If you watch Fox or Fox News via YouTube TV, you may have heard the warning: Since Monday, Fox has told viewers that their chains could be taken from YouTube TV.
It is not a question of censorship or political affiliations or something like that. It’s because mom and pop are fighting. Fox and Google have a little rupture on what is called a transport case, that is to say how much YouTube TV pays Fox to transport its products.
As the Hollywood Reporter explains: “August and September are often critical moments for transport transactions because they coincide with the start of the NFL season.” This is bad news if Fox’s predictions are realized and the channels are drawn: “If the Fox channels become dark, then YouTube customers on the markets with a station belonging to Fox would lose access to their local NFL games, as well as university football and the MLB qualifiers.”
What’s going on with Fox and Youtube TV-and what you can do about it
What is happening here is that Fox has essentially disseminated a dirty linen in public, claiming that “we are disappointed that Google continuously exploits its disproportionate influence by offering terms out of step with the market”. And of course, there are two sides with each story, and the Google side is that “Fox requires much higher payments than partners with comparable content offers.”
This is not the first time that has happened. Disney fired charter communications channels last year, and earlier this year, it looked like paramount canals, including CBS, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon were going to be drawn for similar reasons. But in both cases, the respective parties finally reached an agreement, and in the case of Paramount, the canals did not drop at all.
This will probably happen here too. But if this is not the case, you are not out of options: Fox has launched its own streaming service, Fox One, and says it wants it to be available for anyone paying for traditional paid television services. So, if Fox disappears from Youtube TV, you can watch his channels there – and YouTube says that if the chains become dark for “an extended period”, this will give you a credit of $ 10.