• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

A short-term deal breaking the stalemate in the YouTube TV-Fox Corp. carriage negotiations of Fox broadcast and cable networks on the virtual pay TV service offers a positive outcome, according to analysts.

Executives close to the situation said the two companies are working toward a new agreement.

YouTube is the third-biggest virtual pay TV provider of over-the-air broadcast and cable TV networks, with 10 million U.S. subscribers -- behind Charter Communications (12.2 million) and Comcast Corp. (11.7 million).

Fox Corp. platforms include Fox Television Network, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, streaming platform Tubi, its new just-launched premium streaming channel, Fox One, and its owned TV stations.

Fox Corp. fiscal year 2024 retransmission and cable affiliate fee revenues grew 4% to $7.33 billion. Cable networks were basically flat -- up 0.3% to $4.79 billion; retransmission/affiliate fee revenue from over the air TV stations, climbed 9% to $3.1 billion.

Fox Corp. stock closed 1% higher to $54.40 on Wednesday.

Retransmission/affiliate fees come from a network’s owned TV stations, as well as getting around 50% of the fees that its TV station affiliates receive.

Major market network affiliate stations get around $3.50 to $3.75 per pay TV subscriber per month for multi-program video pay distributors (MVPDs) and virtual MVPDs (like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV), with projections expected to rise to around $5.00 by 2027.

The renewal of the deal -- which originally was to expire at the end of the day Wednesday -- is crucial, timed just before the start of the highly valuable NFL and college football seasons this fall.

In the recent past, many traditional pay TV provider deals (cable, satellite, virtual, and telco operators ) with TV network groups typically expire just before the start of a new TV season, which feature high-demand sports (NFL, college football) as well as for new shows and series of primetime entertainment.

On Monday, a press release from Fox Corp., addressing a possible disruption of its networks, cable channels and TV stations, said: "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.”

On the same day, in its warning to its subscribers, YouTube TV said in its release: “We know how frustrating it is to lose channels, which is why it’s our goal to keep Fox on YouTube TV. We’re committed to continuing to work with Fox to reach an agreement, but if their content becomes unavailable for an extended period of time, we'll offer our subscribers a $10 credit.”