Having experienced success with his Fox Broadcasting Company, Murdoch sought to expand his presence in the American television market. After an attempt to purchase the 24-hour cable news network CNN failed, Murdoch endeavoured to create his own cable news channel. He enlisted television producer and former Republican political consultant Roger Ailes to oversee the new network, and Ailes’s business acumen and political leanings became closely associated with its eventual success. The initial hurdle for the fledgling cable network was to obtain “carriage” (distribution) on the numerous local and regional cable systems. It was routine for cable companies to pay networks such as HBO or MTV for the right to broadcast their content, but Murdoch reversed the equation, paying cable providers to carry Fox News. As a result, when the network first took to the airwaves on October 7, 1996, it was viewable in more than 17 million homes.

Billing itself as the “fair and balanced” alternative to a media environment that it characterized as having a liberal bias (another slogan was “We Report. You Decide.”), Fox News debuted with a lineup of anchors that included Neil Cavuto and Tony Snow. It was the network’s opinion programming, however, that became most closely associated with the Fox News brand. Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Report (1996–98, continued as The O’Reilly Factor 1998–17) served as a showcase for O’Reilly’s confrontational interviewing style, and it was consistently the network’s top-rated program. Hannity and Colmes (1996–2009) featured conservative Sean Hannity and liberal Alan Colmes debating the news and issues of the day. The morning news and celebrity gossip program Fox & Friends debuted in 1998 and soon became a fixture in the Fox News lineup. Glenn Beck, a relative latecomer to the network, scored ratings success with his eponymous talk show; Glenn Beck (2009–11) showcased Beck’s penchant for theatricality, and his criticisms of Pres. Barack Obama—most notably on such issues as Obama’s signature health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)—echoed many of the stated principles of the Tea Party movement. Other notable hosts included Megyn Kelly, who joined the channel in 2004 as a legal pundit and was later given her own show, the popular The Kelly File (2013–17).

In the battle for viewers in the cable news market, Fox News made steady gains against CNN, which had the advantage of being viewable in several million more homes, and against MSNBC, which had been launched several months before Fox News. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, cable television viewership surged, and Fox News built on its gains to surpass CNN for the first time in January 2002—a lead it would retain throughout the decade.

Despite its claim to be “fair and balanced,” Fox News forged strong links with many leaders in the Republican Party and in the conservative political establishment. The network’s roster of high-profile Republican commentators was impressive: at times it included 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, 2008 and 2016 presidential contender Mike Huckabee, and 2012 and 2016 presidential contender Rick Santorum; Oliver North, who rose to fame during the Iran-Contra hearings in the 1980s, and former representative John Kasich, who would be elected governor of Ohio in 2010, also hosted shows on Fox. Fox News also supported the aspirations of the Tea Party movement. The channel’s political leanings came under heavy scrutiny in 2010 when News Corporation donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. In 2013 Fox News was transferred, along with other Fox Entertainment Group holdings, to 21st Century Fox when News Corporation split into separate media and publishing entities.

The arrival of Donald Trump on the political scene saw the rise of new opinion stars at Fox News. Tucker Carlson began hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight in 2016, and the following year The Ingraham Angle debuted, hosted by Laura Ingraham. The shows were highly popular, and both Carlson and Ingraham became known for espousing views that frequently dovetailed with those of President Trump. On the other hand, the lead anchor of the news division, Shepard Smith, who had started with that division in 1996, found that his coverage of the White House was increasingly at odds with views expressed on the opinion shows. In 2019, after Carlson mocked him on-air and Trump made his displeasure with Smith’s newscasts known, Smith resigned.

Gretchen Carlson, a former host on Fox News, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes in July 2016. In addition to the allegations against him, she also claimed pervasive sexism at the channel. During an internal review, other women reportedly also accused Ailes of harassment. He denied the allegations but resigned later that month. In September 2016, 21st Century Fox announced that the lawsuit had been settled—for a reported $20 million—and issued a public apology to Carlson. Around this time Fox dropped its “fair and balanced” slogan to mark its transition to a post-Ailes era; the tagline was replaced by “most watched, most trusted.”

In 2017 The New York Times reported that a number of sexual harassment lawsuits against O’Reilly had been settled for more than $10 million. Although the Fox host denied any wrongdoing, he left the channel shortly thereafter.