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A fees dispute between News Corp.'s Fox and Time Warner Cable was going down to the wire Thursday leaving millions of US viewers potentially facing the loss of some of their favorite television shows.
With a midnight Thursday (0500 GMT Friday) deadline looming without an agreement, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urged the two sides not to pull the plug.
"I have urged Fox and Time Warner Cable to agree to a temporary extension of carriage if they do not come to terms on a new carriage agreement today, in order to prevent disruption to their viewers," Genachowski said in a statement.
The FCC chairman noted that a number of college and professional American football games were scheduled to be played over the upcoming weekend.
"Companies shouldn't force cable-watching football fans to scramble for other means of TV delivery on New Year's weekend," Genachowski said.
Fox is scheduled to air college football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games along with action from the professional National Football League (NFL).
A Fox spokesman told AFP on Thursday the talks were "ongoing."
"It's unfortunate that Time Warner Cable has yet to offer us reasonable compensation for Fox's programming, and regrettably, because of its decision, viewers may miss the Fox BCS games, the NFL on Fox, American Idol and more," Fox added in a statement.
"We sincerely hope Time Warner Cable reconsiders its position prior to the expiration of the agreement tonight and doesn't deny its customers this marquee programming," Fox said.
Other popular Fox shows include The Simpsons and House.
The dispute between Fox and Time Warner Cable, the second-largest US cable television operator, centers around charging fees for subscribers.
According to US newspaper reports, Fox is asking for one dollar per month per subscriber while Time Warner Cable has countered with a much lower offer.
On Wednesday, both Fox and Time Warner Cable took out full-page advertisements in The New York Times pleading their case.
Time Warner Cable accused Fox of threatening to withdraw its programming "unless we give in to their demand for massive price increases."
"We've offered Fox a reasonable price increase that protects our customers' pocketbooks," the Time Warner Cable ad said. "But we are not giving in to Fox's excessive demands."
Fox, meanwhile, urged its viewers in its ad to "Get tough with Time Warner Cable" and encouraged them to visit a KeepFoxon.com website.
Time Warner Cable has more than 14 million US customers but the exact number of customers who could be affected by a cutoff of Fox programming is unclear since the dispute does not involve all of the markets in the country.
It does involve major markets such as Los Angeles, New York and Dallas, however, so the number of homes facing the potential loss of some Fox channels is estimated to be in the millions.
US media and entertainment giant Time Warner spun off Time Warner Cable earlier this year.
