with Hulu's free service with advertisements on Yahoo! Stream;[133] 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 Fox Now.[134] The following month, Fox acquired the ad-supported streaming service Tubi.[135] 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.[136][137][138][139]
Fox discontinued the Fox Now app in July 2023; streaming of the network's programming would continue on other apps instead, such as Hulu, Fox Local, or Tubi.[140]
Branding[edit]
Station standardization[edit]
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[145] 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;[146] and KVRR (channel 15) in Fargo, North Dakota, which dropped the generic "Fox" branding it used in part due to its network of 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 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-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 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.[147] 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/Xtra/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[edit]
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'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.[148] 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,[148] 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 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).[148] Starting with the introduction of this logo, the network began displaying an 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 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 used as a zero character in the station logo of several Fox affiliates which have a tens channel location, including Phoenix'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.[148]
The current version of the logo was introduced in 1999, removing the searchlights completely and switching the logo exclusively to a wordmark design.[148] 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 did not 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 with the logo mark slightly thickened, along with animations of the mark with its shapes incorporated into advertising and on-air branding elements (including an animation of the abstract shapes morphing into the main Fox logo).[149]
Controversy[edit]
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 audio delays; the indecent material was edited out when the program was broadcast in other time zones from the Mountain Time Zone westward.[150] Both of the obscene instances were condemned by the Parents Television Council,[151][152] and named by them among the worst instances on television from 2001 to 2004.[153] 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.[154] 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.[155] In June 2007, in the case Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, the 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,[156] such as in the case of the Billboard Awards. The FCC eventually decided to appeal the Second Circuit Court's finding.[157] The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari and oral arguments in FCC v. Fox, et al., began November 4, 2008.[158]
The Parents Television Council has also criticized many popular Fox shows for perceived indecent content, such as American Dad!,[159] Arrested Development,[160] The Simpsons,[161] Family Guy,[162] Hell's Kitchen,[163] Married... with Children,[164] Prison Break,[165] and That '70s Show.[166] 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[167] 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.[168] 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 virtually identical to each other, meaning that the $1.2 million judgment was based on original complaints written by a total of only three people.
