Fox Sports 1 Avoids Disaster, Strikes Deals With DirecTV, Time Warner, And Dish

Fox has struck deals with Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, and Dish to carry Fox's new ESPN killer, Fox Sports 1 according to Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times.

The deals comes just three days before Fox Sports 1 is set to launch and avoids a situation in which 40 million homes would be without FS1's much-anticipated debut.

It appears that the major sticking point in negotiations was cable subscriber fees. Fox Sports 1 will replace Fox's Speed Channel which cost cable and satellite providers about 23 cents per subscriber. According to Flint, Fox was seeking 80 cents per subscriber for FS1.

For comparison, ESPN has the largest per-subscriber fee of any network. ESPN is charging providers $5.54 per subscriber. In 2011, the average cable network charged 23 cents per subscriber.

It is unclear what the providers have agreed to pay FS1, and according to Flint, the final details are still being worked out. But this is good news for those that were eager to see the debut of ESPN's biggest competition to date.