nfl season

Millions of YouTube TV customers were spared an interruption of Fox News, Fox sports and local coverage after the two entertainment companies reached a 11th-hour truce following weeks of negotiations.

The two sides agreed Wednesday to continue talks to resolve their differences over distribution deal terms, pausing the threat of a channel blackout days before the start of the college football and NFL seasons.

The announcement came minutes before the 2 p.m. Pacific deadline. Neither company wanted to let a contract squabble disrupt some of their viewers’ favorite shows.

Fox News has a popular lineup with “The Five,” “Special Report with Bret Baier” and “Hannity.” Without a deal, sports fans could have missed out on Friday night’s Auburn-Baylor football game, Saturday’s high-profile contest between Texas and Ohio State and three regional Major League Baseball games airing on Fox.

In addition, Fox’s NFL season kicks off on Sept. 7, giving the two sides added motivation to find a resolution.

“We have reached a short-term extension with Fox to prevent disruption to YouTube TV subscribers as we continue to work on a new agreement,” YouTube said in a Wednesday afternoon blog post. “We are committed to advocating on behalf of our subscribers as we work toward a fair deal and will keep you updated on our progress.”

YouTube has about 10 million customers for its television service, making it the third largest pay-TV distributor in the U.S.

This is a developing story.

The dispute hinged on programming fees YouTube TV pays for Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, Fox-owned stations, including KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles, Fox Business, FS1 and the Big 10 Network.

Rupert Murdoch’s company relies heavily on the strength of Fox News — which ranked as the nation’s top-rated linear network in July — and its broadcast network that boasts big-name sports to maintain its programming fees.

Distribution fee disputes have become increasingly common amid a shift in economics.

Programmers, including Fox, have long counted on distribution fees paid by TV distributors that sell the channel bundles to consumers. But that source of revenue is under threat as viewers migrate to Netflix, Disney+ and other streamers — shrinking the pool of pay-TV subscribers.

“Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” YouTube said late Monday in a blog post when tensions ran high. “Our priority is to reach a deal that reflects the value of their content and is fair for both sides without passing on additional costs to our subscribers.”

For its part, Fox said it was “proposing a fair, comprehensive deal to continue our relationship with YouTube TV.” It accused Google of using its leverage to try to extract unfair terms.

YouTube TV has been gaining subscribers at a time when others are losing them, giving the tech company increased market muscle. YouTube’s popular bundle — it also offers the NFL Sunday Ticket package of out-of-market games — has cut into the business of legacy pay-TV providers.

Nielsen ranks YouTube, including its video service, as the largest television distributor in the U.S. by share of viewership. In a Tuesday report, Nielsen said that YouTube captured 13.4% of all TV viewing in July, the sixth consecutive month the company has claimed the top spot.

Walt Disney Co. came in second that month with 9.4% of the audience.

Last year, YouTube generated $54.2 billion in revenue, second only to Disney, according to research firm MoffettNathanson. The analysts estimated that fast-growing YouTube TV would reach 10 million subscribers this year. That slightly trails Charter, which operates the Spectrum service, and Comcast.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are taking their love story to the next chapter.

The Grammy-winning “Love Story” pop icon and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end are engaged, the couple announced Tuesday in a joint Instagram post.

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned photos from the garden engagement.

Weeks before getting engaged, the pair hit another personal milestone: They finally finally appeared together on Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce. The podcast was also where Travis Kelce took his shot at a romance with the singer-songwriter back in 2023.

During the “New Heights” episode, which marked Swift’s podcasting debut, she said her relationship with Kelce “is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”

Swift also announced her upcoming album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on the podcast.

With marriage on the horizon, it seems Swift and Kelce have come a long way since officially becoming an item in fall 2023. Their romance can be traced back to July 2023, when Kelce attended an Eras tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ house. The NFL star managed to get a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s camp and the two eventually got in touch.

Their rumored romance quickly became commentary fodder for NFL broadcasts (sometimes to sports fans’ chagrin). Then things took a turn when Swift seemingly accepted Kelce’s personal invitation to a home game in September 2023 and was seen cheering for him in a private box alongside his mother, Donna Kelce. Soon enough, Swift became a staple in the Chiefs audience.

Swift and Kelce’s relationship dominated the news cycle and most coverage of the NFL season. Feeding into the obsession, both Swifties and sports fans on social media created memes, TikTok videos and other social media content dissecting nearly every detail of the couple’s interactions and public appearances.

From late 2023 to early 2024, their blooming relationship also proved to be a boon as Swift carried on with her blockbuster, career-spanning Eras tour and Kelce prepared for Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs faced the San Fransisco 49ers. When the Chiefs won, Swift joined Kelce on the field, kissing and hugging her athlete boyfriend.

Swift and Kelce’s love didn’t just play out on the field. During a November 2023 show, Swift changed lyrics to her hit “Karma” to mention “the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me,” sending fans and Kelce into a frenzy. Then in June 2024, as Swift‘s tour continued, Kelce joined his superstar girlfriend on stage in London.

When the 2024-25 NFL season began in September, Swift returned regularly to Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs home games.

