If you’re a Spectrum subscriber in a market where Fox Corporation owns a local broadcast station, there’s no worry over whether or not access to that station — or any of Fox’s cable TV networks — will be blocked in the near future.
A “long-term, comprehensive renewal of their distribution agreement” has been signed by Spectrum parent Charter Communications and Fox.
The deal covers FOX’s full portfolio of news, entertainment and sports networks and its O&Os. In addition, FOX and Charter “will cooperate to mitigate piracy, implementing business rules to address unauthorized access to content.”
In prepared comments, FOX President/Operations and Distribution Michael Biard said, “We are pleased that our renewed agreement provides Charter customers with continued access to our entire suite of networks and expands the ways in which they can access the FOX brands through additional video-on-demand and TV Everywhere platforms. We appreciate Charter’s professional and collaborative approach throughout this process, and we look forward to expanding on our partnership in the days ahead.”
Tom Montemagno, EVP of Programming Acquisition at Charter, added, “This agreement allows continued access to all of the FOX programming for our customers and FOX viewers, but it will also amplify our mutual efforts to address piracy and abusive password sharing issues. We appreciate FOX’s desire to further collaborate as the video landscape continues to evolve.”
The renewal covers distribution of the FOX Television Stations, FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network, FS1, FS2, BTN, and Spanish-language sports network FOX Deportes. Additionally, the agreement includes video-on-demand and TV Everywhere rights for those networks, enabling Spectrum subscribers to watch FOX programming via the FOX NOW, FOX Sports and FOX News apps.
It’s the second retrans success this month for Fox.
In a brief announcement distributed October 6, DISH Network confirmed that it has reached a multi-year carriage agreement with Fox Corporation for its owned-and-operated local stations, as well as FS1, FS2, BTN, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes.
Impacted stations are in some of the nation’s biggest markets:
Atlanta, GA FOX WAGA
Austin, TX FOX KTBC
Charlotte, NC FOX WJZY
Charlotte, NC MNT WMYT
Chicago, IL CW WPWR
Chicago, IL FOX WFLD
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX FOX KDFW
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX MNT KDFI
Detroit, MI FOX WJBK
Gainesville, FL FOX WOGX
Houston, TX FOX KRIV
Houston, TX MNT KTXH
Los Angeles, CA FOX KTTV
Los Angeles, CA MNT KCOP
Minneapolis, MN FOX KMSP
Minneapolis, MN MNT WFTC
New York, NY FOX WNYW
New York, NY MNT WWOR
Orlando, FL FOX WOFL
Orlando, FL MNT WRBW
Philadelphia, PA FOX WTXF
Phoenix, AZ FOX KSAZ
Phoenix, AZ MNT KUTP
San Francisco, CA FOX KTVU
San Francisco, CA IND KICU
Tampa, FL FOX WTVT
Washington, DC FOX WTTG
Washington, DC MNT WDCA
A “blackout” could have been significant as it would have included not only FOX-affiliated stations but also Fox-owned stations airing MyNetworkTV, or The CW Network.
