YOUTUBE and Fox said on Wednesday they have reached a short-term agreement that will keep Fox News, Fox Sports and other Fox channels available to YouTube TV subscribers.
The extension buys time for the parties to reach a new distribution agreement.
Negotiations continue as the college football season prepares to kick off, with an anticipated matchup of top-ranked Texas traveling Saturday to play the national champion Ohio State. Fox is airing the game, and YouTube TV subscribersriskedmissing out. YouTube said in a blog post on Monday that Fox is demanding payments that are far higher than what comparable providers receive. It said Fox channels would become unavailable if a new agreement were not reached by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Fox responded earlier this week, saying it was disappointed that “Google continually exploits its outsized influence” by proposing terms that it described as “out of step with the marketplace.”
The carriage dispute caught the attention of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who said that Google removing Fox channels from its YouTube TV would be “a terrible outcome”.
“Millions of Americans are relying on YouTube to resolve this dispute so they can keep watching the news and sports they want—including this week’s Big Game: Texas @ Ohio State,“ wrote Carr on Tuesday, on the social media platform X. “Get a deal done Google!” – REUTERS