Swift brought her Eras tour to an end in December 2024 and hosted a private wrap party to celebrate her musical marathon. As photos from the party went public, eagle-eyed fans noticed more than Swift, Kelce and their VIP attendees. Social media sleuths claimed photos of Swift’s hands had been Photoshopped to conceal the presence of an engagement ring, Page Six reported at the time.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of former NFL superstar Antonio Brown stemming from an altercation outside a celebrity kickboxing event last month in Miami.

Brown is charged with the first-degree felony of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm. A judge from the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County signed the warrant Wednesday.

The warrant, which has been viewed by The Times, states that once Brown is arrested, he will be held on a $10,000 bond before being released and under house arrest before a trial.

Just before midnight on May 16, the warrant states, Miami police were dispatched to a location on NE 67th St. in the Little Haiti neighborhood in response to a report of gunshots being fired in the area.

Brown had already been detained by off-duty Florida Highway Patrol officers serving as security for the amateur boxing event held in the area. One of those officers stated that “several patrons from the event identified Mr. Brown as the shooter and informed him that Mr. Brown was armed,” the warrant states.

After being patted down and deemed to be unarmed at that point, Brown was released “due to the absence of identified victims at the time.”

A Miami police review of surveillance camera footage revealed that an altercation between Brown and another man took place before the shooting. The footage showed Brown striking the man with a closed fist, and a fight that involved additional individuals ensued, the warrant states.

Security broke up the fight, according to the warrant, but Brown “appears to retrieve a black firearm from the right hip area” of one of the security staff members and ran with the gun out of the parking area in the direction that the man he was fighting with had gone.

The warrant states that “cell phone video obtained from social media” shows Brown advancing toward the other man with the gun in hand and captures “two shots which occur as Mr. Brown is within several feet” of the other man, who can be seen “ducking after the first shot is heard.”

In a May 21 interview with a police detective, the alleged victim identified Brown in the surveillance video and said they had known each other since 2022, the warrant states. He also indicated he possibly had been grazed in the neck by one of the bullets, was in fear for his life during the incident and went to a hospital afterward to treat his injuries.

Brown appeared to address the alleged incident in a May 17 post on X.

“I was jumped by multiple individuals who tried to steal my jewelry and cause physical harm to me,” Brown wrote. “Contrary to some video circulating, Police temporarily detained me until they received my side of the story and then released me. I WENT HOME THAT NIGHT AND WAS NOT ARRESTED. I will be talking to my legal council and attorneys on pressing charges on the individuals that jumped me.”

Brown posted on X several times on Friday, with none of those posts mentioning the arrest warrant. One seemed to indicate he’s not in the U.S. at the moment — it features a video of a grinning Brown riding a bike with the hashtag #lovefromthemiddleeast.

A seven-time Pro Bowl receiver, Brown played nine of his 12 NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2020 season. He made a bizarre, shirtless exit from the field during a regular-season game Jan. 2, 2022, and has not played since.

He has a history of legal troubles. In 2019, Brown was sued by a former trainer who said he sexually assaulted her multiple times. Brown denied the allegations. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2021.

In 2020, Brown pleaded no contest to burglary and battery charges connected to an altercation with a moving company. He was ordered to serve two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, attend an anger management program and undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluation.

Brown was suspended for eight games in 2020 for multiple violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Also, in October 2023, the former star wide receiver was arrested for failing to pay child support.

It’s not easy for NFL long snappers to stand out, their exacting trade hinging exclusively on repeating the same action without fail or fanfare. Yet Jake McQuaide, the former Rams two-time Pro Bowl long snapper and veteran of 14 NFL seasons, drew attention Saturday when he stood up.

McQuaide rose during Mass at an Ohio Catholic church and snapped at Jason Williams, chancellor of the Cincinnati Archdiocese, demanding answers about rumors that two priests had viewed pornography on a parish computer.

Shortly thereafter, McQuaide was removed from the sanctuary by police officers.

During the outburst, McQuaide seemed to channel Sister Aloysius — Meryl Streep’s character in the 2008 film “Doubt,” — when he loudly questioned Williams, saying “We want to put these rumors to rest. Can you answer this for me, fact or fiction?”

According to video from Cincinnati news station WCPO, when someone at the alter told McQuaide, “this is not the time for this,” McQuaide responded by shouting, “I’m sorry, sir, this is the time and the place. I will stand up. Did the priest use our parish computer to look at pornography? …True or false? True or false?”

McQuaide’s challenge occurred while Williams was reading a letter from Archbishop Robert Casey to the Our Lady of Visitation congregation that said the rumors were investigated and “no wrongdoing — either criminally or ecclesiastically — has been substantiated.” The letter also said that one of the priests was taking a “previously planned sabbatical.”

“Like gossip, the spreading of rumors is sinful, and we should all work to overcome this tendency of our fallen human nature,” the letter said.

Two Green Township police officers escorted McQuaide from the church. McQuaide was not charged, according to the police.

McQuaide grew up near Green Township and attended Cincinnati Elder High, an all-male Catholic diocesan school within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati founded in 1912.

After attending Ohio State, McQuaide served as the Rams long snapper for 10 years, beginning in 2011 when the franchise was in St. Louis and ending after the 2021 season. Since then he has played for the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins, having appeared in 197 career games.