They always wait for football season to have these carriage fights. That or March Madness.
Somebody knows when the most viewers are watching.
Of course, timing is everything.
If not for youtube tv having the seamless feature of also carrying my local channels I would have dropped them a long time ago....and still might over this and go to sling tv and just use my ota antenna for local programming.
Of course football season runs from August through February. And March Madness bleeds into April. So that leave May, June and July as the only months contracts can end without running into those. And of course the NBA and NHL playoffs are May and June.