The clock is ticking on a high-stakes carriage dispute that could deprive DirecTV customers of NFL games, FIFA World Cup matches, college football, and other sporting events.
The contract between DirecTV and Fox Sports expires midnight on Friday, Dec. 2.
If the current impasse doesn’t produce a new agreement, Fox is warning DirecTV customers they will miss a slew of programming, including NFL on Fox games, the 2022 World Cup, the Big Ten College Football Championship, and Fox local news. If there is a protracted dispute, subscribers could miss out on Super Bowl LVII, which will be broadcast on Fox in February.
With 13 million subscribers, DirecTV generates over $6 billion in annual revenue.
Fox Sports just celebrated a record-setting ratings weekend with the Thanksgiving battle between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, Black Friday’s USA-England World Cup match, and Saturday’s Big 10 football showdown between Michigan and Ohio State.
On Sunday, Fox ran a crawl across some of its channels warning viewers are poised to lose some of their “favorite” programming unless a “fair” agreement is reached.
Fox also has created a “KeepFox.com” website warning DirecTV customers they’re about to “miss the biggest sporting events” of the year.
“FOX remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with DIRECTV for the continued distribution of our networks,” said Fox in a statement.
“Despite our best efforts for months, we regret that DIRECTV continues to demand unprecedented special treatment that represents a wholesale change to our long-standing relationship and is out of step with marketplace terms.”
DirecTV countered Fox is trying to use “the same old, tired programmer scare tactics” on customers who don’t want to be caught in the middle.
Fox employed similar hardball negotiating tactics with Altice USA earlier this year, noted DirecTV. Eventually, the two sides settled in October without any interruption in signals.
“Based on our excellent track record with Fox, we’re confident we’ll come to terms ahead of any potential disruption. In fact, we’ve renewed nearly 200 local FOX stations much like these over the last few years,” said the satellite TV giant in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the same old, tired programmer scare tactics of putting customers into the middle of contract renewals tend to die hard. Fox invented this tactic back at the turn of the century, and has a long, long history of aggravating consumers to help try to boost their guaranteed rates, while most renewals are typically resolved without any interruptions.”
The potential Fox blackout would apply to FS1, Big Ten Network, Fox Deportes, Fox Soccer Plus, and Fox owned-and-operated local stations. The Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network would not be impacted.
