 For some time dating back to the preparations for its launch, Rupert Murdoch – chief executive officer of News Corporation, the then-corporate parent of the Fox Broadcasting Company – had wanted a major-league sports presence for his network.Murdoch thought that landing a live sports broadcasting package would help build Fox's nascent profile and elevate it to the level of ABC, CBS, and NBC, the three existing major commercial broadcast networks in the United States at the time.In January 1987, as it was preparing to venture into prime time programming, Fox decided to place a bid to acquire the rights to "Monday Night Football" – then the league's crown-jewel program – from ABC, for about $1.3 billion, the same amount that network had been paying at the time for the contract; negotiations between the league and ABC to renew the contract had earlier stalled due to an increase in the expense for the rights.