With the start of the pro and college football seasons upon us, media companies and pay TV operators are once again at odds, using the heightened viewer interest of hot televised gridiron action to move along program licensing negotiations.
On Monday, Fox Corp. released a statement declaring YouTube TV’s program licensing renewal terms were not up to snuff. Fox, of course, also warned YouTube TV subscribers that they could soon lose access to Fox channels if the two sides can’t come to an agreement.
YouTube responded in kind — Fox is asking for above-market carriage rates, it contends.
We’ll get to Fox’s volley first:
”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,” reads a Fox statement. “We are alerting Fox viewers who are YouTube TV subscribers that they could lose access to much of their favorite news, sports, entertainment and local station programming unless Google engages in a meaningful way soon."
On its www.keepfox.com landing page, the media company says the virtual MVPD’s subscribers could lose access to Fox News, the FOX broadcast network, Fox Sports, FS1 and the Big Ten Network. The current agreement between the pair expires at 5 p.m. EST Wednesday.
Responded YouTube in a Monday blog post: “Our current agreement with Fox is approaching its renewal date and we are in active and ongoing negotiations to continue carrying their content. Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive. 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.”
The high “HUT levels” associated with the start of football season — that’s an old-world linear term for “houses using television — makes this time of year a natural line in the sand for carriage negotiations. Whereas blackouts that start at the beginning of the summer tend to last for months, football offers both sides an urgency that gets them to the bargaining table.
Notably, two years ago, what was billed as the “landmark” negotiation between Charter Communications and Disney occurred a few weeks after ESPN suddenly went dark on Spectrum TV on a Thursday night, right before an anticipated college-football game pitting Utah against Florida.
YouTube TV has quickly amassed leverage in the pay TV business. Analyst Michael Nathanson estimated in April that the platform had reached 9.4 million subscribers, putting it on a trajectory to surpass No. 1 U.S. operator Charter within a few short years.