Brendan Carr, the pro-Trump chairman of the FCC, weighed in on the carriage fight between Google’s YouTube TV and Fox Corp. — which threatens to pull Fox News and other networks off the streaming platform.
Carr, in expressing his personal opinion on the matter, appeared to place the blame for the standoff on Google and YouTube. In addition to citing the importance of YouTube TV providing “news” to its customers, he called out Saturday’s college football game pitting Texas (No. 1) vs. Ohio State (No. 3), which will air on Fox’s broadcast network.
“Google removing Fox channels from YouTube TV would be a terrible outcome,” Carr wrote Tuesday in a post on 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!”
YouTube, replying to Carr’s post Tuesday, wrote, “We love football too @brendancarrfcc! We’re working hard to negotiate a deal that’s fair to Fox, our valued subscribers and all of our partners. Stay tuned.”
The FCC does not have regulatory authority over internet-delivered services like YouTube TV. Carr has previously questioned Google and YouTube TV over private business decisions: In March, the chairman sent a letter to the company about “concerns” that “have been raised alleging that your company has a policy (secret or otherwise) that discriminates against faith-based programming,” citing a complaint filed by the conservative Great American Media. At the time, a YouTube rep said in a statement that “We welcome the opportunity to brief the FCC on YouTube TV’s subscription service and the strategic business decisions we make based on factors like user demand, operational cost and financial terms, and to reiterate that we do not have any policies that prohibit religious content.”
While the FCC does not have authority over YouTube TV and other providers known in industry lingo as “virtual multichannel video programming distributors,” or vMVPDs, the agency is considering whether to expand its rules to include them.
The current YouTube TV distribution agreement with Fox Corp. expires Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 5 p.m. ET.
Fox Corp. channels in danger of going dark on YouTube TV are: Fox local stations; BTN; Fox Business; Fox Deportes; Fox News; Fox Soccer Plus; Fox Soul; Fox Sports 1 (FS1) and Fox Sports 2 (FS2); Fox Weather; KTVU Plus; and LiveNow from Fox. In addition, the companies’ agreement covers Fox Nation as an optional add-on to YouTube TV for $7.99 per month.
In a message to subscribers Monday, YouTube TV said subscribers will be eligible to receive a $10 credit to if Fox’s content is unavailable “for an extended period of time” as a result of the contract fight.