The service, which operated (in its original form) from June 6, 1991 to September 12, 2006, was intended for American television markets ranked #100 and above by Nielsen Media Research estimates that lacked availability for a locally based Fox broadcast affiliate.

[1] This was because, around the time of the network's launch in October 1986, most large and mid-sized markets were served by at least four commercial over-the-air television stations: three that were each affiliated with one of the established broadcast networks, ABC, NBC and CBS; and one that usually operated as an independent station, usually offering a mix of syndicated programs, movies and in many cases, sports.

On September 6, 1990, Fox reached an agreement with Tele-Communications Inc. – at the time, the nation's largest cable operator – in which TCI systems in certain markets would become charter affiliates of a cable-only version of the network, breaking the traditional method of broadcast networks offering their programming to over-the-air television stations that distribute content to local cable systems.

(Separate logos incorporating Foxnet branding were used to advertise the service in media publications and promotional materials for prospective providers.)

In June 2017, The Wall Street Journal (a sister newspaper to Fox through the Murdoch family's shared ownership of News Corp) mentioned that Fox had offered a secondary national feed to serve selected markets where local affiliates (mainly those owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and Raycom Media) had not come to terms with Hulu to provide access to their station feeds.

After the landfall of Hurricane Laura in August 2020, KVHP, the Fox affiliate for Lake Charles, Louisiana, was taken off the air as its studio facility (shared with fellow Gray Television-owned NBC affiliate KPLC) sustained damage when their studio transmitter link tower toppled into the building.

Fox then fed its default national feed meant for streaming use to local cable providers until KVHP resumed full operations at the end of 2020.

Fox also provided the default national feed to YouTube TV subscribers in the Tallahassee, Florida market in September 2024, after that provider lost access to WTWC-DT2 (as well as its Sinclair-owned parent NBC affiliate, which was temporarily replaced by that network's New York City flagship station WNBC) amid the landfall of Hurricane Helene.

Foxnet aired the Fox network's primetime schedule and its children's programming blocks (originally Fox Kids, then FoxBox/4Kids TV from September 2002 onward); beginning with the network's assumption of rights to the NFL's National Football Conference in September 1994, it also carries telecasts of sporting events produced by the Fox Sports division, though being a national service having to choose from certain games rather than taking regional coverage, it was possible for an NHL, NFL or MLB matchup with teams with no rooting interest in a certain area to be of no interest to those viewers.

Otherwise, a dual programming model was utilized for Foxnet that differed from the traditional affiliate model – in which the local station handled responsibilities for acquiring and scheduling syndicated and local programming to fill timeslots not occupied by network content – that is used by Fox stations in large and medium-sized markets.

The acquired programs primarily consisted of shows that were airing at the time in national syndication and classic television series; syndicated film packages – with most titles being sourced from the library of then-sister studio 20th Century Fox – usually filled select weekend timeslots (which following the incorporation of Fox Sports in 1994, began to be limited to weekend time periods that were not occupied by sports programming), and, until 1993, primetime slots (Fox began offering primetime shows seven nights a week in the fall of that year).