Fox channels may be dropped from YouTube TV in fee dispute
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About 10 million YouTube TV subscribers could lose access to Fox News and Fox Corp. channels that broadcast sports in a fee dispute that comes just days before the start of college football.
The Google-owned television service notified customers that Fox-owned channels, including Fox Business and local stations such as KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles, may be dropped from their program lineups as soon as Wednesday afternoon if the two sides fail to reach a new distribution pact.
YouTube TV viewers would be without “The Five” and other Fox News programs. Sports fans could miss out on Friday night’s Auburn-Baylor football game and Saturday’s high-profile contest between Texas and Ohio State, along with three regional Major League Baseball games.
A prolonged blackout could interrupt the start of Fox’s NFL season that begins Sept. 7.
“Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” YouTube said late Monday in a blog post. “Our priority is to reach a deal that reflects the value of their content and is fair for both sides without passing on additional costs to our subscribers.”
Streaming hours on YouTube, including the YouTube TV live television service, increased 27% in 2024, making it “by far the largest contributor to overall streaming growth” in the U.S., according to MoffettNathanson.
The dustup comes as YouTube TV has become one of the most formidable television providers.
Nielsen ranks YouTube, including its video service, as the largest television distributor in the U.S. by share of viewership. In a Tuesday report, Nielsen said that YouTube captured 13.4% of all TV viewing in July, the sixth consecutive month the company has claimed the top spot. Walt Disney Co. came in second that month with 9.4% of the audience.
YouTube’s popular bundle — it also offers the NFL Sunday Ticket package of out-of-market games — has dramatically cut into the business of legacy pay-TV providers, including Charter Spectrum, DirecTV and Dish Networks.
“While Fox remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with Google’s YouTube TV, we are disappointed that Google continually exploits its outsized influence by proposing terms that are out of step with the marketplace,” Fox said in a statement, adding that the dispute could force its channels to go dark “unless Google engages in a meaningful way soon.”
Last year, YouTube generated $54.2 billion in revenue, second only to Disney, according to research firm MoffettNathanson. The analysts estimated that fast-growing YouTube TV would reach 10 million subscribers this year. That slightly trails Charter, which operates the Spectrum service, and Comcast. YouTube TV has eclipsed the once powerhouse satellite TV service providers.
Disney and DirecTV agreed to a new distribution deal, restoring ESPN, ABC and other channels for more than 10 million DirecTV and U-Verse customers.
Disputes between programmers and pay-TV providers have become increasingly common in recent years amid a weakening of television economics. The high cost of sports rights has become a major rub for pay-TV distributors who have been asked to pay higher fees to mitigate the loss of subscribers.
Last year, DirecTV customers lost access to Disney channels, including ESPN, for nearly two weeks.
The battle was costly. DirecTV acknowledged that thousands of subscribers fled — many to YouTube TV — during the blackout. Viewers who wanted to watch the U.S. Open tennis tournament, college football, “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” were upset by the outage.
In 2023, a separate dispute led to Disney channels going dark on Spectrum.
ESPN, ABC stations, FX and other Disney-owned channels are part of a high-stakes blackout affecting 14.8 million Charter Spectrum customer homes.
YouTube said Monday that it was “working diligently with the team at Fox to reach an agreement.”
Should the channels go dark, the company will provide customers with a $10 credit. YouTube said customers also could sign up for Rupert Murdoch’s television company’s new streaming service, Fox One, which costs $20 a month.
