Fox and Fox News at Risk of Being Pulled From YouTube TV in Carriage Dispute

The Fox broadcast network, Fox News and other Fox owned TV stations may be pulled from YouTube TV in the coming days, as the two companies appear engaged in a carriage dispute that is bursting into public view.

Fox on Monday began warnings customers that its channels were at risk of being pulled “unless Google engages in a meaningful way soon.”

According to YouTube, the deadline for their agreement is 5 PM ET on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

August and September are often critical times for carriage deals, as they coincide with the start of the NFL season. If the Fox channels do go dark, then YouTube customers in markets with a Fox-owned station would lose access to their local NFL games, as well as college football and the MLB playoffs.

A key difference in contract disputes with “skinny bundles” and broadcasters and those with broadcasters and CATV companies is built in the 1992 Cable Act, CATV companies negotiate directly with the local broadcaster a retransmission consent fee. Skinny bundles (YTTV, Sling, Fubo, et al) are not involved in the law, and they deal exclusively with the network owner, not the affiliate.

This was explained in the 2023 Disney/Charter dispute. Our local ABC broadcaster is owned by Beverly Poston (Bakahel Communications). When ESPN and others went dark in the dispute, her station posted on social media and made the notice on their news broadcasts they are not affected by the impasse because Charter successfully negotiated with her organisation. The only areas affected were Disney owned and operated stations. Non-O&O stations (owned by others) were not affected. We lost ESPN and Disney stations those days, but the ABC affiliate kept being on because the deal with Mrs. Poston was not affected.

In 2024, DirecTV had an impasse with Disney also for DirecTV Stream. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel noted in this dispute, their Hearst-owned ABC affiliate was blacked out for DirecTV Stream subscribers. DirecTV Stream, as a skinny bundle, does not negotiate with the local broadcaster, and they are not paid for carriage. They pay Disney directly, and Hearst wasn’t paid. A friend from elementary school noted DirecTV Stream could not show ABC, and I did my research, and I learned DirecTV’s deal with Sinclair (owner of ABC affiliate) on their main dish was not affected, the stream they pay Disney only and not Sinclair.

Google’s dispute with Fox affects all affiliates, not just the owned and operated stations.

With the skinny bundles, you are paying NOT for your local affiliate, but you are paying for the New York or Los Angeles affiliate. The local broadcaster is not paid and in effect, you get the feed from New York or Los Angeles. With a regular CATV deal and a non-O&O, the local broadcaster is paid so you effectively pay the local station. The local broadcaster is not paid.

This is crucial. The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (currently Xfinity until the end of 2025) is affected. With skinny bundles, you aren’t guaranteed the CW affiliate if the provider does not have a Nexstar deal. With CATV deals, as our local one is a secondary digital subchannel of the NBC affiliate owned by Gray Media, their Gray deal gives them the NBC, CW, Circle (Gray O&O), and Palmetto Sports and Entertainment (Gray O&O, carries the Braves and minor league sports) channels on their digital subchannels. In two nearby markets, the CW is a digital subchannel as a Nexstar O&O. Nexstar isn’t paid for their local stations.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.