The Big Lead

Fox, YouTube TV make major contract announcement ahead of college football showdown

The two sides averted a crisis three days ahead of the marquee game of Week 1 of the college football season on Fox.

By J.P. Hoornstra

View of a camera with a Fox Sports logo before the game between the Houston Astros and the New York Mets at Daikin Park on March 29.
View of a camera with a Fox Sports logo before the game between the Houston Astros and the New York Mets at Daikin Park on March 29. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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Saturday, Fox will broadcast the marquee game of Week 1 of the college football season when No. 3 Ohio State hosts No. 1 Texas.

Fans who were hoping to watch the game via their YouTube TV subscription were potentially facing a blackout, thanks to a contract dispute between Google, the parent company of YouTube, and Fox.

That crisis was averted Wednesday, when Google announced it struck a "short-term extension" with Fox while the two sides hammer out a new contract.

"We have reached a short-term extension with Fox to prevent disruption to YouTube TV subscribers as we continue to work on a new agreement," read the announcement on Google's website, posted at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. "We are committed to advocating on behalf of our subscribers as we work toward a fair deal and will keep you updated on our progress."

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According to a post on the Google blog Monday, Fox is asking for "payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive."

A prolonged standoff would do more than black out a major college football game. The NFL season begins next week, with Fox set to air games starting on Sunday, Sept. 7. It's unclear how long the temporary extension will last.

The game between two historic Division I powers was set to be the first casualty of the corporate dispute. Even the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, weighed in on the issue in the context of the Texas-Ohio State game.

"Google removing Fox channels from YouTube TV would be a terrible outcome," he wrote on Twitter/X. "Millions of Americans are relying on YouTube to resolve this dispute so they can keep watching the news and sports they want—including this week’s Big Game: Texas @ Ohio State. Get a deal done Google!"

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