Fox, Time Warner reach cable deal

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Fox television shows remained on Time Warner cable TV systems across the United States Saturday after the two announced they had reached a carriage deal.

Fox, owned by News Corp., and Time Warner announced Friday that a deal had been struck to keep Fox Network television shows -- including its New Year's Day and holiday weekend sports programming -- on the cable system owner, less than a day after a contract between the two had expired, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The newspaper said the agreement was reached after months of posturing and public sniping between the two media giants, which at one point included Time Warner taking out newspaper ads in which it accused Fox of holding consumers "hostage" in seeking unreasonably high carriage rates for rebroadcasting its programs.

The Times said neither Time Warner nor News Corp. would release details on the new agreement, but noted that Fox had been asking $1 per subscriber per month and that Time Warner had countered with an offer of 30 cents per subscriber.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski on Friday praised the two companies for reaching the deal, the newspaper said.