Millions of YouTube TV customers were spared an interruption of Fox News, Fox sports and local coverage after the two entertainment companies reached a 11th-hour truce following weeks of negotiations.
The two sides agreed Wednesday to continue talks to resolve their differences over distribution deal terms, pausing the threat of a channel blackout days before the start of the college football and NFL seasons.
The announcement came minutes before the 2 p.m. Pacific deadline. Neither company wanted to let a contract squabble disrupt some of their viewers favorite shows.
Fox News has a popular lineup with The Five, Special Report with Bret Baier and Hannity. Without a deal, sports fans could have missed out on Friday nights Auburn-Baylor football game, Saturdays high-profile contest between Texas and Ohio State and three regional Major League Baseball games airing on Fox.
In addition, Foxs NFL season kicks off on Sept. 7, giving the two sides added motivation to find a resolution.
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, YouTube said in a Wednesday afternoon blog post . 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.
YouTube has about 10 million customers for its television service, making it the third largest pay-TV distributor in the U.S.
The dispute hinged on programming fees YouTube TV pays for Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, Fox-owned stations, including KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles, Fox Business, FS1 and the Big 10 Network.
Rupert Murdochs company relies heavily on the strength of Fox News which ranked as the nations top-rated linear network in July and its broadcast network that boasts big-name sports to maintain its programming fees.
Distribution fee disputes have become increasingly common amid a shift in economics.
Programmers, including Fox, have long counted on distribution fees paid by TV distributors that sell the channel bundles to consumers. But that source of revenue is under threat as viewers migrate to Netflix, Disney+ and other streamers shrinking the pool of pay-TV subscribers.
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 when tensions ran high. 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.
For its part, Fox said it was proposing a fair, comprehensive deal to continue our relationship with YouTube TV. It accused Google of using its leverage to try to extract unfair terms.
YouTube TV has been gaining subscribers at a time when others are losing them, giving the tech company increased market muscle. YouTubes popular bundle it also offers the NFL Sunday Ticket package of out-of-market games has cut into the business of legacy pay-TV 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.
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.
经过数周谈判，两家娱乐公司在最后关头达成停战协议，使得数百万YouTube TV用户得以继续收看福克斯新闻（Fox News）、福克斯体育（Fox Sports）及地方频道，避免了节目中断的情况。
双方于周三同意继续谈判，以解决分销协议条款上的分歧，从而在大学橄榄球和NFL赛季开始前数日暂时避免了频道停播的威胁。
该声明在太平洋时间下午2点的截止期限前几分钟发布。两家公司都不愿因合同纠纷而影响观众喜爱的节目播出。
福克斯新闻拥有《五人谈》《布雷特·拜尔特别报道》和《汉尼提》等热门节目。若协议未达成，体育迷们或将错过周五晚的奥本大学对阵贝勒大学橄榄球赛、周六得克萨斯大学与俄亥俄州立大学的焦点对决，以及福克斯播出的三场美国职业棒球大联盟地区赛事。
此外，福克斯（Fox）的美国职业橄榄球大联盟（NFL）赛季将于9月7日拉开帷幕，这为双方达成解决方案提供了额外动力。
YouTube在周三下午的博客中表示："我们已与福克斯达成短期协议延期，以避免影响YouTube TV订阅用户，同时双方将继续协商新协议。我们将始终代表用户权益争取公平条款，并及时通报谈判进展。"
YouTube的电视服务拥有约1000万用户，这使其成为美国第三大付费电视服务提供商。
这场争议的核心在于YouTube TV向福克斯新闻、福克斯广播网、福克斯旗下电视台（包括洛杉矶的KTTV第11频道）、福克斯商业频道、FS1以及十大联盟电视网支付的节目费用。
鲁珀特·默多克的公司高度依赖福克斯新闻的实力——该频道在七月被评为全国收视率最高的线性电视网——以及其拥有知名体育节目的广播网络，以此来维持其节目费用收入。
在经济格局转变的背景下，分销费用纠纷日益普遍。
包括**福克斯**在内的节目制作商，长期以来一直依赖电视分销商向消费者销售频道套餐所支付的分销费用。但随着观众转向**Netflix**、**Disney+**等流媒体平台，付费电视用户群不断萎缩，这一收入来源正面临威胁。
YouTube在周一晚间的一篇博客中表示，当时双方关系紧张，"福克斯公司要求的费用远高于提供类似内容合作伙伴所获得的报酬"。"我们的首要任务是达成一项协议，既能体现其内容价值，又对双方公平，同时不会将额外成本转嫁给订阅用户。"
福克斯方面表示，其提出了一项公平、全面的协议，以维持与YouTube TV的合作关系，并指责谷歌利用其影响力试图获取不公平条款。
在其他流媒体平台用户流失之际，YouTube TV却实现了订阅量增长，这增强了该科技公司的市场竞争力。YouTube的受欢迎套餐——包括提供非本地比赛的NFL周日票（NFL Sunday Ticket）——已对传统付费电视供应商的业务构成冲击。
尼尔森数据显示，YouTube（含其视频服务）凭借观众份额优势，成为美国最大的电视内容分发平台。周二发布的报告指出，YouTube在7月占据了全美13.4%的电视收视份额，这是该平台连续第六个月蝉联榜首。
华特迪士尼公司当月以9.4%的观众占比位居第二。
研究机构MoffettNathanson数据显示，去年YouTube营收达542亿美元，仅次于迪士尼。分析师预计，增长迅速的YouTube TV今年用户数将突破1000万，与运营Spectrum服务的特许通讯公司（Charter）及康卡斯特（Comcast）相比仅略逊一筹。
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