News Corp. And DirecTV Reach Agreement, Avoid Blackout

DirecTV customers no longer need to worry about a News Corp. blackout that would have affected regional sports channels, FX and other Fox-owned cable channels.

In a joint statement the two company’s said:

“We both know the past ten days have been challenging, but we’re pleased that both sides could eventually come together to ensure our viewers continue to enjoy Fox programming.”

The announcement comes after both company’s previously announced that a blackout would begin on November 1 if a new contract was not agreed upon.

While blackouts are typically avoided by last minute deals they are not unheard of, last October Fox pulled their programming from Cablevision for two weeks while contract negotiations continued. In a strange turn of events Cablevision told their customers how to illegally obtain Fox shows during the blackout.

The current blackout was resolved just nine hours before News Corp. was to pull their programming from the DirecTV network.

It’s still unclear what agreements were made however News Corp. had been requesting large increases in the amount they receive from DirecTV in order to carry FX, 19 regional sports networks, Fuel, the Fox Movie Channel and the National Geographic Channel.

Among shows that would have been missed mid-season included “Sons of Anarchy” and “American Horror Story.”

Other Fox stations were not included in this deal because of separate contract negotiations for various News Corp. properties.

Would you change TV providers if FX and other News Corp. stations were blacked out by DirecTV? It would be interesting to see how many people fought against the company’s early termination fee if they went elsewhere.