Short answers, pulled from the story.
Fox Broadcasting Company launched on the 9th of October 1986, with a soft debut at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. Its inaugural program was The Late Show, a late-night talk show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers.
Fox bid $1.58 billion to acquire four years of National Football Conference broadcast rights, beginning with the 1994 NFL season. CBS had offered $295 million per year to retain the contract it had held since 1956.
American Idol drew peak audiences of up to 38 million viewers during its 2003 season finale. Double-season average audiences ran around 31 million viewers in 2006 and 2007, making it the most-watched program on American television by seasonal average in the 2000s decade.
Fox became the only major American broadcast network without attachment to a film studio following two corporate deals. The Walt Disney Company purchased most of 21st Century Fox's assets, including 20th Century Fox, for $71.3 billion in 2019; separately, CBS merged with Viacom on the 4th of December 2019, leaving Fox as the sole major broadcast network without a studio partner.
The Simpsons debuted ranked at a three-way tie for 29th place in the Nielsen ratings. It became a breakout hit and was the first Fox series to crack the Nielsen Top 30. As of 2025, it has run for 36 years, making it the longest-running American sitcom.
Fox Broadcasting Company was excluded from the $71.3 billion sale to Disney, which was completed on the 20th of March 2019. FCC rules prohibit a merger between any two of the four major broadcast networks, and Disney already owned ABC. The remaining broadcast and news assets were reorganized into Fox Corporation, which formally began trading on the 19th of March 2019.