Fox Corp. said Thursday that it wouldn't amend its existing rights deal to broadcast National Football League games until after 2029, the media company's Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch told investors on the company's earnings call.
In recent months, the league had indicated that it wanted to renegotiate its rights deals a few years ahead of the window that allows them to do that. Fox has had constructive discussions with the league, and will maintain its current deal and pricing until the 2030 season, Murdoch said.
Fox's announcement comes after relations between Fox and the NFL had frayed over the league's decision to sell rights of its games to streaming services like Amazon's Prime Video and Netflix.
Fox Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch raised concerns about the damage to broadcast networks such as Fox if more NFL games migrate to streaming, The Wall Street Journal has reported. And the Justice Department opened an investigation into whether sports leagues should continue to enjoy antitrust protections under the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act, which allows them to collectively negotiate television rights on behalf of teams.
An NFL spokesman declined to comment.
Fox said on its earnings call that it expects its deal to buy streaming platform Roku will close in the first half of next year.
Fox reported revenue for the fourth quarter rose 28% to $4.21 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $3.64 billion. The growth was bolstered by a 78% jump in advertising revenue across the business, largely due to the FIFA World Cup. Within Fox's television business, advertising revenue more than doubled to $1.46 billion, That helped lift overall television revenue 45%.
Ad sales were also helped by Fox's streaming platform Tubi and higher political advertising on Fox TV stations, the company said. Ad revenue in Fox's cable-network-programming segment climbed 22%, also fueled by the World Cup. Total cable-network sales were up 9%.
Profit attributable to shareholders of $691 million, or $1.61 a share, compared with $717 million, or $1.57 a share, a year earlier.Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $1.79, ahead of the $1.44 anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.
Shares were up 3.7% to $54.15 in premarket trading.
Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
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