YouTube TV subscribers wanting to watch college football this weekend can exhale after the service reached a short-term extension to keep Fox’s television channels on the platform.
The two sides, which did not specify the length of the extension, came together as their previous carriage agreement expired at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Fox networks, including the broadcast channel and cable sports channels such as FS1 and the Big Ten Network, would have gone dark on the Google-owned live TV service if no deal was reached. In a statement, YouTube said it remains working on a new agreement with Fox.
The two sides are at odds over how much Fox Corporation receives from Google to distribute its networks. In its email to subscribers on Monday, YouTube TV said it took issue with Fox’s request for “payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive.” In its own statement, Fox said that “Google continually exploits its outsized influence by proposing terms that are out of step with the marketplace.”
As he did regarding another carriage dispute this year, FCC chairman Brendan Carr took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to call on the tech company to make a deal. “Google removing Fox channels from YouTube TV would be a terrible outcome,” he said on X/Twitter. “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!”
The FCC, however, does not have any direct authority over television delivered over the internet by services like YouTube TV.
Beyond the first high-profile college football game of the season—Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns visit national champion Ohio State on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff—a long standoff could have impacted the start of the NFL season, as well as critical games in playoff races during the final month of the MLB season.
YouTube’s exclusive game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 5 would have not been impacted by virtue of airing on the free video platform.
This was the second time in 2025 that YouTube TV faced the potential of dropping a major programmer. In February, an 11th-hour agreement with Paramount kept millions of fans from missing out on the men’s side of March Madness through CBS.
YouTube TV has more than 8 million subscribers. The Google-owned live TV service promised that it would give subscribers a $10 credit if the Fox channels remained off for an extended period.
For those wondering why an over-the-air broadcaster would be in danger of being blacked out, Fox and its free air peers must have retransmission agreements to be available on paid multivideo platforms such as YouTube TV, Comcast and DirecTV.
