The X-Files originally aired on the Fox network in the United States.
The series premiered on September 10, 1993, with David Duchovny as FBI agent Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as agent Dana Scully. Fox kept the show through its original nine-season run, which ended in 2002, and also broadcast the two revival seasons in 2016 and 2018.
Fox was not yet the television giant it would become when the show launched. The network took a chance on Chris Carter’s paranormal-investigation concept, which blended episodic mysteries with a continuing alien-conspiracy storyline. Its success helped make Fox a major force in American television.
A common mix-up is confusing the network with the studio or distributor. The series was produced through Ten Thirteen Productions and 20th Century Fox Television, but the original U.S. broadcast network was Fox. The 1998 feature film was released theatrically rather than broadcast as a regular network episode.