Update 12/5/22: Fox and DirecTV have reached a carriage agreement. Notably, DirecTV held firm and did not concede to Fox’s increased Fox fee demands.
Fox Corp. is trying to use the World Cup to fleece DirecTV customers
Written by John Whitehouse
Published
Updated
Fox Corp. is threatening DirecTV customers. The company, run by CEO Lachlan Murdoch, is threatening to pull some of its channels — the Fox broadcast channel, FS1, and more — from DirecTV as soon as this Friday, a day before Fox is scheduled to broadcast the U.S. men’s national team facing the Netherlands in the knockout round of the World Cup. It’s also a key part of the season in college and pro football, both of which are broadcast by Fox.
Fox Corp. is demanding much higher rates for these channels from DirecTV — and everyone knows that DirecTV would be forced to pass along that cost to its customers.
Fox is currently pushing its line on a website, keepfox.com. In order to properly inform the public about Fox’s tactics, Media Matters is launching the #NoFoxFee website and will also run social media ads to make sure people know that Fox wants to force all subscribers to pay more money to add extra cushion to the Murdochs’ bottom line. We know that money will just underwrite more hate from Fox News.
The bottom line: If you are a DirecTV subscriber and want to make sure Fox doesn’t get away with increasing your bill, you need to contact DirecTV right away.
USA Today reported:
Fox said DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-Verse subscribers could lose access to Fox programming including the NFL on Fox, the Big Ten College Football Championship on Fox, the 2022 World Cup, FS1, Fox’s local news channels and more beginning midnight on Friday.
Fox News and Fox Business are not among the programming at risk of being dropped, DirecTV said.
"At this point, any interruption of Fox programming depends solely on Fox alone. DIRECTV has no intention to remove any Fox content," DirecTV spokesperson Nick Ammazzalorso said in a statement to USA TODAY. "The best way for everyone to 'Keep Fox' is for Fox to keep making it available themselves."
This would affect not just customers who watch the FOX channel or FS1; the cost that Fox Corp. is asking for would be passed along to every DirecTV customer.
Fox would also reportedly pull local stations owned by Fox Corp. from the provider. (It’s not worth getting too deep into the mechanics of local news, but for the record, not all Fox local stations are owned by Fox Corp.)
As noted:
In addition to Fox’s cable channels, a carriage dispute would also require DirecTV and DirecTV Stream to pull Fox-owned stations in several major markets, including:
KCPQ (Channel 13, Seattle/Tacoma)
KDFW (Channel 4, Dallas)
KMSP (Channel 9, Minneapolis)
KRIV (Channel 26, Houston)
KSAZ (Channel 10, Phoenix)
KTBC (Channel 7, Austin)
KTTV (Channel 11, Los Angeles)
KTVU (Channel 2, San Francisco/Oakland)
WAGA (Channel 5, Atlanta)
WFLD (Channel 32, Chicago)
WJBK (Channel 2, Detroit)
WITI (Channel 6, Milwaukee)
WNYW (Channel 5, New York City)
WOFL (Channel 35, Orlando)
WTTG (Channel 5, Washington, D.C.)
WTVT (Channel 13, Tampa/St. Petersburg)
WTXF (Channel 29, Philadelphia)
Several independent and MyNetwork-partner stations owned by Fox would also be impacted, including KUTP (Channel 45, Phoenix), KCOP (Channel 13, Los Angeles), KICU (Channel 36, San Francisco/Oakland), WDCA (Channel 20, Washington, D.C.), WRBW (Channel 65, Orlando), WPWR (Channel 50, Chicago), WFTC (Channel 9.2, Minneapolis), WWOR (Channel 9, New York City) and others.
As USA Today explained, Fox has launched a keepfox.com site, the same URL it used recently to force concessions from Altice regarding carriage of all Fox channels — including Fox News and Fox Business. You can see the archived version of the site here. Fox is also pushing its audience to tweet at DirecTV to complain.
DirecTV has launched its own site as well.
This strategy from Fox mirrors the strategy from previous negotiations with DirecTV. In 2011, DirecTV sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission calling out misleading ads Fox aired about viewers losing channels.
Furthermore, in early 2020, Fox Corp. used the Super Bowl to leverage concessions from Roku. (We even noted at the time that Fox would use the tactic in the future).
One notable difference this time is how disconnected Fox News is from the dispute, unlike in 2019 when Fox News personalities tweeted about the fight. So far this time, Fox News has been kept separate, reflecting how toxic and extreme the brand has become.
But make no mistake: Any profits from this strategy would serve only to enrich the Murdochs and empower more bigotry from their properties — especially if the rumored remerger with News Corp. goes through.