By Joe Flint and Nicholas G. Miller

Fox has acquired two additional NFL games for the 2026-27 season, the company said on its quarterly earnings call with analysts Monday.

The additional games come as the relationship between Fox and the NFL has grown increasingly frayed in recent months over the league's decision to put more games on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

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.

The NFL's move to license more games to Fox comes in the wake of the Justice Department's opening 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.

Some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, have encouraged scrutiny of the antitrust exemptions sports leagues enjoy as more games continue to migrate to pricey streaming services.

On the call with analysts, Fox Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch said there is "no tension" with the NFL.

The NFL has indicated a desire to renegotiate its rights deals with its major distributors a few years ahead of a window that allows them to do that. Murdoch said there have been no substantive talks with Fox.

One of the two matches will be an international game from Munich featuring the Detroit Lions and an as yet undetermined opponent. The other game will be on a Saturday late in the season. The teams for that game haven't been announced.

Fox reported lower fiscal third-quarter revenue, as not broadcasting the Super Bowl this year weighed on its advertising income as compared with the prior year.

The company posted net income of $175 million compared with $354 million the year prior. On a per-share basis, earnings fell to 38 cents a share from 75 cents a share.

Adjusted earnings were $1.32 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $1 a share.

Revenue fell to $3.99 billion from $4.37 billion. Wall Street had expected $3.78 billion.

Advertising revenue declined to $1.56 billion from $2.04 billion reported in the prior-year quarter, largely because Fox didn't have this year's rights to the Super Bowl, which it broadcast last year. Distribution revenue increased 3% to $2.11 billion.

The company recorded a decline in expenses due to lower sports programming rights amortization and production costs, also primarily due to not broadcasting the Super Bowl this year.

Fox Corp. and The Wall Street Journal's parent company, News Corp, share common ownership.

Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@wsj.com and Nicholas G. Miller at nicholas.miller@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2026 09:32 ET (13:32 GMT)

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