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As federal pressure rose significantly over the last 24 hours, Fox and Google-owned YouTube TV have reached a new, short-term carriage agreement. The pact, at least for now, averts a blackout of the network’s content on the No. 4 U.S. pay-TV distributor with an estimated 9.4 million subscribers.
The companies said late Wednesday, just minutes after a 5 p.m. ET contract deadline, that they had reached a short-term extension that allows the parties to continue talks on a larger pact.
“We’ve reached a short-term extension with Fox to avoid service disruption for YouTube TV subscribers while we work on a new agreement,” YouTube said. “We’re committed to advocating on behalf of our members and will keep you posted on our progress.”
The agreement arrived as Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr weighed in on the situation, particularly calling on Google to strike a deal.
Though disputes such as this have become an annual tradition marking the start of college and pro football season, this matter was ultimately resolved with far less public acrimony than a separate matter between ESPN parent Disney and Charter Communications two years ago, and another between Disney and DirecTV last year.
The deal will keep in place the full distribution of Saturday’s college football mega-clash between No. 1–ranked Texas and No. 3 and defending national champion Ohio State.
The last-minute resolution also recalls a similar situation between YouTube TV and CBS Sports parent company Paramount, this past spring.
Earlier Wednesday, YouTube TV reached a separate distribution agreement with One America News, another conservative outlet friendly toward U.S. President Donald Trump. That pact may have also helped spur negotiations toward the Fox extension.
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