Lachlan Murdoch discusses affiliate fees on the August 8, 2023, Fox Corp. earnings call

From the August 8, 2023, Fox Corporation earnings call

ROBERT FISHMAN (MOFFETTNATHANSON SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST): Good morning, everyone. After seeing some of the news earlier this year with CBS and its affiliates negotiating [inaudible] did it just help us think about how Fox's relationship is with affiliates today? And with this backdrop, if you can talk about your confidence about continuing to grow affiliate fees despite the elevated levels of cord-cutting. Thank you.

LACHLAN MURDOCH (FOX CORP. CEO): Thank you very much, Robert. So, look, our relation with affiliates is very strong. We catch up with them regularly. And, you know, we understand the headwinds facing broadcast television. And, you know, we're within our station group, right, we see — have all the same issues that they have. So we are — we're simpatico, you know, with them in both the, you know, both the opportunities and the risk of the headwinds in that business.

You know, we are pretty — what's the word, vocal or proud of the fact that we've protected our key sports franchises, you know, for pay-TV environment but also for our affiliates, our distribution, our most important distribution partners. We don't take our NFL games and put them anywhere else. We keep them exclusive for our distribution partners. And I think that's understood and very well received.

And because of that, I think, you know, we will be able to continue to drive the sort of industry-leading pricing both in a pay universe and a free universe, and that pricing will certainly continue to ameliorate or balance any reduction in subscriber erosion, and subscribers across the universe. So that's where we feel we are with our affiliates. And, you know, we're I think we're in a pretty good place with them.