Fox and YouTube agree to ‘short-term extension’ as distribution negotiations continue

By Liam Reilly, CNN

(CNN) — Fox and YouTube TV on Wednesday agreed to an eleventh-hour short-term extension to their distribution deal, narrowly avoiding a blackout of all Fox’s content on the platform.

“We have reached a short-term extension with Fox to prevent disruption to YouTube TV subscribers as we continue to work on a new agreement,” the Alphabet-owned company shared in a blog post published at the appointed deadline. Neither Fox nor YouTube clarified how long the “short-term” extension is good for.

If no agreement is reached, Fox will see its news, business, entertainment and sports offerings, as well as programming from its local stations, go dark on YouTube TV.

Fox, FS1, the Big Ten Network and Fox News Channel are among the outlets that would no longer be available on the Google-owned platform.

The blackout, which was scheduled to take effect at 5:00 pm ET, would have affected millions nationwide and coincided with the start of the college football season and the lead-up to the NFL’s season kickoff — both lucrative sources of viewership.

Reports of a possible blackout emerged on Monday, just days before the pair’s current agreement was scheduled to expire. On Monday, both Fox and YouTube began warning customers they might be affected as the pair sought to agree on a new deal.

“Our priority is to reach a deal that’s fair for both sides, as well as our subscribers,” YouTube told customers. In a Monday blog post, YouTube cited “payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive” as a major sticking point.

In return, Fox said on Monday that it was “disappointed that Google continually exploits its outsized influence by proposing terms that are out of step with the marketplace.”

When no deal appeared imminent on Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr, a staunch Trump ally, weighed in, taking Fox’s side in the negotiations and urging Google to “get a deal done.”

“Google removing Fox channels from YouTube TV would be a terrible outcome,” Carr posted to X. “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.”

Customers looking to avoid bulky cable deals often turn to direct-to-consumer services like YouTube TV, which can provide skinnier bundles with targeted programming at a lower cost.

Carriage deals, which span multiple years, are typically re-signed during the late summer to early autumn period, typically coinciding with several major sporting events, a source of leverage for the networks.

While negotiations can proceed seamlessly, distributors and programmers don’t always see eye to eye, sparring over cost and content. Just last year, Disney pulled its ABC stations, ESPN and its cable networks from DirecTV after the two parties failed to renew their carriage deal.

This isn’t the first time YouTube has been involved in a blackout: In December 2021, Disney content was pulled from YouTube for around three days. Fox is also no stranger to hard-nosed negotiations: In 2019, local Fox content went dark in 23 states and Washington, DC, after the Rupert Murdoch-owned media company failed to reach a deal with Dish Network.

Despite the snag in negotiations with Fox, YouTube on Wednesday inked a carriage deal with Herring Network, launching the network’s pro-Trump One America News and A Wealth of Entertainment on YouTube TV.

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