The network tapped in to an underserved portion of American viewers. The look is outstanding-- the staging, the graphics, the music, the sets, the photography... Like them or not, the network developed a compelling set of personalities.
FNC also inspires great loyalty among viewers. It managed to survive the messy departure of prime time cornerstone Bill O'Reilly and the equally as messy exit of founder Roger Ailes.
CNN had a 15 year head start. FNC simply came along with a viewpoint and did a lot of things better than its older competition.
So far, no one has been able to match its success.
