DirecTV-Fox feud won’t stop UFC on FOX debut in Nov
The Hollywood reporter recently covered the Fox vs. DirecTV fight. Fans had feared that the Nov. 1 cut off deadline…
The Hollywood reporter recently covered the Fox vs. DirecTV fight. Fans had feared that the Nov. 1 cut off deadline threatened by DirecTV could be disastrous for the viewership of the Cain Velasquez vs. JDS UFC on FOX debut November 12. However, as reported below, the threatened cutoff il not effect the UFC debut, at least for now.
The companies’ previous agreement expired Sept. 30, but there has been no progress made in the ongoing negotiations.
DirecTV has told Fox Networks that it will drop the channels Nov. 1 if the two companies don’t come to an agreement in the ongoing carriage dispute.
Fox said late Thursday that it has offered an extension during the ongoing negotiations but that DirecTV “has informed us and their customers that unless we agree to their demands, they ‘will suspend our networks on Nov. 1.'”
Meanwhile, DirecTV issued its own statement late Thursday.
“They are currently asking our customers to pay 40% more for the exact same Fox channels that they already receive, and that’s simply unfair and unwarranted,” the company said. “We hope to resolve this situation before any action is taken, but we will do what’s necessary to protect our customers from excessive and unwarranted fee increases. We already provide News Corp. nearly a billion dollars a year for their channels, and we have no problem continuing to compensate them fairly.”
Fox Networks includes FX, National Geographic Channel, 19 regional sports networks, Fox Movie Channel, Speed, Fuel TV, Fox Soccer and Fox Deportes. Fox broadcast stations and Fox News Channel are not involved in the negotiations.
Should the disagreement last for any extended period of time, the only thing that might be affected for UFC fans using DirecTV would be season 15 of TUFr and any otherprogramming planned for Fuel.
