The return of football season is again joined with another annual tradition: a high-profile media carriage dispute based around the start of those games. 

For the third year in a row, the arrival of college and pro football is marked by a distribution battle that could take away broadcasts of those games for millions of subscribers. In 2023, it was ESPN parent Disney and Charter Communications, the parent of Spectrum and the No. 1 pay-TV distributor in the U.S. Last year, Disney was again in the crosshairs, this time with DirecTV, the No. 3 carrier. 

Now, Fox is at odds with Google-owned YouTube TV, the No. 4 distributor and the largest of the streaming-based carriers with an estimated 9.4 million subscribers as of April, according to MoffettNathanson. Saturday’s college football mega-clash between No. 1–ranked Texas and No. 3 and defending national champion Ohio State is most immediately at risk if a deal is not reached by a deadline of Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET. 

Media carriage deadlines are often set around this time of year, with an eye toward using the huge audiences for college and pro football to help exert pressure on parameters for the next contract term.

Deal Points

The latest Fox–YouTube TV dispute runs along many of the same, tried-and-true areas of tension in the media business, and more specifically, the carriage fees for Fox programming. Fox is seeking “payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” according to YouTube TV. The network counters that “Google continually exploits its outsized influence by proposing terms that are out of step with the marketplace.”

There is a fundamentally different situation surrounding the latest battle, however. In the prior two cases, the final deals involved the linear carriers picking up a series of enhanced digital rights and a greater ability to create skinny bundles for consumers. Those changes better prepared the carriers for the ongoing migration toward streaming and kept ESPN on the air with two vital partners.

YouTube TV, conversely, is already a streaming-based property. Fox, meanwhile, just debuted its Fox One streaming service, allowing direct-to-consumer access to its content for $19.99 per month, as well as on an authenticated basis for cable and satellite TV subscribers. In early October, that new service will also be paired with ESPN’s own DTC product in a bundle specifically targeting sports fans. 

Outside of football season, YouTube TV has had other distribution pressures, particularly as it fights to keep in check a monthly price now starting at $82.99 per month and continues to position itself as an alternative to legacy, linear-based carriers. In February, it reached a deal with CBS Sports parent Paramount that narrowly averted a blackout of top spring events such as March Madness and The Masters.

The NFL, meanwhile, said Tuesday that the dispute, if it continues, would impact distribution of its local, in-market games on Fox through YouTube TV. Coverage of out-of-market games on NFL Sunday Ticket is a separate product offered by YouTube and would not be affected.

Tommy Fleetwood’s dramatic Tour Championship win delivered big TV ratings and capped a successful postseason viewership stretch for the PGA Tour.

NBC averaged 4.49 million viewers for Sunday’s final round, according to Nielsen ratings. That’s up 34% from the 3.36 million viewers who watched the final round of the 2024 Tour Championship, which was won by Scottie Scheffler. On Sunday, Fleetwood earned $10 million for his first victory on the PGA Tour in 164 starts.

The Tour Championship used a new format this year, as the final 30 players competed in a standard 72-hole stroke tournament, with the winner also being declared the season-long FedExCup champion. From 2019 to 2024, the controversial “starting strokes” format was used, which gave advantages based on FedExCup points. But that format was abandoned midseason.

All three events of the FedExCup playoffs saw ratings boosts on NBC Sports platforms. 

The final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the postseason opener, drew 3.6 million viewers on NBC, up 71% from last year’s edition. For the BMW Championship, the penultimate tournament of the PGA Tour season, NBC averaged 3.5 million viewers, up 43% over 2024.

TV ratings for the PGA Tour have mostly rebounded across the board this year. 

CBS averaged 2.97 million viewers for its portion of the season, which was up 17% over 2024. Final figures for NBC’s portion of the PGA Tour season are still being determined, but the strong finish should help the network to an overall boost.

There is a new way for golfers to qualify for The Masters and Open Championship.

Beginning with the 2026 editions of the tournaments, winners of six selected national opens will now earn invitations to the two major championships: 

• Australian Open
• Hong Kong Open
• Japan Open
• Scottish Open
• South African Open
• Spanish Open

The new qualification criteria incorporate five international tours: the Asian Tour, DP World Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, and Sunshine Tour. This builds upon the long-standing tradition of The Masters inviting winners of full-field PGA Tour events. Winners of LIV Golf events will continue not to earn invitations for their victories.

However, the Hong Kong Open (Asian Tour) is part of the International Series, which has a partnership with LIV Golf. Last year, LIV’s Patrick Reed won the Hong Kong Open, although he has a lifetime invite to The Masters as the 2018 champion.

LIV players are eligible to compete in all six of the aforementioned national opens, meaning there is a potential new pathway for members of the league to earn spots in two of golf’s four major championships. LIV has filed a new application to receive Official World Golf Ranking points, which is under review by the OWGR board.

The Open and U.S. Open already have some limited qualification methods specifically for LIV players. At the same time, The Masters and PGA Championship do not, although they have each invited several LIV members in recent years. 

PGA Tour member Chris Gotterup won this year’s Scottish Open and was already qualified for next year’s Masters before Tuesday’s announcement. The other five tournaments will be played this fall.

Additionally, winners of the PGA Tour’s fall schedule will no longer receive invites to The Masters, as those events don’t offer a full point allocation.