You’re sitting on the couch, bowl of popcorn in hand, ready for the big game or the latest episode of The Masked Singer, and then it happens. You hit the usual button on the remote, but instead of the familiar logo, you’re staring at a shopping network or a blank screen. It's frustrating. Honestly, figuring out the fox channel what number is on your specific TV setup can feel like a part-time job because there isn't just one "Fox."
Unlike a national cable giant like CNN or ESPN, Fox is a broadcast network. This means your local station—the one that gives you the weather and local news—is likely an affiliate. Because of that, the number on your dial depends entirely on where you live and which company sends the bill to your house every month.
The Big Provider Breakdown
If you're using a major satellite or cable provider, they usually try to keep things consistent, but they still have to bow to local broadcast rules. Here is how the land lies for the most common services in early 2026.
DirecTV and Dish Network
Satellite is usually the easiest to predict. On DirecTV, the national Fox News feed is almost always on channel 360, but your local Fox station (the one with the NFL games) is usually found between channels 2 and 70. For example, if you’re in New York, it’s channel 5. In Los Angeles, it’s 11.
Dish Network follows a similar pattern. They park the local Fox affiliate in that same "low-number" range (2-70). If you're looking for the sports-heavy sibling, FS1, you’ll usually find that on channel 150.
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Xfinity, Spectrum, and Cox
Cable is where things get messy. Xfinity (Comcast) is notorious for having two different channel numbers for the same station: one for Standard Definition (SD) and one for High Definition (HD). You might find Fox on channel 5 in the single digits, but also on channel 1005 or 705 further up the guide.
Spectrum users often see Fox on channel 2, 5, or 11 depending on the legacy system of the city. In many Texas markets, Spectrum puts Fox on channel 7. If you’re on Cox, you’re often looking at channel 10 or 13.
Fox Channel What Number: A City-by-City Cheat Sheet
Since "local" is the name of the game, here is a quick look at where the major markets land. If your city isn't here, a good rule of thumb is to look at your local station's "call signs" (like WNYW or KTTV)—the number in their logo is usually their over-the-air channel number.
- New York City: Channel 5 (WNYW)
- Los Angeles: Channel 11 (KTTV)
- Chicago: Channel 32 (WFLD)
- Philadelphia: Channel 29 (WTXF)
- Dallas-Fort Worth: Channel 4 (KDFW)
- Atlanta: Channel 5 (WAGA)
- San Francisco: Channel 2 (KTVU)
- Seattle: Channel 13 (KCPQ)
Why is Fox News a Different Number?
This is a huge point of confusion. You've got the "Fox" that shows MasterChef and Sunday Night Football, and then you've got "Fox News." They are not the same thing when it comes to your remote.
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The local Fox station is a "broadcast" channel. You can actually get it for free with a $20 antenna from a big-box store. Fox News, Fox Business, and FS1 are "cable-only" channels. You cannot get those with an antenna. Because they are cable networks, their channel numbers are usually much higher—often in the 200s or 300s.
If you tell your smart remote to "Go to Fox," it might default to the news channel when you actually wanted the local game. It’s a literal headache.
Streaming Changes the Game Entirely
If you’ve cut the cord and moved to YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Fubo, the idea of a "channel number" basically disappears. These services use logos instead of numbers.
On YouTube TV, you just scroll alphabetically or check your "Top Picks." The cool part here is that the service uses your GPS or zip code to automatically grab the right local Fox station for you. No more memorizing numbers.
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However, if you're using Sling TV, be careful. Sling Blue only carries local Fox stations in a handful of major markets like Chicago, Dallas, and Philadelphia. If you live in a smaller town, Sling might not give you the local Fox channel at all, even though they have FS1.
Getting Fox for Free (The Antenna Hack)
Honestly, the most reliable way to find your Fox channel number is to look at the station's own branding. If they call themselves "Fox 13," they are broadcasting on digital frequency 13.
If you hook up a digital antenna and run a "channel scan" on your TV, the television will find the strongest signal and map it to that number automatically. This is often the best quality picture you can get—even better than cable—because the signal isn't compressed to fit through a mile of copper wire.
Troubleshooting the "Missing" Channel
Sometimes a channel just vanishes. This usually happens for one of two reasons:
- Carriage Disputes: Your cable provider and the company that owns the local station (like Nexstar or Sinclair) are fighting over money. When this happens, they pull the channel until a deal is signed.
- Rescan Required: If you use an antenna, the FCC sometimes moves frequencies around. You just need to go into your TV settings and hit "Auto-Program" or "Channel Scan" to find it again.
To find your exact fox channel what number right now, the fastest move is to grab your remote and use the "Search" function. Type in "FOX" and see what pops up. If you're on a legacy cable box without search, head to the 002-015 range first; 90% of the time, your local station is hiding right there.
The next time you're setting up a recording for a big event, check the guide at least 24 hours in advance. Cable lineups update overnight, and you don't want to realize your local affiliate moved from channel 8 to channel 1008 three minutes before kickoff.